Head of Operational Risk Management

About the role

Soar, a fast‑growing fintech startup headquartered in Saudi Arabia, is seeking a Head of Operational Risk Management to lead the design, implementation and maintenance of a robust operational risk framework. Reporting to the Chief Risk Officer, the role will oversee the identification, assessment, mitigation and reporting of operational and technology risks while ensuring compliance with Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) requirements.

Key responsibilities

• Design, implement and maintain the Operational Risk Management (ORM) framework, including policies, governance structures and methodologies.
• Lead the rollout of the RCSA methodology across all functions (HR, operations, finance, business, technology) to identify and manage inherent risks.
• Maintain Operational Risk Registers and loss event databases, ensuring accurate classification and timely incident reporting.
• Develop and monitor Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) and thresholds to provide early warning of control failures.
• Establish an organization‑wide Incident Reporting Process for operational risk and near‑miss events.
• Report major operational and cyber‑security incidents to SAMA in line with regulatory thresholds and timelines.
• Enforce Root Cause Analysis for material incidents to remediate control weaknesses.
• Provide strategic direction to the Fraud Risk Manager and oversee the end‑to‑end fraud prevention, detection and response program.
• Collaborate with Technology and Cybersecurity teams to mitigate technology and cyber‑security risks, including system failures and third‑party vendor reliance.
• Conduct mandatory operational risk training for all employees.

Required profile

• Report directly to the Chief Risk Officer (CRO).
• Oversee the Fraud Risk Manager and the fraud risk management framework.

Required skills

• None specified