Finance Director

Company Overview

Overall Responsibilities

• Lead the comprehensive financial strategy and operations of Big Ticket, supporting the Lottery Director and executive team in shaping the long-term direction of the business.
• Support the Commercial Director in driving the annual planning cycle, including budget, quarterly reforecasts, and three-to-five-year financial plans, ensuring alignment with commercial strategy and growth targets.
• Utilise financial insight and analysis to evaluate new initiatives, partnerships, investments, and corporate development opportunities, presenting clear recommendations to the executive team.
• Act as a key financial partner to the Commercial team, supporting decision-making across pricing, prize structures, draw economics, channel profitability, and marketing investment effectiveness
• Oversee board and management financial reporting, ensuring the right KPIs are tracked and that performance, risk, and opportunity are clearly communicated and acted upon.
• Maintain ultimate accountability for the integrity of Big Ticket's financial statements, ensuring compliance with IFRS, statutory reporting, external audit, and internal control environment.
• Oversee tax compliance across UAE Corporate Tax and VAT, alongside treasury, cash management, working capital, and prize fund liquidity.
• Lead the financial dimensions of player fund safeguarding, anti-money laundering, and financial crime prevention, working closely with Legal and Compliance to meet GCGRA requirements.
• Act as the senior finance lead on UAE gaming regulation, ensuring Big Ticket remains in good standing with the GCGRA and that evolving regulatory requirements are translated into operational and reporting processes.
• Provide executive oversight of procurement, supplier governance, and contract value, ensuring that third-party spend supports the company's commercial priorities.
• Represent Big Ticket on financial matters with auditors, tax advisors, banks, regulators, and the wider stakeholder community.
• Create and develop a high-performing finance function, identifying resourcing needs, building capability, and ensuring effective leadership across direct and cross-functional reporting lines.

Skills Required

• Extensive experience as a Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, or VP Finance in a commercially focused, regulated business, ideally in gaming, lottery, financial services, payments, or consumer subscription.
• Demonstrated capability to operate as the senior finance partner to a CEO, Managing Director, or equivalent, with the confidence to challenge constructively and the judgement to know when to do so.
• Working knowledge of the UAE regulatory, tax, and labour landscape, including familiarity with the gaming and lottery sector.
• Thorough understanding of IFRS, statutory reporting, audit management, UAE Corporate Tax, and UAE VAT.
• Demonstrated track record of building or upgrading a finance function, including team structure, ERP and reporting systems, processes, and controls.
• Practical experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 or an equivalent ERP, along with modern FP&A, BI, and reporting platforms such as Power BI.
• Strong ability to represent the finance function with auditors, regulators, banks, advisors, shareholders, and senior business leaders.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to translate complex financial concepts for non-finance audiences.
• Maintaining, at all times, the highest ethical and professional standards, conduct, and principles.

Qualifications Required

• A recognised professional accounting qualification (ACCA, CPA, CA, or CIMA), supported by a Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related discipline. An MBA, CFA, or equivalent postgraduate qualification is preferred.
• A minimum of 15 years of post-qualification experience, including at least 5 years as a Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director, VP Finance, or equivalent in a business of comparable scale.
• Big 4 trained background (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) is strongly preferred.
• Prior GCC experience essential, with direct exposure to gaming, lottery, or other regulated consumer industries highly desirable.
• Fluent in English; working Arabic is a plus.