Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

About Sanabil Studio and A27

Sanabil Studio is a startup incubator combining sector expertise, technology, and entrepreneurial experience to transform visionary concepts into operating companies. We advance ventures from idea inception to launch, and provide seed financing plus hands-on assistance to scale proven models.
A27, a venture backed by Sanabil Studio, is developing infrastructure aimed at revolutionizing the structured finance lifecycle in private capital markets. Its mission centers on enhancing speed, accuracy, and efficiency for both borrowers and lenders through AI integration and robust financial architecture. The platform envisions expanding into tokenizing real-world assets as maturity progresses.

Role Overview

The Co-Founder and CTO will take ownership of the technological and engineering strategy from the initial product phase to a scalable, secure platform supporting private capital market asset lifecycles. Responsibilities include leading AI product development, building data platforms, ensuring security, and assembling a high-performance engineering team based in Riyadh.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and oversee the architectural roadmap prioritizing security, reliability, and maintainability from product inception to scale.
• Lead creation of AI-driven products converting complex financial data into actionable insights.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive data platform managing ingestion, processing, structuring, and monitoring of financial information.
• Implement responsible AI best practices, including monitoring, explainability, and human-in-the-loop validation for accuracy and compliance.
• Engineer integration layers connecting financial institutions, market participants, and external data providers.
• Set and enforce technical quality standards including code quality, continuous integration/deployment, observability, and documentation.
• Establish strong security, privacy, and governance protocols capable of withstanding enterprise procurement and future regulatory demands.
• Make pragmatic decisions on build versus buy strategies concerning infrastructure and core technology components.
• Prepare the platform for future tokenization efforts by evaluating blockchain, custody solutions, and smart contract architectures for compliance.
• Recruit, manage, and mentor the engineering and data teams in Riyadh.
• Collaborate with the CEO, clients, and compliance teams to translate real financial workflows into scalable product solutions.

Candidate Profile

• Proven delivery of production-scale AI, machine learning, or data-intensive systems beyond prototypes.
• Strong background in software engineering combined with practical experience handling AI, data infrastructure, or information processing tasks.
• Experience in regulated and accuracy-critical sectors such as fintech, capital markets, or financial services with an appreciation for auditability and compliance.
• Demonstrated ability to transform complex raw data into reliable, structured tools that drive measurable business results.
• Successful track record in hiring and leading teams in dynamic, ambiguous startup environments.
• High ownership mindset with commitment to robust, scalable, secure system design.
• Clear communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders including executive leadership.
• Based in Riyadh or willing to relocate; this position requires on-site presence.
• English proficiency is essential; Arabic language skills are advantageous.
• Bonus qualifications include expertise in AI-driven document extraction, financial data modeling, open banking, blockchain and digital asset tokenization, security compliance frameworks such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, and prior early-stage engineering leadership roles.

Work Environment and Benefits

• Opportunity to architect solutions from the ground up rather than maintaining legacy systems.
• Central role in leveraging AI as a core component of product development.
• Close collaboration with the CEO and Sanabil Studio founding team enabling rapid feedback and strategic influence.
• Equity stake as a co-founder aligned with long-term value creation.
• Pre-seed funding via SAFE instrument to support development.
• Robust operational support including legal, finance, HR, and administrative services.
• Access to an extensive network of portfolio companies, investors, and industry experts through Sanabil Studio.
• Governance and oversight via an Investment Committee to assist with seed round preparedness.
• Accelerated professional growth, promising learning equal to three years in one.