Head of Legal - GCC

Role

About Us

• Sokin is a next-generation B2B financial services provider, enabling businesses to make and receive global payments with greater speed, lower cost, and total transparency.
• Our mission is simple: we’re simplifying global business - so businesses thrive wherever they choose to grow.
• We deliver services across:
• Global payments and receivables

• Foreign Exchange (FX)

• Treasury management
• Finance reconciliations
• We are rapidly expanding, with established presence in EMEA, APAC, and North America.
• Backed by a strong global infrastructure and industry-leading partners, we are redefining how businesses move money worldwide.
• Our clients span industries from sports and entertainment to logistics and travel, and our community is growing rapidly.
• As we continue to expand, we’re building a team of exceptional people who share our ambition to transform the future of global payments.

GCC Legal Leadership & Advisory

• Lead legal support for Sokin’s activities across the GCC region, ensuring alignment with business priorities and applicable local legal and regulatory requirements.
• Act as a trusted legal advisor to regional leadership on a broad range of matters, including commercial contracts, product and distribution arrangements, regulatory developments, data protection/privacy, intellectual property, disputes, and corporate governance.
• Partner closely with Compliance, Risk, Product and Commercial teams to support regional launches, new initiatives and ongoing operations.
• Provide practical, commercially focused legal guidance that enables growth while protecting the organisation’s interests.
• Manage relationships with external counsel across GCC jurisdictions, ensuring timely, high-quality and cost-effective legal support.

Regulatory & Licensing Support

• Support Sokin’s legal strategy in relation to **licensing and regulated activities** across the GCC, working closely with Compliance and business leadership.
• Lead or support the legal workstream for licensing applications, regulatory approvals, renewals, ongoing reporting obligations, and change management processes, with oversight of internal stakeholders and external counsel where required.
• Advise on legal and regulatory considerations connected with market entry, business expansions, new products and operational change.
• Support responses to regulatory queries, supervisory engagement, audits and reviews, ensuring legal input is coordinated and clearly documented.
• Help shape and maintain governance frameworks, policies, legal documentation and controls that support regulatory obligations and sound risk management.

Commercial Legal Support

• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including customer terms, supplier contracts, partnership agreements, referral arrangements, technology contracts and other strategic commercial documentation.
• Support commercial and operational teams on day-to-day legal matters arising from customer relationships, third-party arrangements and regional business activity.
• Provide legal support for strategic partnerships, distribution arrangements, outsourcing and vendor onboarding.
• Help drive standardisation of contract terms and legal approaches where appropriate to support efficiency and scalability.

Building the Regional Legal Capability

• Establish and evolve a fit-for-purpose legal operating model for the GCC region, including templates, playbooks, approval processes, governance materials and training for internal teams.
• Contribute to the development of a scalable legal framework that supports both current operations and future regional growth.
• As the business grows, help assess resource needs and contribute to building a high-performing regional legal capability, whether in-house or through a managed external counsel model.
• What success looks like in 12 months
• Within 12 months, the Head of Legal, GCC will be seen as a trusted and commercially credible legal leader who has helped build a strong legal foundation for Sokin’s growth across the GCC region.
• Success in the role will include having established effective legal support for the region’s regulatory and licensing priorities, with clear legal ownership of licensing-related workstreams, strong coordination with Compliance and business stakeholders, and well-managed relationships with external counsel.
• The individual will have helped ensure that legal considerations are embedded early in expansion, product and operational decisions, and that regional legal risks are being managed in a practical and proportionate way.
• They will also have built confidence across the business as a responsive and solutions-oriented advisor, enabling commercial progress while maintaining appropriate legal and regulatory discipline.
• Commercial agreements and partnership arrangements will be supported by clear, pragmatic legal guidance, and legal input will be viewed as a facilitator of growth rather than a blocker.
• A strong outcome after 12 months would be that the legal function in the GCC is no longer reactive or fragmented, but is instead seen as a valued strategic capability that helps Sokin grow safely and effectively in the region.

Qualifications

• Qualified lawyer with strong post-qualification experience, ideally gained in-house and with relevant exposure to fintech, payments, financial services, or another regulated environment.
• Significant experience advising on regulatory and licensing matters in one or more GCC markets, ideally within payments, fintech or broader financial services.
• Strong experience providing general commercial legal support in a fast-paced business, including drafting and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements.
• Experience partnering closely with Compliance and Risk teams and supporting engagement with regulators, external counsel and internal stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of legal issues relevant to regulated financial services businesses in the GCC region.
• Proven ability to simplify complex legal issues and provide pragmatic, business-oriented advice to senior stakeholders.
• Experience building or improving legal processes, templates, playbooks and governance structures in a scaling business.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to operate effectively across multiple jurisdictions and functions.
• *We are an equal opportunities employer committed to creating an inclusive work environment.
• As a growing global startup, we value agility and flexibility in our working culture.
• If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please let us know.*