Co Founder & Chief Technology Officer

About Sanabil Studio and TradePay

Sanabil Studio operates as a venture builder, combining industry knowledge, technology, and startup methodologies to develop new businesses from initial concepts to launch. Once a venture demonstrates potential, it receives seed funding and operational support for scaling. TradePay, a company within Sanabil Studio, focuses on transforming B2B commerce by providing suppliers and distributors with flexible payment terms for business merchants through a Stock-Now-Pay-Later solution. TradePay integrates technology, financing infrastructure, and operational expertise to assist businesses in managing working capital, improving cash flow, and scaling efficiently across various industries.

The Role: Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Sanabil Studio is seeking a Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer for TradePay. This is a full-time leadership position based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, requiring over 10 years of experience. The role involves leading the technological vision and execution for TradePay, with a strong focus on AI-enabled product development and platform architecture.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development of AI-enabled products for credit decisioning, fraud and risk monitoring, dynamic limit management, and inventory and cashflow intelligence.
• Translate complex data into decision tools to enhance accuracy, reduce loss rates, and expand access to finance responsibly.
• Drive a responsible AI approach, including model monitoring, drift detection, explainability, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
• Own the architecture and engineering roadmap from pilot through MVP to scale, ensuring secure, scalable, and maintainable systems.
• Build and operate a modern data and ML platform covering ingestion, feature pipelines, training, serving, experimentation, and monitoring.
• Define AI work streams, milestones, and measurable outcomes, such as approval lift, loss reduction, time-to-decision, and merchant growth impact.
• Establish technical standards for code quality, CI/CD, observability, reliability, and documentation.
• Make pragmatic build-versus-buy decisions across infrastructure, data providers, scoring components, KYC tooling, and payment rails.
• Hire, develop, and lead a high-performing engineering and data team in Riyadh.
• Build strong security and privacy foundations to withstand audits and support future licensing requirements.
• Partner closely with Risk, Operations, Finance, Legal/Compliance, and Partnerships teams.

Candidate Profile and Requirements

• Proven experience in shipping AI/ML-powered products into production environments.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals combined with hands-on experience in machine learning and data platforms.
• Experience in fintech, lending, BNPL, payments, risk, fraud, or underwriting, with an understanding of correctness in these environments.
• Track record of converting complex datasets into real-world decision tools with measurable business impact.
• Experience in hiring, mentoring, and leading teams in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Demonstrated ownership of outcomes and maintenance of high standards for reliability, security, and scalable architecture.
• Clear communication skills for engineers, executives, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Must be based in Riyadh or open to relocation, as this is an on-site leadership role.
• Bonus: Experience with credit bureaus, alternative data, open banking signals, cloud-native architectures at scale, regulated environments, or GCC fintech products.

Work Environment and Benefits

This role offers the opportunity to define architecture, build a team, and own outcomes from the outset, rather than maintaining existing systems. AI is central to TradePay's operations, and this position will lead those efforts. The Co-Founder & CTO will work directly with the CEO and leadership team in Riyadh, ensuring fast feedback loops and direct influence on company direction. The compensation package includes competitive pay reflecting seniority and market rates, meaningful equity tied to long-term value creation, and premium equipment provided on day one. The role also offers mentorship from experienced venture builders and an accelerated learning curve.