Chief Technology Officer - Group Financial Services - My Rateb

Objective: MyRateb is launching a regulated stored value wallet (prepaid payment instrument) offering P2P transfers, merchant payments, bill payments, top-ups and, over time, adjacent financial services. The CTO will own the technology strategy, architecture, delivery and security of the entire platform, including the ledger, KYC and onboarding, payment rails and customer apps. The mandate is to take the platform from build to a compliant, scalable, always-on launch, and then to millions of users. Key Responsibilities: • Technology Strategy and Architecture: • Define the technology vision, roadmap and build-vs-buy strategy aligned to business goals and regulatory timelines. • Design a scalable, API-first, cloud-native architecture covering the wallet core, double-entry ledger, limits and rules engine, and reconciliation and settlement systems. • Evaluate the existing technology landscape and define a roadmap for migration to a stable, scalable, and future-ready platform • Own vendor and partner selection: cloud, core wallet platform, KYC/eKYC providers, payment gateways, card and bank integrations. • Establish technology architecture governance, standards and lifecycle management to ensure scalability, interoperability, security and effective management of technical debt. • Product Delivery and Launch: • Lead delivery of the consumer app (iOS, Android, web), merchant app and acceptance tools (QR, POS, payment links), and admin and operations consoles. • Establish agile engineering practices, release management and a CI/CD pipeline that supports rapid, safe releases. • Partner with Product, Operations, Risk, Compliance and other key stakeholders to prioritize the technology roadmap and ensure operational and regulatory readiness for launch and subsequent releases. • Security, Risk and Compliance: • Ensure technology meets central bank and regulatory requirements on licensing, audit trails, data residency, outsourcing and business continuity. • Build in fraud detection, transaction monitoring and AML/CFT screening, working with Compliance and Risk. • Reliability and Operations: • Ensure 24x7 availability with defined SLAs and a disaster recovery plan (RTO/RPO). • Establish observability, capacity planning, performance testing and 24x7 production support. • Manage cloud and infrastructure cost (FinOps) as transaction volumes grow. • Establish IT service management disciplines covering incident, problem, change and service continuity management. • Data, Analytics and Innovation: • Build the data platform for customer analytics, risk scoring, personalization, and regulatory and management reporting. • Evaluate emerging capabilities (AI-driven fraud controls, biometrics, tokenization, open banking APIs) and apply them where they add clear value. • Establish data governance standards covering data quality, ownership, classification, access, retention and protection across the platform. • Leadership and Governance: • Build and lead the technology organization: engineering, architecture, QA, DevOps, security and IT operations. • Own the technology budget, vendor contracts and SLAs. • Expected Outcomes: • Launch: Go-live on schedule with regulatory approvals and no critical defects. • Reliability: Maintain uptime of 99.95% or higher, strong transaction success rates & effective mean time to recover. • Security: Maintain zero material breaches and PCI-DSS & ISO 27001 certified and maintained. • Scale: Maintain required peak TPS capacity, efficient onboarding turnaround time, and strong application performance and ratings. • Fraud and Risk: Maintain fraud loss rates within approved thresholds and close audit findings within agreed timelines. • Delivery and Cost: Deliver the technology roadmap against plan, manage technology spend within budget and optimize cost per transaction. Educational Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Computer Science is required, a Master’s degree would be an added advantage. • Preferred certifications: CISSP, CISM, CISA, TOGAF or relevant cloud architecture certifications. Recommended Experience: • Minimum of 10–12 years of progressive technology experience, including 3+ years in a CIO, CTO or senior technology leadership role within payments, fintech, banking or digital financial services. • Proven track record of launching or scaling a high-volume payments or wallet platform, such as prepaid, mobile money, UPI-type rails or card processing. • Prior experience within the GCC or Middle East payments / financial services environment is highly desirable. Skills and Competencies: • Technical: Strong expertise in microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP); ledger design, transaction processing, settlement and reconciliation; ISO 8583 and ISO 20022, QR standards, card networks and instant payment schemes; cybersecurity, encryption, tokenization and secure SDLC. • Leadership: Strategic thinker with the ability to translate business and regulatory requirements into technology outcomes. Job Remarks: • Preferred Language: English, Arabic • Job Country: Kuwait • Duty Shift / Timings: One Shift / 07:00 AM to 03:00 PM Show more Show less

Bachelor's degree in Engineering or Computer Science is required, a Master’s degree would be an added advantage. Preferred certifications: CISSP, CISM, CISA, TOGAF or relevant cloud architecture certifications.

Technology Strategy and Architecture: Define the technology vision, roadmap and build-vs-buy strategy aligned to business goals and regulatory timelines. Design a scalable, API-first, cloud-native architecture covering the wallet core, double-entry ledger, limits and rules engine, and reconciliation and settlement systems. Evaluate the existing technology landscape and define a roadmap for migration to a stable, scalable, and future-ready platform. Own vendor and partner selection: cloud, core wallet platform, KYC/eKYC providers, payment gateways, card and bank integrations. Establish technology architecture governance, standards and lifecycle management to ensure scalability, interoperability, security and effective management of technical debt. Product Delivery and Launch: Lead delivery of the consumer app (iOS, Android, web), merchant app and acceptance tools (QR, POS, payment links), and admin and operations consoles. Establish agile engineering practices, release management and a CI/CD pipeline that supports rapid, safe releases. Partner with Product, Operations, Risk, Compliance and other key stakeholders to prioritize the technology roadmap and ensure operational and regulatory readiness for launch and subsequent releases. Security, Risk and Compliance: Ensure technology meets central bank and regulatory requirements on licensing, audit trails, data residency, outsourcing and business continuity. Build in fraud detection, transaction monitoring and AML/CFT screening, working with Compliance and Risk. Reliability and Operations: Ensure 24x7 availability with defined SLAs and a disaster recovery plan (RTO/RPO). Establish observability, capacity planning, performance testing and 24x7 production support. Manage cloud and infrastructure cost (FinOps) as transaction volumes grow. Establish IT service management disciplines covering incident, problem, change and service continuity management. Data, Analytics and Innovation: Build the data platform for customer analytics, risk scoring, personalization, and regulatory and management reporting. Evaluate emerging capabilities (AI-driven fraud controls, biometrics, tokenization, open banking APIs) and apply them where they add clear value. Establish data governance standards covering data quality, ownership, classification, access, retention and protection across the platform. Leadership and Governance: Build and lead the technology organization: engineering, architecture, QA, DevOps, security and IT operations. Own the technology budget, vendor contracts and SLAs.