Product Manager

About the Role FundingSouq is a DIFC- and SAMA-regulated Shariah-compliant SME lending platform operating across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We connect individual and institutional investors with Shariah-compliant financing opportunities through a regulated, risk-focused marketplace. We are looking for a Product Manager to own the end-to-end product experience for investors and borrowers, with a clear mandate to build the best investment and SME financing product in the Middle East. This is not a roadmap-execution role — it is a product leadership role. You will set the vision, originate the ideas, and drive the product from its current state to world-class. The role is currently weighted approximately 80% toward the investor product and 20% toward the SME borrower experience, reflecting FundingSouq's near-term growth priorities. This balance may shift as the business evolves. Key Responsibilities Product Vision & Strategy • Define and own the product vision and multi-quarter roadmap across investor and borrower journeys • Originate and champion new product concepts — identify what does not yet exist and build the case for building it • Translate business goals, regulatory requirements, and customer needs into clear, prioritised product bets • Continuously benchmark FundingSouq's product against local and global fintech leaders; identify and close the gaps systematically • Define what world-class looks like for a dual-regulated SME lending platform, then pursue it relentlessly Discovery & Ideation • Run structured product discovery: user interviews, behavioral data analysis, market research, and competitive intelligence • Validate product opportunities before committing engineering resources • Generate creative solutions to hard problems — user friction, trust, conversion, compliance UX — and bring them to life with the team • Develop a deep understanding of FundingSouq's two customer segments (investors and SME borrowers) and what drives their decisions Investor Experience • Own and optimise the end-to-end investor journey: onboarding & KYC, funding flows and wallet experience, performance tracking, and payouts • Improve trust, transparency, and information clarity across the investor platform • Use investor feedback, behavioral data, and funnel analysis to drive meaningful improvements. Borrower Experience • Own and optimise the end-to-end SME borrower journey: application and onboarding, credit assessment touchpoints, document submission, disbursement, and repayment flows • Reduce friction while maintaining credit quality and compliance — find creative ways to do both, not trade one for the other Product Delivery & Execution • Write clear product requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria • Prioritise and manage the product backlog based on impact, urgency, and strategic fit • Lead sprint planning, grooming, and product reviews with engineering and design • Establish product management best practices, tooling, and rituals as FundingSouq scales. Data & Performance. • Define and track product KPIs for investors and borrowers • Analyse funnels and user behaviour to guide prioritisation • Measure the impact of new features and iterate based on evidence, not intuition How You Think We care as much about how you approach problems as what you have done. The right candidate for this role: • Has strong opinions about product, loosely held — you can defend your reasoning clearly and update it when shown better evidence • Thinks in user outcomes, not features — your default question is “what changes for the user?” not “what do we ship?” • Is comfortable making calls with incomplete information and uncomfortable letting perfect be the enemy of shipped • Sees regulatory constraints as a design challenge, not a blocker — some of the best fintech UX exists because of tight compliance requirements, not despite them • Builds products you would actually use yourself and holds your work to that standard Requirements. Experience • 5+ years as a Product Manager, with meaningful time in fintech, marketplace, or a regulated platform • At least one clear example of building a product from 0-to-1, or materially transforming an existing product's user experience at scale • Demonstrable product taste — you can articulate what makes a great product experience and show examples of your own work that reflect it • Experience working with engineering and design in an agile environment • Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams without direct authority • Experience with investing, banking, or lending applications strongly preferred Skills • Structured product discovery and user research methods • Strong written and verbal communication — you write clearly, explain complex ideas simply, and adjust for the audience • Data literacy — comfortable defining metrics, reading funnels, and drawing conclusions from behavioral data • Familiarity with design tools (Figma or equivalent) and working closely with designers • Working knowledge of agile delivery — not a credential, an actual practice Nice to Have • Experience in a two-sided marketplace or platform business • Familiarity with SAMA, DFSA, or another financial regulator's product requirements • Arabic language skills • Early-stage company experience — you know what it means to build process from scratch