Risk & Compliance Leader — UAE/KSA Regs & MLRO

ClearGrid; Dubai; On-site; AED 500,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

ClearGrid seeks a dedicated risk and compliance leader to own the compliance framework across its product suite in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. You will be the sole owner initially, setting policies, controls, and licensing actions, and serving as MLRO and data protection officer.

You will partner with Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, and Operations from day one. You will build the function, hire a team as it scales, and ensure regulatory and contractual obligations are met across markets,

Qualifications

• 6+ years in risk and compliance within financial services, fintech, lending, or debt collection with UAE/KSA exposure.
• Knowledge of CBUAE and SAMA regulations related to lending, collections, consumer protection and outsourcing.
• Proven ability to write policies, build risk registers, and run control testing programs from scratch.
• Experience leading client due diligence, external audits, and regulator correspondence.
• Fluent English; professional Arabic strongly preferred.
• Hands-on, sole owner of the function with ability to scale the team.

Responsibilities

• Design, write, and maintain policies, standards, and control sets for all product lines.
• Track regulatory obligations across UAE and KSA, including licensing, registrations, and regulator responses.
• Lead due diligence with banks and lenders, manage audit responses, and remediation of findings.
• Set conduct standards for collections and customer communications across channels.
• Oversee UAE PDPL and KSA PDPL compliance, data handling, DPAs, and cross-border transfers.
• Own AML, CFT, sanctions screening, and KYC/KYB frameworks for servicing and funding flows.
• Build and run the operational risk register and testing calendar, manage incidents.
• Support Securitize with portfolio criteria, covenant monitoring, and reporting obligations.
• Govern AI/ automated decisioning governance, with explainability and human oversight.
• Train commercial, product, and operations teams to bake compliance into workflows.

Skills

Risk & compliance

Financial services

UAE/KSA regulations

Policy writing

Audit management

Due diligence

AML/CFT

Data protection

English fluent

Arabic preferred

Job description

ClearGrid seeks a dedicated risk and compliance leader to own the compliance framework across its product suite in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. You will be the sole owner initially, setting policies, controls, and licensing actions, and serving as MLRO and data protection officer.

You will partner with Legal, Finance, Product, Engineering, and Operations from day one. You will build the function, hire a team as it scales, and ensure regulatory and contractual obligations are met across markets,