Kraken is hiring a Head of Finance & Custody to own financial reporting and client-asset safeguarding for its VARA-regulated Dubai entity.

About the Role

The role combines management and regulatory reporting with day-to-day oversight of client money and virtual assets held under the entity's VASP licence.

It connects Group Finance, the Group Client Asset Office, and the local VARA-regulated business and builds the control environment for a newly licensed entity.

Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

• Own monthly, quarterly, and annual management and financial accounts, budgets, forecasts, and capital monitoring.
• Prepare VARA regulatory reporting and respond to finance-related regulator requests.
• Lead local statutory-audit work and maintain the finance control environment and risk register.
• Own daily reconciliation of client virtual assets and client money and escalate material discrepancies.
• Maintain reserve-asset coverage, capital and net-liquid-asset workflows, insurance schedules, and breach-notification processes.
• Enforce safeguarding and no-rehypothecation controls for custody assets.
• Maintain client-asset return procedures, wind-down plans, records, and testing.
• Oversee relevant banks, custodians, and technology vendors and advise on client-asset impacts of products and markets.
• Lead finance and safeguarding workstreams for regional projects and legal-entity development.

Requirements

Required Experience and Skills

• A qualified-accountant credential such as ACA, CIMA, ACCA, or an equivalent.
• Significant financial-services experience, ideally including VARA or a comparable digital-asset regulatory regime.
• Experience in safeguarding, custody, or client-money and client-asset control environments.
• Experience with group reporting, financial accounts, and external or regulatory reporting.
• Knowledge of IFRS, United States GAAP, or both.
• Strong analytical, project-management, leadership, and stakeholder-communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines and operate independently in a newly licensed environment.
• High standards of integrity, accountability, organization, and client-asset stewardship.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of virtual assets, blockchain technology, and wallet or custody infrastructure.

How to Apply

Apply through the official job page.