CISO - Global FinTech scaleup - £140,000 - £150,000 - fully remote
Are you a
hands-on CISO or Security Director
ready to lead, standardize, and scale the entire security posture for a hyper-growth, globally expanding FinTech? Can you urgently drive mission-critical
PCI DSS compliance
across multiple international environments while integrating disparate security practices from recent acquisitions?
A high-growth global FinTech, founded 4 years ago and backed by a major investor, specializes in providing seamless digital payment processing and banking solutions across Asia and the Middle East. With senior leadership split between Europe/UK and Dubai, they urgently seek their next CISO to unify and mature their security function. This is a critical leadership role reporting to the executive team, demanding a candidate who can balance strategic vision with technical delivery.
CISO Core Responsibilities:
* Mission-Critical Compliance (PCI DSS):
Urgently own and successfully complete the certification for the third PCI DSS environment, ensuring continuous compliance across all card-touching payments infrastructure.
* Security Strategy & Standardization:
Define, harmonize, and implement an enterprise-grade security framework across the entire group, integrating inconsistent practices following multiple acquisitions.
* Risk & Governance Leadership:
Own the overall cyber risk posture, manage ISO certifications, and establish formal security governance to meet the demands of major institutional investment.
* Hands-On Technical Guidance:
Provide technical expertise to navigate security tools (SIEM, Vulnerability Management) and architectural decisions, ensuring the move away from early-stage cost-cutting.
* Global Team Management:
Lead and grow a small, focused security team (currently 2, planned for 3-5 total), overseeing the implementation of a 24/7 outsourced SecOps monitoring function.
* Incident Response & Reporting:
Lead all major security incident response activities and provide high-level reporting on operational risk to the executive team and board.
CISO Must-Have Experience:
* Payments Security (Card-Touching):
Mandatory hands-on experience in
PCI DSS environments
and security engineering for payments infrastructure, specifically dealing directly with card processing (not just merchant or wallet solutions).
* Technical Acumen:
Proven ability to operate at both the strategic/GRC level
and
the technical implementation level; must be able to understand the tools and implementation details.
* Maturity & Scale Experience:
Experience in moving a fast-growing company from a startup mentality to an
enterprise-ready
security posture, including modernizing device security and WAF implementation.
* Leadership & Autonomy:
Senior leadership background that demonstrates independence in establishing and driving a security program without relying purely on high-level direction (i.e., not a pure strategy CISO from a massive bank).
* Global Timezone Flexibility:
Willingness to work flexible hours to align with a majority of the business operations in
Asian time zones
.
CISO Key Outcomes (First 6–12 Months):
* Successfully complete the
PCI DSS certification
for the third, mission-critical payments environment going live in January 2026.
* Produce a comprehensive assessment of the current security state across all acquired group companies and establish a
single, unified security standard
.
* Harmonize security processes
across the group, retiring inconsistent legacy tooling, and delivering immediate, visible improvements in enterprise readiness.
* Formalize the structure of the security team, successfully onboarding the SecOps hire, and establishing the
24/7 outsourced monitoring
capability.
If you are an agile, technically capable CISO or security leader who thrives in an urgent, high-impact environment and is ready to establish the global security function for a major FinTech player, please apply immediately
CISO - Global FinTech start-up - £140,000 - £150,000 - fully remote