Head of Legal - GCC

Head of Legal, GCC

We are seeking an experienced and commercially minded Head of Legal, GCC to lead Sokin's legal support across the GCC region, based in Dubai. You will be responsible for shaping and delivering legal support for Sokin's activities across the region, with a particular focus on regulatory support relating to licensing, ongoing legal support for regulated operations, and broad commercial legal advisory work. You will serve as a key legal partner to regional leadership and cross functional stakeholders, supporting business growth while ensuring legal and regulatory risks are identified early and managed pragmatically. The individual will work closely with Compliance, Risk, Product and Commercial teams, as well as with external counsel and relevant regulators, to support Sokin's expansion and operation across GCC markets. You will need to be a practical, solutions oriented lawyer who is comfortable operating in a fast moving payments environment and can balance commercial objectives with appropriate legal risk management.

Key Responsibilities Legal Leadership & Advisory

• Lead legal support for Sokin's activities across the GCC region, ensuring alignment with business priorities and applicable local legal and regulatory requirements.
• Act as a trusted legal advisor to regional leadership on a broad range of matters, including commercial contracts, product and distribution arrangements, regulatory developments, data protection/privacy, intellectual property, disputes, and corporate governance.
• Partner closely with Compliance, Risk, Product and Commercial teams to support regional launches, new initiatives and ongoing operations.
• Provide practical, commercially focused legal guidance that enables growth while protecting the organisation's interests.
• Manage relationships with external counsel across GCC jurisdictions, ensuring timely, high quality and cost effective legal support.

Regulatory & Licensing Support

• Support Sokin's legal strategy in relation to licensing and regulated activities across the GCC, working closely with Compliance and business leadership.
• Lead or support the legal workstream for licensing applications, regulatory approvals, renewals, ongoing reporting obligations, and change management processes, with oversight of internal stakeholders and external counsel where required.
• Advise on legal and regulatory considerations connected with market entry, business expansions, new products and operational change.
• Support responses to regulatory queries, supervisory engagement, audits and reviews, ensuring legal input is coordinated and clearly documented.
• Help shape and maintain governance frameworks, policies, legal documentation and controls that support regulatory obligations and sound risk management.

Commercial Legal Support

• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including customer terms, supplier contracts, partnership agreements, referral arrangements, technology contracts and other strategic commercial documentation.
• Support commercial and operational teams on day to day legal matters arising from customer relationships, third party arrangements and regional business activity.
• Provide legal support for strategic partnerships, distribution arrangements, outsourcing and vendor onboarding.
• Help drive standardisation of contract terms and legal approaches where appropriate to support efficiency and scalability.

Building the Regional Legal Capability

• Establish and evolve a fit for purpose legal operating model for the GCC region, including templates, playbooks, approval processes, governance materials and training for internal teams.
• Contribute to the development of a scalable legal framework that supports both current operations and future regional growth.
• As the business grows, help assess resource needs and contribute to building a high performing regional legal capability, whether in house or through a managed external counsel model.

What Success Looks Like In 12 Months

Within 12 months, the Head of Legal, GCC will be seen as a trusted and commercially credible legal leader who has helped build a strong legal foundation for Sokin's growth across the GCC region. Success will include having established effective legal support for the region's regulatory and licensing priorities, with clear legal ownership of licensing related workstreams, strong coordination with Compliance and business stakeholders, and well managed relationships with external counsel. The individual will have helped ensure that legal considerations are embedded early in expansion, product and operational decisions, and that regional legal risks are being managed in a practical and proportionate way. They will also have built confidence across the business as a responsive and solutions oriented advisor, enabling commercial progress while maintaining appropriate legal and regulatory discipline.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with strong post qualification experience, ideally gained in house and with relevant exposure to fintech, payments, financial services, or another regulated environment.
• Significant experience advising on regulatory and licensing matters in one or more GCC markets, ideally within payments, fintech or broader financial services.
• Strong experience providing general commercial legal support in a fast paced business, including drafting and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements.
• Experience partnering closely with Compliance and Risk teams and supporting engagement with regulators, external counsel and internal stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of legal issues relevant to regulated financial services businesses in the GCC region.
• Proven ability to simplify complex legal issues and provide pragmatic, business oriented advice to senior stakeholders.
• Experience building or improving legal processes, templates, playbooks, and governance structures in a scaling business.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to operate effectively across multiple jurisdictions and functions.

We are an equal opportunities employer committed to creating an inclusive work environment. If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know.