Trade Finance Lead (Saudi National)

About Astek Middle EastAstek Middle East is part of Astek, a global engineering and technology consulting group founded in France in 1988 and now present on five continents. The Middle East entity delivers IT and technology services across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, supporting clients in public and government, healthcare, transportation, banking, retail, airlines, and tourism. With 10,000 employees worldwide and revenue of €620 million in 2023, Astek focuses on digital transformation and complex systems engineering for international clients. The group promotes a strong culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and continuous skills development. More information is available on the Astek Saudi Arabia and UAE country pages, and candidates can reach Astek Middle East at contact-astekme@astek-international.com.About the RoleWe are looking for a Trade Finance Lead (Saudi National) to lead the development, implementation, integration, and ongoing support of enterprise financial and trading applications within a banking environment.The successful candidate will combine strong technical expertise in trade finance or trading platforms with application lifecycle management, system integration, troubleshooting, and production support. This role involves working closely with business stakeholders, IT teams, quality assurance teams, infrastructure teams, and external technology vendors to ensure reliable, secure, and high-performing systems.Key ResponsibilitiesLead requirements gathering, analysis, design, development, implementation, and maintenance of business-critical applications.Identify opportunities to improve business processes and implement appropriate system enhancements.Lead second-level application support, including issue investigation, root-cause analysis, troubleshooting, and coordination with vendors.Coordinate testing, defect resolution, and system changes to ensure timely and effective delivery.Collaborate with business and operations teams, IT support, QA, systems integration teams, project managers, and external service providers.Support project planning, technical design, application development, and systems integration.Ensure system changes comply with applicable security, audit, PCI DSS, and regulatory requirements.Coordinate with infrastructure teams to ensure appropriate hardware, software, storage, and network capabilities.Lead technical activities required for application certification and compliance with relevant security and regulatory frameworks.Guide development, testing, deployment, and implementation activities, reviewing completed work for quality and effectiveness.Support application performance, capacity planning, system availability, and long-term platform optimization.Provide technical guidance, knowledge sharing, and mentoring to team members.Support production deployments and off-hours activities when required.QualificationsBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in the cash equity industry.Saudi nationality is mandatory.Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.Knowledge of Middle Eastern and Saudi equity markets.Required Technical SkillsStrong technical background in trade finance or trading platforms.Knowledge of application architecture, design patterns, and high-performance application environments.Experience with application troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and production support.Good knowledge of Java, .NET, Unix scripting, Oracle SQL, and Microsoft SQL Server.Understanding of PCI DSS requirements and application security.Experience with scripting languages and at least one dynamic programming language.Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.Ability to work effectively in a high-pressure trading environment.Preferred Skills and ExperienceHands-on experience with trading platforms such as Eximbills and eTrade; Eximbills Trade Finance experience is particularly desirable.Experience with ServiceNow or similar service management tools.Exposure to version control software.Experience with DevOps tools and development-to-delivery workflows.Knowledge of JVM internals, performance tuning, and architecture for low-latency, high-performance applications.Additional InformationCandidates must be Saudi nationals.The role involves collaboration with business stakeholders, internal technology teams, vendors, and service providers.Flexibility to support deployments and application issues outside standard working hours may be required.If you meet the requirements and are interested in this opportunity, we encourage you to apply with your updated CV.