Head of Regulatory Governance & Compliance📣 Job Ad

About the Role

Wasf Company for Advocacy and Legal Consulting (WASF), a Saudi advocacy and legal consulting firm providing integrated legal and advisory services to national and multinational clients, is seeking a Head of Regulatory, Governance & Compliance. This full-time position, based in Riyadh, involves leading, developing, and expanding the firm's integrated regulatory and Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) advisory practice.

Practice Leadership and Focus

The Head of Regulatory, Governance & Compliance will lead complex mandates covering market entry, regulatory affairs, corporate governance, risk, compliance, and data protection. This role holds overall responsibility for the Practice's technical quality, client relationships, business development, revenue generation, profitability, and team performance. The Practice encompasses four key areas:

• Regulatory & Market Access
• Governance Advisory
• Risk & Compliance Advisory
• Data & Privacy

Core Responsibilities

Key responsibilities for this role include:

• Practice Leadership: Lead and develop the Regulatory, Governance & Compliance Practice, execute its annual business plan, establish methodologies and quality standards, supervise and develop professionals, and ensure effective allocation and supervision of client engagements.
• Regulatory & Market Access: Lead regulatory assessments, advise on market-entry strategies, develop regulatory maps and licensing frameworks, identify required approvals, advise on foreign investment and sector-specific requirements, and support the launch and expansion of regulated businesses.
• Governance Advisory: Lead the development of corporate governance frameworks, advise boards and executive management, develop charters and Delegation of Authority frameworks, lead governance reviews, and advise on conflicts of interest and related-party governance.
• Risk & Compliance Advisory: Lead the development of compliance frameworks, conduct regulatory compliance assessments, advise on enterprise and regulatory risk frameworks, develop risk registers and remediation programmes, advise on ethics and anti-bribery, and support internal investigations.
• Data & Privacy: Advise on Saudi personal data protection and privacy requirements, lead privacy compliance and data-governance mandates, draft and review privacy arrangements, and advise on information governance.
• Clients & Business Development: Originate new clients and mandates, build relationships with senior stakeholders, maintain a commercial pipeline, lead strategic proposals, and identify cross-selling opportunities.
• Financial & Commercial Management: Own annual revenue and profitability targets, monitor pricing and matter economics, ensure engagements are appropriately scoped and commercially viable, and develop scalable advisory offerings.

Qualifications and Experience

Candidates for this position should meet the following requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Law from a recognized university.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant professional experience.
• Significant experience in regulatory, governance, compliance, risk, or related legal advisory work.
• Strong understanding of the Saudi legal, regulatory, and institutional environment.
• Demonstrated experience advising government entities, regulated organizations, or major corporations.
• Strong experience developing governance, compliance, or risk frameworks.
• Ability to interpret complex regulatory requirements and translate them into practical business solutions.
• Experience managing complex or multidisciplinary advisory engagements.
• Demonstrated client-development and business-origination capability.
• Strong leadership and team-management experience.
• Excellent Arabic and English drafting and communication skills.

Performance Metrics

Performance in this role will be assessed based on:

• Practice revenue and profitability.
• New clients and mandates.
• Recurring advisory revenue and qualified commercial pipeline.
• Proposal win rate, client retention, and satisfaction.
• Collections and matter economics.
• Quality and timeliness of deliverables.
• Development of Practice methodologies and intellectual capital.
• Team utilization, productivity, and development.
• Cross-selling and collaboration across WASF practices.

About WASF

WASF combines strong legal expertise with a practical understanding of business, regulatory, and commercial environments to deliver clear, commercially focused solutions. The firm advises clients across corporate and commercial matters, regulatory affairs, governance and compliance, and dispute resolution, including cross-border engagements. WASF offers its professionals the opportunity to work on sophisticated mandates, engage directly with leading businesses and institutions, and contribute to the continued growth of an ambitious and evolving Saudi legal practice.