Head of Finance – Build and Lead Modern Finance Function

About the role

This senior leadership position is based in the United Arab Emirates and will create and run a modern finance function for a fast‑growing international payments company. You will own end‑to‑end management reporting, budgeting, cash‑flow planning and financial process automation while partnering with data, development, treasury and executive teams.

Key responsibilities

• Own management reporting (P&L, cash‑flow, balance sheet) and profitability analysis across products, merchants and legal entities.
• Design and run the budgeting, forecasting and scenario‑planning cycles.
• Build a robust financial control framework covering reconciliations, discrepancy classification, SLAs and audit trails.
• Manage merchant settlements, including fees, refunds, chargebacks, FX conversions and balance transfers.
• Oversee finance for multiple legal entities, currencies and inter‑company transactions, delivering consolidated reports and audit packages.
• Define financial automation requirements, KPIs, formulas and data sources for dashboards and reports.
• Collaborate with data analysts, engineers and developers to validate outputs and prioritize automation.
• Lead, structure and develop the finance team, setting responsibilities and driving continuous improvement.
• Report financial performance, risks and insights to the CEO and senior leadership.

Required profile

• Proven senior finance leader with experience in fast‑moving, data‑driven, international environments.
• Track record of building finance functions, driving transformation and automating manual processes.
• Strong analytical mindset and ability to translate complex financial data into actionable business insights.
• Excellent communication skills for presenting to C‑level executives.

Required skills