Director of Technology (CTO)

Director of Technology (CTO) – Shaping the Future of Shariah-Compliant Digital Investment Infrastructure

At Kafaa Capital, we are redefining the landscape of Shariah-compliant investment and financing solutions in Saudi Arabia. As a CMA-licensed platform headquartered in Riyadh, we are pioneering next-generation digital investment infrastructure with unwavering commitments to transparency, compliance, and innovation. We are seeking a visionary Director of Technology (CTO-equivalent) to architect, lead, and execute our technology strategy, ensuring our platform remains scalable, secure, and future-ready.

In this pivotal role, you will drive the technical vision for Kafaa Capital, aligning cutting-edge engineering practices with regulatory excellence to deliver seamless investment experiences. This is an opportunity to shape the technological backbone of a fintech leader in the Middle East, where innovation meets compliance.

Key Responsibilities

As the Director of Technology, your strategic and operational leadership will be instrumental in:

• Defining and executing a forward-thinking technology strategy that integrates backend, web, mobile, and data integrations while ensuring scalability, performance, and reliability.
• Leading system modernization and architectural transformations, including refactoring legacy systems, optimizing performance, and establishing robust software engineering practices to support rapid growth.
• Translating business objectives into actionable technical roadmaps, balancing innovation with technical debt management, security enhancements, and compliance requirements.
• Overseeing end-to-end delivery of core platform initiatives, including onboarding, KYC (Know Your Customer) workflows, payment processing, open banking integrations, and the full lifecycle of investment transactions.
• Ownership of cloud infrastructure, development and production environments, CI/CD pipelines, disaster recovery strategies, and operational performance to ensure 24/7 availability and resilience.
• Establishing observability, logging, and incident response frameworks to proactively monitor system health, mitigate risks, and maintain high reliability standards.
• Ensuring technical readiness and compliance with stringent regulatory frameworks, including CMA cybersecurity guidelines, NCA Essential Cybersecurity Controls, PDPL (Personal Data Protection Law), and AML/KYC operational controls.
• Managing annual external penetration testing, vulnerability remediation, third-party vendor risk assessments, and audit evidence preparation to fortify security posture.
• Driving technical integrations with banks, payment gateways, identity verification providers, and financial market infrastructure to enhance platform capabilities.
• Building and mentoring a high-performing engineering team while collaborating with external partners to maintain elite delivery standards and foster a culture of excellence.

Qualifications & Requirements

To excel in this role, you must meet the following criteria:

• Saudi nationality (mandatory).
• CMA 1 Certification (General Securities Qualification Certificate from the Capital Market Authority) – mandatory.
• A Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Minimum 6+ years of professional software engineering experience, with hands-on expertise in production environments.
• Minimum 3+ years in an engineering leadership role, including responsibility for hiring, team management, and project delivery.
• A proven track record of owning complex systems end-to-end, encompassing architecture, delivery, and operations in dynamic environments.
• Deep expertise in system design, scalability, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and production monitoring.
• Professional proficiency in both Arabic and English.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in fintech, particularly with regulated financial platforms, specializing in onboarding/KYC, payment flows, or investment products.
• Hands-on experience integrating with banking networks, payment systems, and third-party financial data providers.
• Proven ability to guide security and compliance programs through external audits and regulatory inspections.
• Experience modernizing legacy codebases and leading architecture, data, or operational migrations.
• Strong familiarity with Agile methodologies tailored for high-velocity engineering teams.

Key Competencies

We seek a leader who embodies:

• An ownership mindset with unwavering accountability, capable of executing under ambiguity and driving results in fast-paced environments.
• Exceptional communication skills, bridging the gap between technical intricacies and strategic business objectives for executive stakeholders.
• Systems thinking and pragmatic decision-making, prioritizing risks and opportunities to align technology with business goals.

Join Kafaa Capital and be at the forefront of shaping the future of digital investment in Saudi Arabia. Your expertise will not only drive technological innovation but also ensure compliance and security in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.