Location: Cairo

Reports to: Chief Executive Officer

Works closely with: Leadership team, Board Committees

Company Stage: Series-B+

Industry: Fintech / Digital Banking / Regulated Financial Services

Countries covered: Egypt and Saudi Arabia

Role Purpose

The CHRO is a key member of the executive leadership team, responsible for designing, leading, executing and governing the people strategy of a high-growth fintech / digital bank operating across Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The role’s mandate is to enable rapid and sustainable scale—growing from approximately 300 to 1,000+ employees—while ensuring the organization meets the governance, risk, and regulatory expectations of licensed or soon-to-be-licensed financial institutions under the supervision of the Central Bank of Egypt, the Financial Regulatory Authority and the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

The CHRO will build a high-performance, values-driven culture, institutionalize strong HR governance, and ensure the organization has the leadership depth and operating discipline required for regional expansion.

Key Responsibilities

1. People Strategy & Workforce Planning

• Define and execute a multi-year people strategy aligned with Khazna’s vision and strategy and support a high-performance culture with a focus on business growth, regulatory requirements, and cost discipline.
• Manage and expand the people team to cater to the company’s rapid growth to include talent acquisition, people operations, talent management and all other HR functions
• Lead workforce planning across engineering, product, operations, commercial, finance, risk, compliance, and customer service.
• Ensure talent supply supports product roadmap, licensing milestones, and geographic expansion.

2. Talent Acquisition & Employer Brand

• Oversee executive, leadership, and critical-role hiring across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and hybrid/remote teams.
• Design and update competitive and compliant compensation and benefits frameworks for both markets.
• Strengthen employer branding to attract top technology, fintech and banking talent.

3. Performance, Culture & Rewards

• Define company values, leadership behaviors, and performance standards.
• Implement performance management systems aligned with accountability, risk awareness, and outcomes.
• Design incentive and reward frameworks consistent with long-term value creation and regulatory expectations.

4. Organization Design & Operating Model

• Design scalable organizational structures suitable for a regulated financial institution.
• Clarify decision rights, reporting lines, and separation of duties between business, risk, and control functions.
• Support organizational evolution pre- and post-license.

5. Governance, HR Risk & Compliance

• Own HR governance frameworks, policies, and controls in line with local labor laws and financial-services regulation.
• Ensure audit-ready people processes, including hiring, promotions, disciplinary actions, and exits.
• Support regulator interactions related to fit-and-proper assessments, senior appointments, and succession planning.

6. Leadership Development & Succession

• Identify, develop, and retain high-potential leaders across functions and geographies.
• Establish succession plans for executive and regulated roles.
• Coach senior leaders transitioning from startup to regulated-institution leadership.

7. HR Team, Infrastructure & Analytics

• Manage and grow a high performing HR team
• Implement scalable HR systems (HRIS, payroll, performance, learning).
• Build people analytics capabilities to inform workforce, productivity, and retention decisions.
• Provide regular, data-driven reporting to the CEO and Board.
• Regulatory & Governance Expectations
• Ensure full compliance with labor laws and employment regulations in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
• Maintain documentation and controls suitable for internal audit, external audit, and regulator review.
• Support governance expectations of a licensed or licensing-stage digital bank or financing institution.
• Act as a trusted counterpart to Board committees on remuneration, succession, and culture.

Experience & Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years of progressive HR / People leadership experience.
• Prior senior role in technology, fintech, digital banking, payments, lending, or regulated financial services.
• Proven experience scaling organizations from mid-size to large (2–3x growth).
• Experience operating across MENA, ideally Egypt and/or Saudi Arabia.
• Demonstrated ability to operate under regulatory scrutiny.

Preferred

• Experience in newly licensed financial institutions.
• Exposure to hybrid or remote international teams.
• Experience engaging with regulators, internal audit, or board committees on people matters.

Key Competencies

• Strategic workforce planning and organizational design
• Regulatory-grade HR governance and risk management
• Executive-level stakeholder management and board presence
• Data-driven decision making
• Cultural fluency across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and global talent markets
• Ability to balance speed, discipline, and scale

Key Performance Indicators

• Quality and speed of hiring for critical roles
• Retention and attrition in key functions
• Leadership bench strength and succession coverage
• Employee engagement and performance outcomes
• HR audit and regulatory findings (target: zero material issues)
• People cost efficiency relative to growth

Unsuitable Backgrounds

• HR leaders with experience limited to unregulated technology startups.
• Traditional HR profiles without exposure to high-growth environments.
• Purely operational HR leaders lacking strategic or executive capability.
• Candidates unable to operate effectively across cultures and geographies.