Excellent opportunity for a career motivated, ambitious Arabic speaking Finance professional to step up to a CFO position. My client are one of the world's leading Investment Banks who have had a presence in the GCC for over 20 years. Within the last 3 years their regional presence has grown significantly with offices located in a number of GCC countries. Having recently acquired their licence from the CMA, they have now established an office in Riyadh.

The CFO will play a key role in the development of the Riyadh office as part of the management team. The Riyadh based team are currently a small unit of experienced Investment professionals with plans in place to grow headcount significantly over the course of the next year. This a fantastic opportunity to join at the early stages of the development of the Saudi Arabian offices where the contribution that you make will be highly visible to both the MENA and EMEA Senior Management teams.  

Responsibilities:

• Finalise the set up of the local finance function in conjunction with the regional head office
• Ongoing administering and management of the local Finance function, preparing all financial reports for management, as well as MENA and EMEA Head offices
• Work in conjunction with the Compliance Officer to ensure compliance to regulatory reporting requirements
• Take responsibility for core finance functions which include: Legal Entity Control (Month-end close, Fixed Assets and Accounts Payable), Regulatory Compliance,                 Taxation, Expense Management, Management Accounting (Budget, MIS...).
• Additionally you will be responsible for maintaining relationships with local suppliers, local regulators, auditors and advisors.
• This individual will also take responsibility for setting up the entity as a joint stock company in conjunction with the Compliance Officer. 

Person Spec.

• Previous experience of working in a finance function for a financial institution, Big 4 accounting firm or blue chip corporate entity is essential.
• Previous experience of working within Saudi Arabia is essential, with exposure to a working with a CMA regulated entity strongly preferred.
• Fluency in Arabic is essential. 

There is a strong preference for this person to have previously worked within a regional bank in a finance manager role. In your current role you will be very much hands on. Due to the size of the current team the CFO will be expected to be responsible for performance of the day to day finance functions responsibilities though the likelihood is that over time the medium to long term you will recruit a team at which time the role will evolve in to an oversight/people management position. You should be a flexible individual who is happy to take on additional responsibilities that may not traditionally fall under a CFO/Finance Managers remit. The role offers excellent career development opportunities globally for the right individual.