Regional Chief Financial Officer — Digital Bank

The mandate

An institutionally backed digital bank has grown faster than its regional finance discipline. Product reports use different customer and profitability definitions, capital requests do not consistently include liquidity or operational consequences, and cash forecasts rely on manual overlays known by a small number of leaders. A succession transition and the next investment cycle make this gap urgent.

The Regional Chief Financial Officer will steward approximately AED 70,700 million in loans and deposits and lead about 750 employees and material partners. The remit covers controllership, planning, treasury, liquidity, capital, tax, procurement, commercial finance, finance data and transformation. It reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee.

The first requirement is a common economic model. Customer and product contribution should include acquisition, funding, credit loss, service, technology, incentives and capital. Digital growth metrics must reconcile to ledger, balance sheet and cash so investment cases cannot select the most flattering denominator.

Regional capital requests need comparable gates. Each should state customer adoption, control readiness, capacity, cash timing, downside and stop criteria. Finance should challenge benefits without becoming the owner of business execution. Projects that miss evidence thresholds must pause or lose capital.

Liquidity deserves operating detail. Deposit concentration, rate sensitivity, withdrawal behaviour, payment flows and contingent obligations can move faster than monthly plans. The CFO will connect treasury scenarios to product and customer action and maintain headroom before growth releases.

The close and control environment must meet enterprise standards. Material journals, reconciliations and data bridges need lineage, named ownership and retirement. Succession should protect sign-offs and transfer critical knowledge without extending key-person dependency.

The finance organisation will balance local decision support with common controllership. Leadership roles, skill gaps, contractors and successors need a funded plan. Board reporting should distinguish known, estimated and genuinely uncertain exposure.

Procurement and supplier commitments will be included in investment economics. Cloud, data and platform contracts can create long-dated cash obligations that product cases understate. The CFO will require usage, renewal and exit evidence and ensure benefits are not claimed while duplicated tools or services remain.

Finance talent should rotate through treasury, product and controllership without weakening segregation. Succession plans will identify readiness through real sign-offs and stressed decisions, not tenure alone. Critical reporting processes require documented deputies and tested continuity.

Decision rights between the global function and local business must be practical under pressure. The CFO will document who may commit spend, alter forecasts, accept control exceptions and escalate covenant risk. Periodic simulations will test whether those routes work across time zones before an acquisition, funding shock or reporting deadline exposes ambiguity.

Why this seat is open

This planned new role is part of the next operating model, not an incumbent replacement. A four-to-six-month search is timed before the next capital and talent cycle, while current accountabilities remain in force.

What you will own

• Establish common customer, product, cash and capital economics.
• Steward AED 70,700 million of loans, deposits and liquidity.
• Reset investment governance with evidence and stop criteria.
• Strengthen close, substantiation, reporting and data lineage.
• Link deposit and payment behaviour to funding scenarios.
• Build a regional finance organisation with credible succession.
• Lead 750 employees and partners with explicit decision rights.
• Give capital sponsors transparent forecast ranges and alternatives.

The first 12 months

In the first 90 days, secure reporting and funding deadlines and reconcile material economic differences. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to finance discipline, including product, treasury, risk, auditors, technology and capital sponsors. Review investment cases, assess leaders and agree board gates for capital.

Months four to nine should introduce authoritative economics, a driver-based forecast and stage-gated investment. Fill leadership gaps, remove priority manual adjustments and execute liquidity or capital actions. The first value should appear through forecast confidence, headroom, released cash or a weak investment stopped.

By year end, cash, forecast confidence and investment governance should be repeatable. Delivery needs to remain within 10% of baseline and forecasts should reconcile book, liquidity, customer and people assumptions over three quarters. Priority finance risks require independently evidenced closure; no severe escalation may remain open beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Forecast accuracy from customer behaviour through balance sheet and cash.
• Liquidity and capital headroom under deposit and payment stress.
• Product contribution after funding, loss, service and technology cost.
• Capital redirected when investment evidence fails agreed gates.
• Retention above 90% for essential finance talent and immediate cover across 70% of direct reports.
• Quantified improvement in regional discipline with named data ownership.

The person

You are a Regional CFO, Digital Bank CFO or substantial Finance Executive with 22–28 years in regulated banking. You have signed accounts, owned liquidity and challenged growth investment using complete economics.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least AED 41,000 million, and you have led 525 or more people. You can evidence a regional finance reset whose cash, forecast and control outcomes held over two reporting periods.

You connect customer data to ledger and liquidity, make uncertainty legible and protect control while building a decision-oriented finance team.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is AED 1.9–2.7 million plus annual incentive and LTI. The permanent Dubai role is onsite, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank, finance succession and investment plans remain confidential. Composite facts are non-identifying.