Manager Governance & Operational Risk📣 Job Ad

About Hala

Hala is a leading fintech company in the MENAP region, focused on redefining financial services and building the future bank for SMEs. Established in 2017 and licensed by the Saudi Arabian Central Bank, Hala empowers SMEs with financial and technological tools to start, run, and grow their businesses. The company operates multiple entities across UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, offering solutions for digitizing payments and managing sales and operations.

The Role: Manager, Governance & Operational Risk

Hala is seeking a Manager, Governance & Operational Risk to ensure that operational processes, controls, and product launches are well-governed, compliant, and managed within the company’s defined risk appetite. Based in Riyadh, this full-time role involves close collaboration with various departments, including Operations, Product, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Information Security, and Internal Audit, to identify risks, strengthen controls, manage incidents, and support secure product launches.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain the Operations risk register and track mitigation actions.
• Conduct risk and control assessments across operational processes.
• Review the design and effectiveness of key operational controls, identifying gaps and ensuring corrective actions are completed.
• Monitor operational risk indicators, incidents, losses, and recurring issues, escalating material risks and control failures to management.
• Manage the governance process for new product and service launches, ensuring all required risk, compliance, operational, technology, security, and customer-impact assessments are completed.
• Coordinate launch-readiness reviews and confirm that operating procedures, controls, training, customer support, reporting, and incident processes are prepared before launch.
• Maintain launch checklists, approvals, decisions, risks, dependencies, and action logs, escalating unresolved critical risks before go-live.
• Monitor post-launch performance, incidents, customer issues, and control effectiveness, leading post-launch reviews and ensuring lessons learned are implemented.
• Maintain Operations policies, procedures, control documents, and approval matrices, coordinating governance meetings and tracking decisions and actions.
• Ensure policies and procedures are reviewed and approved on time, maintaining clear ownership and accountability for operational risks and controls.
• Coordinate the investigation of operational incidents and service failures, leading root-cause analysis and corrective-action tracking.
• Identify recurring incidents and recommend process improvements, ensuring material incidents are escalated to appropriate stakeholders.
• Prepare operational risk and governance reports for senior management, monitoring key risk indicators, control performance, incidents, and overdue actions.
• Coordinate Operations responses to Risk, Compliance, Internal Audit, External Audit, and regulatory reviews, tracking audit and regulatory findings until closure.
• Support risk assessments for critical vendors and outsourced services, monitoring vendor performance, incidents, and control weaknesses.
• Support business continuity planning and operational resilience testing, ensuring critical processes have recovery plans and operational workarounds.

Required Competencies

• Strong risk judgment and attention to detail.
• Ability to challenge and influence stakeholders.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Clear communication and reporting skills.
• Strong planning and action-tracking capabilities.
• Ability to work effectively across Product, Technology, Operations, Risk, and Compliance.
• High integrity, accountability, and ownership.

Experience and Location

Candidates for this full-time role should possess 5 to 10 years of relevant experience. This position is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

What Hala Offers

• Highly competitive compensation packages, including potential for shares.
• An inclusive and diverse culture that encourages innovation and flexibility across remote, in-office, and hybrid work setups.
• Prioritization of personal development through regular training and an annual learning stipend.
• Opportunity to join a talented team comprising over 30 nationalities working in 7 countries.
• Autonomy, mentoring, and challenging goals that foster growth opportunities.
• Significant responsibility and trust, empowering individuals to achieve optimal results.