Head Of Risk Chief Risk Officer

Job Title: Head of Risk (Chief Risk Officer)

Location: Dubai, UAE

Term: 24 Months (Extendable)

About the Role

A leading organization in the Middle East is seeking a Chief Risk Officer (CRO) to establish and lead a comprehensive, enterprise-wide risk management framework tailored to a new-age lending platform. This executive leadership role is crucial for ensuring sustainable business growth, strong risk governance, and regulatory compliance in a dynamic, digital-first financial environment.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Risk Leadership

• Develop and execute the overall enterprise risk strategy, aligning it with business goals.
• Design risk governance structures, policies, and procedures that meet both internal and regulatory standards.
• Define risk appetite and tolerance thresholds across all verticals.

Risk Oversight & Frameworks

• Lead risk identification, assessment, and mitigation across all major risk types credit, operational, market, compliance, and reputational.
• Conduct in-depth risk assessments of lending products, digital platforms, and operational workflows.
• Implement advanced risk analytics, scoring models, and predictive tools.

Regulatory & Board Engagement

• Ensure compliance with
  
  Basel III, IFRS 9, and local GCC/UAE central bank regulations.
• Serve as the key liaison with regulators, auditors, and board-level committees.
• Present comprehensive risk dashboards and insights to the Board Risk Committee and Executive Management.

Technology & Team Building

• Drive the adoption of enterprise risk systems (e.g., SAS, Moody s RiskCalc, Oracle FCCM) to enhance risk intelligence and reporting.
• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing cross-functional risk team.
• Promote a culture of risk awareness across the organization.

Key KPIs

• Reduction in Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio
• Accuracy of predictive risk models and stress tests
• Regulatory compliance scores and timeliness of reporting
• RAROC (Risk-adjusted Return on Capital) improvement
• Time-to-resolution for key risk incidents
• Board satisfaction with risk governance and reporting
• Employee risk awareness levels (internal index)

Required Experience

• 15+ years in risk management within the financial services sector, with 5+ years in a senior leadership role.

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• Experience in digital lending, fintech, or embedded finance is a strong advantage.
• Proven success in building and scaling enterprise risk functions within regulated environments.

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, or related field.
• Master s degree (MBA or MSc in Risk Management/Finance) is preferred.
• Professional certifications such as FRM, PRM, CFA, or equivalent are mandatory.

Mandatory Skills

• Credit risk modeling & analytics
• Regulatory compliance (Basel III, IFRS 9, GCC frameworks)
• Enterprise risk strategy and governance
• Digital lending and fintech risk models
• Cross-functional leadership & stakeholder management
• Risk reporting and board communication
• Agile risk delivery and digital transformation

Language Requirements

• Fluent in English; Arabic is a plus.