Head of Compliance - UAE

About Lorum

Global payments are not broken. Incentives are. Clearing has been deprioritised inside balance sheet driven institutions whose models rely on lending and interest. When liquidity takes priority over settlement, payments slow and certainty drops. The same financial institutions that distort clearing as providers are disadvantaged as users. They are forced into fragmented setups, inconsistent rails, duplicated compliance, and unpredictable timelines. Stablecoin shortcuts and treasury pooling treat symptoms at the surface, but almost no one is rebuilding the underlying infrastructure in each market.

We are rebuilding clearing as its own specialist function. We act as a clearing and transaction banking partner for regulated institutions, with treasury built into the core so liquidity, settlement, and reconciliation sit in one controlled system.

Our platform unifies global and local licenses, direct central bank clearing, and domestic rails. We allow clients to open named customer accounts in every market we operate, collecting funds and paying out through a single network while retaining full ownership of their customer relationships. Market expansion becomes as simple as one correspondent relationship, not hundreds.

Joining Lorum means contributing to one of the most ambitious clearing infrastructure projects in global finance. You will help shape settlement systems that perform under real regulatory standards and institutional volumes. You will build for regulated institutions that rely on precision, predictable timelines, and regulatory integrity. It is about working across currencies, markets, and supervisory frameworks to deliver reliable, final settlement.

About The Role

This role is based in Dubai, relocation is provided.

Role Purpose

The Head of Compliance & MLRO will take ownership of all regulatory and financial crime matters across the Middle East. Acting as MLRO and registered Compliance Officer, they will be responsible for managing regulatory relationships, overseeing compliance programs, leading investigations, and embedding compliance into product and operations. Reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer, this role that requires hands-on execution in the development of our new products and services, and ensuring the company continues scaling securely at speed.

Key Responsibilities

Regulatory leadership

• Serve as the registered Compliance Officer and MLRO under our DFSA regulated entity.
• Provide expert advice and support on the regulatory applications for the expansion of Lorum's DFSA license to cover custody and asset management services.
• Build trusted relationships with regulators, correspondent banks, and financial partners.
• Advise the board and executive leadership on compliance risks, opportunities, and emerging regulations.
• Ensure policies and procedures align with DFSA rules and other international standards.
• Integrate compliance controls into API-driven product flows and operational workflows.
• Monitor compliance performance metrics.

Financial crime & investigations

• Oversee the detection, investigation, and reporting of suspicious transactions.
• Ensure timely filing of STR/SARs and escalation of financial crime risks.
• Lead remediation projects when required (e.g., alert backlogs, audit findings).

Business enablement & innovation

• Partner with product, engineering, and commercial teams to support market entry and product launches.
• Anticipate compliance challenges and design guardrails before issues arise.
• Champion automation, system enhancements, and innovative risk management tools.
• Balance compliance with business growth — enabling speed without sacrificing control.

Ideal candidate

• Must-Haves
• 8+ years’ experience in compliance and financial crime, ideally in a fintech or start-up environment.
• Prior experience at a senior level in a regulated environment.
• Strong regulatory knowledge of DFSA rules regarding Custody, Arranging or Managing Deals in Investments and Client Asset obligations, or equivalent knowledge from similar regimes, e.g. CASS, COBS, MiFID etc.
• Comfort working with product and engineering teams to embed compliance into technology.
• Nice-to-Haves
• Multi-jurisdictional compliance experience (Europe, US, MENA).
• Hands on designing new custody and cash management compliance programmes.
• Hands-on experience with AML/KYC systems and compliance automation.

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