Regulatory Legal Counsel – Middle East

Regulatory Legal Counsel – Middle East

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary legal advisor on regulatory matters relating to the company's business operations across the Middle East.
• Provide strategic legal guidance to cross-functional stakeholders regarding existing licenses, registrations, and future regulatory license applications in key Middle Eastern markets.
• Monitor, analyze, and report on developments and emerging trends in payments and financial services regulations across the region, proactively identifying potential business impacts.
• Partner closely with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk, and Financial Crime Compliance teams to ensure adherence to applicable laws and regulatory requirements.
• Support Product, Strategy, Management, and Commercial teams on market entry initiatives and regulatory expansion projects, including regulatory mapping and licensing assessments.
• Advise senior stakeholders on regulatory risks and legal implications of business initiatives affecting Middle Eastern operations.
• Manage and coordinate external legal counsel and regulatory consultants, ensuring high-quality, commercially focused, and cost-effective support.
• Leverage AI-driven solutions and legal technology tools to improve efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness within the Regulatory Legal function.
• Provide legal support on ongoing regulatory compliance obligations, including regulatory reporting, filings, and submissions across relevant Middle Eastern jurisdictions.
• Collaborate with Regulatory Compliance teams to ensure timely and accurate fulfillment of regulatory requirements.
• Support government relations initiatives and engage with policymakers, central banks, financial services regulators, and free-zone authorities to help shape regulatory frameworks relevant to the business.

Qualifications & Experience

• Qualified lawyer with approximately 6–8 years of post-qualification experience (PQE).
• Strong regulatory legal experience gained within:
• Fintech organizations
• Financial institutions
• Reputable law firms
• Proven expertise in one or more of the following areas:
• Payments
• E-money
• Foreign Exchange (FX)
• Remittance
• Card Issuing
• Digital Financial Services
• Experience across Middle Eastern regulatory jurisdictions is essential.
• Combination of private practice and in-house legal experience is preferred, though not mandatory.
• Demonstrated experience advising on regulatory matters, regulatory filings, submissions, and regulatory strategy.
• Prior engagement with central banks, financial services regulators, and/or free-zone regulatory authorities within the Middle East is highly desirable.
• Strong understanding of the financial services regulatory landscape across the Middle East, particularly in payments, remittance, FX, issuing, and digital finance sectors.
• Experience supporting new market expansion and regulatory licensing initiatives within fintech, payments, or financial services environments is advantageous.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across legal, compliance, business, and external advisory functions.
• Highly organized and proactive, with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Fluent in English with exceptional legal drafting, negotiation, and communication skills.
• Proficiency in Arabic or other regional languages would be an added advantage.
• Strong ability to simplify complex regulatory issues and provide commercially practical, risk-balanced legal solutions.
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to thrive in dynamic and evolving regulatory environments.

Pay: AED30,000.00 - AED50,000.00 per month

Application Question(s):

• Are you open working 3 months contract? (there's possibility to be extend or perm role based on performance)
• Do you have WhatsApp?

Work Location: In person