Chief Technology Officer

Austin Werner; Capital Governorate; Hybrid; BHD 56,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

A regional fintech company is seeking a Chief Technology Officer to lead the tech strategy and modernize payment capabilities in the Middle East. The ideal candidate has at least 12 years of senior technology leadership experience and a strong delivery record in payments. This role offers competitive salary, performance bonuses, and benefits including relocation support.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Performance bonus

Visa sponsorship

Relocation support

Leadership development

Qualifications

• 12+ years in senior technology leadership within payments or fintech.
• 5+ years as CTO, CIO, or similar role.
• Deep knowledge of payment processing and merchant acquiring.
• Strong delivery record on large payment platforms.

Responsibilities

• Set and deliver the tech strategy for multi‑market growth.
• Modernize payment processing and merchant acquiring platforms.
• Build next generation payment capabilities.
• Lead PCI DSS and ISO 27001 security across regions.

Skills

Technology leadership

Payment processing

Cybersecurity

Regulatory experience

Stakeholder management

Job description

Overview

Chief Technology Officer / CIO — Regional Fintech & Payments | Middle East

You’re not starting from scratch. You’re taking a proven platform and pushing it into what’s next.

What you’ll own as the Chief Technology Officer

• Set and deliver the tech strategy for multi‑market growth across MEA
• Modernize core payment processing and merchant acquiring platforms
• Build next generation payment capabilities. Open banking, digital wallets, crypto rails
• Keep mission‑critical systems running with 99.9%+ uptime
• Lead PCI DSS, ISO 27001, security, and risk across regions
• Manage data centers and cloud across multiple jurisdictions
• Shape product and innovation. Tokenization, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay
• Stand up fintech enablement and BIN sponsorship tech
• Partner with regulators and drive the tech work for new licenses
• Build high‑performing engineering teams and centers of excellence

I’ve seen how rare it is to guide payments at this scale and still have room to experiment. If you care about both reliability and invention, this probably fits.

What you bring as the Chief Technology Officer

• 12+ years in senior technology leadership within payments, fintech, or financial services
• 5+ years as CTO, CIO, or similar C‑level role
• Deep knowledge of payment processing, card schemes, and merchant acquiring
• Strong delivery record on large payment or core banking platforms
• Cloud‑native architectures, microservices, API‑first thinking
• Cybersecurity and data protection expertise
• Multi‑country regulatory experience. Middle East background is highly preferred
• Comfortable owning budgets of $10M+ and teams of 50+ people
• Stakeholder savvy with both technical and commercial leaders

Nice to have

• Fintech enablement, payment facilitation, or BIN sponsorship experience
• Crypto payments, open banking, or DeFi exposure
• Regulator familiarity. CBB, CBE, CBUAE
• Arabic language skills are a plus

Why this role

• Lead the tech strategy for a market leader serving millions of consumers and businesses
• Shape next generation payment platforms across MEA
• Work directly with the CEO and executive team

Package and perks

• Competitive salary with performance bonus
• Benefits, visa sponsorship, and relocation support
• Equity participation potential
• Access to major payment and cloud partners
• Leadership development and executive education
• Regional travel and a high quality of life location

Location

Major regional financial hub in the Middle East. Relocation available. Hire for 2026 - shortlisting happen now!