Head of Dealing

Job description

About The Role The Head of Dealing owns the overall performance, risk discipline and continuity of the employer’s dealing function across three daily shifts. The role leads Senior Dealers and Dealers, ensures dependable coverage of Saudi and international markets, particularly the U.S and takes accountability for trade execution standards, portfolio-risk processes, service quality and operational resilience. This is a hands on leadership position with ultimate responsibility for closing staffing gaps and managing critical trading incidents. Department Leadership Own operating capacity and complete dealing coverage across all three daily shifts; create, approve and maintain rotas aligned to Saudi and U.S. market hours and expected trading volumes. • Plan ahead for leave, absence, market holidays, U.S. Daylight saving transitions, peak volume and product events; put backup rosters, cross-training and succession coverage in place. • Hold Senior Dealers accountable for attendance checks and shift readiness; close any coverage shortfall immediately by reassigning resources, activating backup or personally supporting the desk when required. • Lead workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, coaching, performance reviews and development of Senior Dealers and Dealers; set clear expectations and escalation ownership. • Establish shift handover standards, supervision routines and emergency coverage arrangements so that no required shift is left without an accountable dealer. Trading oversight, risk and regulatory control • Set and oversee dealing procedures for client trade execution, exceptions, market access and supported Saudi and international products, with strong expertise in U.S. equities, ETFs and listed options. • Oversee margin call management, client portfolio exposures, options exercise/assignment risk, concentrated positions, trading limits and timely escalation to Risk and Compliance. • Own the response to high impact trading incidents, execution errors, client escalations and market or platform outages; direct containment, management updates and post incident remediation. • Maintain effective first-line controls, audit trails, recordkeeping, surveillance escalation and adherence to applicable regulations and internal approval frameworks. • Partner with Compliance, Risk, Legal and Operations on regulatory queries, audit findings, policy changes and control improvement, rather than independently overriding prescribed requirements. Performance, product readiness and strategic delivery • Define and review dealing KPIs, including shift coverage, execution accuracy, client response, margin resolution timeliness, incidents, recurring errors and procedural compliance. • Provide management reporting on market activity, client behavior, significant risks, operating capacity, incidents and corrective action progress. • Lead operating model and process improvements with Product, Technology, Operations and Client Services, including UAT, new feature launches, and support readiness for product or market expansion. • Maintain strong working relationships with execution brokers, clearing/custody partners and key internal stakeholders; ensure ownership of cross party issues and operational dependencies. • Develop desk playbooks for volatile markets, contingency trading, outages, unusual order activity and other business continuity events; periodically test and refine them

Requirements

• CME-3 (CMA) certification and Tadawul Certificate — both required.
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business or a related discipline
• typically 8+ years of relevant dealing, brokerage or trading-operations experience, including proven team-leadership responsibility.
• Extensive practical experience in the Saudi market and international markets, particularly U.S. trading sessions, with advanced knowledge of equities, ETFs, listed options, margin products and the full trade lifecycle.
• Strong background in managing multi-shift teams, staffing contingency, portfolio-risk escalation, operational controls, incidents and cross-functional delivery.
• Ability to make timely risk-aware decisions, lead during market disruption, engage senior stakeholders and improve service and control performance through measurable actions.
• Fluent professional English, written and spoken, with clear executive reporting and strong leadership and negotiation skills.
• Flexibility to support night shifts and critical escalations whenever necessary to maintain three-shift coverage.

Skills