Head of Finance & Custody - VARA

Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.

The opportunity

We are looking for an experienced finance and client asset professional to take on the role of Head of Finance & Custody for our VARA-regulated Dubai VASP entity. The role combines ownership of core financial and management reporting for the local entity with day-to-day oversight of the safeguarding of client money and client virtual assets (VAs) held under the entity's VASP Licence. The successful candidate will act as the bridge between Group Finance, Group Client Asset Office, and the local VARA-regulated business, and will be expected to build a robust control environment for a newly licensed entity operating across a compulsory and activity-specific VARA rulebook set.

This role is best suited to a tenacious, control-focused finance professional who is comfortable owning both traditional financial/regulatory reporting and custody/client-asset safeguarding obligations in a single remit, and who can operate with minimal supervision in a fast-evolving regulatory environment.

Finance & Regulatory Reporting

• Own the delivery of monthly, quarterly, and annual management and financial accounts for the VARA VASP entity, including budget-to-actuals review;
• Prepare and submit VARA regulatory reporting packs (monthly, quarterly, and annual, as applicable) and act as the primary point of contact with VARA on finance-related information requests;
• Prepare forecasts and budgets for the local entity in collaboration with the Group FP&A team, including ongoing review of paid-up capital and Net Liquid Assets (NLA) headroom against activity-specific thresholds;
• Lead the local entity's involvement in the statutory audit process, acting as key liaison with Group Financial Control;
• Develop and maintain the finance function's control environment and Finance risk register for the newly established Dubai entity;
• Support the Group FP&A team with ad-hoc corporate requests applicable to both the local entity and the broader Group agenda;
• Prepare legal entity Board presentations covering financial performance and capital/NLA position.

Client Asset & Custody Safeguarding

• Monitor, control, and report on the safeguarding of client money and client virtual assets as applicable to the entity's licensed activities;
• Own the daily reconciliation of client virtual assets and the daily reconciliation of client money held in UAE-based client accounts, escalating material unresolved discrepancies for notification to VARA;
• Own the daily reserve asset coverage workbook, evidencing one-to-one, same-VA reserve coverage of client liabilities, and coordinate the independent audit of reserve assets at the required cadence;
• Maintain client money placement timelines (client money into a client account within the required timeframe of receipt) and escalation of the aged-item exception queue;
• Enforce no-rehypothecation controls over custody assets and ensure custody assets are never reported as firm assets;
• Develop, coordinate, and maintain the entity's client asset/custody safeguarding procedures and control framework, and chair or contribute to the internal client asset governance forum or Board;
• Maintain the paid-up capital and licence/activity capital matrix, the NLA reconciliation and reporting workflow, and liaise with Group Risk on the insurance schedule (professional indemnity, D&O, commercial crime/hot-wallet cover);
• Own the breach-notification playbook for capital, NLA, insurance, or reserve-asset shortfalls, ensuring timely escalation and regular updates until rectified;
• Maintain and test the client asset return element of the entity's wind-down plan, including the client asset return runbook, records retention, and weekly implementation reporting in a cessation scenario;
• Oversee any relationships with third-party service providers relevant to client asset safeguarding, including UAE banks, custodians, and technology vendors, ensuring ongoing eligibility and integrity of arrangements;
• Maintain a strong working knowledge of the VARA rulebook set as it applies to the entity's licensed activities, and act as the finance-side subject matter expert advising management on the client asset impact of new products, services, or markets;
• Support cyber/BCDR and material-incident reporting timelines relevant to client asset systems, and pen-testing/vulnerability assessment cycles as they touch custody and reconciliation infrastructure.

Projects & Legal Entity Development

The Head of Finance & Custody will lead the finance and safeguarding workstream on local projects and legal entity development in-region, working closely with Group Finance, Group Client Asset Office, Legal, Risk, and Compliance to ensure local requirements are considered both in-project and by the wider Group.

What you bring

• Qualified Accountant (ACA, CIMA, ACCA, or equivalent) with significant relevant experience in financial services, ideally including exposure to a VARA-regulated or comparable digital-asset regulatory regime;
• Demonstrable experience in safeguarding, custody, or client asset/client money control environments - crypto, e-money, or investment-firm client asset regimes are all relevant background;
• Working knowledge of VARA's rulebook architecture or a demonstrated ability to build this knowledge rapidly;
• Demonstrable experience in a Group reporting role focused on financial accounts and external/regulatory reporting;
• Knowledge and understanding of key accounting principles under IFRS and/or US GAAP;
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and stakeholder communication skills, with a proven track record of managing cross-functional projects;
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams across finance, compliance, and risk;
• Highly organised, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple regulatory deadlines in a fast-paced, newly licensed environment;
• Proactive and adaptable, with a willingness to take ownership of ambiguous or evolving regulatory requirements;
• Ethical and accountable, with a commitment to the highest standards of integrity in client asset stewardship;
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, comfortable operating with minimal supervisory oversight;
• Assertive, tenacious, and control-focused.

Nice to haves

• An understanding of virtual assets, blockchain technology, and wallet/custody infrastructure.

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Our commitment

Payward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions, and unique perspectives that everyone brings to the table. We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

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