Head of Data & Credit Analytics

Overview

• Sanabil Studio is a venture builder that blends industry expertise, technology, and startup know-how to turn bold ideas into real businesses.
• We take concepts from zero to launch, and when a venture proves its potential, we back it with seed funding and hands-on support to help it scale.
• TradePay is one of those ventures building the trade finance infrastructure for FMCG in Saudi Arabia.
• Our mission is to replace informal supplier credit with structured, data-driven working capital that helps small merchants grow, protects suppliers from credit risk, and strengthens the FMCG supply chain.
• We are building a new credit system for underbanked merchants where risk is priced from real transaction behavior, not balance sheets.
• Our model leverages supplier, distributor, and marketplace data to power embedded B2B BNPL experiences across FMCG ecosystems.
• This is not traditional lending — this is supply-chain-native decisioning built from real commerce data.
• We are looking for a Head of Data & Credit Analytics to build and lead TradePay's decision science, fraud, and portfolio analytics function from the ground up — reporting directly to the Founder.
• THE ROLE What You'll Own Here.
• Build and own TradePay's merchant scoring and decisioning frameworks
• Develop underwriting, fraud detection, and portfolio monitoring models using supplier, marketplace, and behavioral data
• Design and optimize credit limit allocation, utilization logic, pricing models, and repayment segmentation
• Build analytical frameworks around SKU velocity, merchant behavior, repayment patterns, and transaction frequency
• Partner with Product and Engineering to embed real-time decisioning into operational systems and APIs
• Develop fraud detection logic and merchant anomaly monitoring systems
• Build dashboards, portfolio reporting, and early warning indicators for operational and executive teams
• Design experiments and analytical tests to optimize approval rates, utilization, repayment behavior, and portfolio health
• Define and manage data pipelines, data quality standards, and analytical governance
• Support future AI/ML evolution of TradePay's underwriting and risk engine
• Hire and lead future data science and analytics team members
• How Success Will Be Measured Model accuracy and approval rates, portfolio performance and repayment quality, fraud detection effectiveness, speed and reliability of real-time decisioning, and the strength of the analytical foundations as TradePay scales.
• Where This Role Can Go Head of Data & Credit Analytics → Chief Data Officer as TradePay scales its underwriting and risk engine across the region.
• THE PROFILE You're probably a fit if…
• You have 6+ years of experience in data science, credit analytics, decisioning, or fintech analytics, with 2+ years in a leadership or senior individual contributor role
• You're hands-on technical with strong SQL and Python skills
• You've built underwriting, fraud, or risk models in fintech, BNPL, SME lending, merchant acquiring, or payments
• You've worked with alternative or behavioral data models
• You have a strong grasp of portfolio analytics, repayment behavior, utilization analysis, and risk segmentation
• You've built dashboards and analytical reporting frameworks from scratch
• You can work in ambiguity and build systems from zero in an early-stage environment
• You communicate clearly and can translate complex analytical concepts into business insights
• You have a builder mentality with strong ownership and execution bias
• You're fluent in Arabic and English
• Bonus: experience in B2B BNPL, merchant finance, supply chain finance, SME lending, FMCG, marketplaces, embedded finance, fraud analytics, real-time decisioning systems, ML pipelines, or MENA and emerging markets
• THE ENVIRONMENT What Working Here Actually Looks Like.
• 1- Core Engine Ownership You own the underwriting and analytics engine that powers the entire business.
• Every credit decision, every fraud check, every portfolio insight runs through what you build.
• 2- Direct Impact on the Business Portfolio performance, profitability, and product strategy all trace back to your models.
• What you build moves the numbers directly.
• 3- A Role That Grows With You This position has a clear path into Chief Data Officer as TradePay scales its underwriting and risk engine across the region.

What You Get From Us