Senior FX Sales & Trading Lead

👋 About Us NALA is building Payments for the Next Billion. Faster, smarter, and fairer transfers for everyone. Since 2022, we've grown our business 120x, grown the team from 9 to 150+, raised $50M+ from top-tier investors , and were named to the Forbes Fintech 50 in 2025 & 2026. We operate two core products: NALA , our consumer app, makes cross-border payments cheaper, faster and more reliable for the global diaspora — sending money from the UK, US and EU to Africa and Asia. Rafiki , our B2B payments infrastructure, is powering global payments for global giants like MoneyGram & Western Union. Our team includes alumni from Wise, Stripe, Monzo, Revolut, and CashApp — operators who've scaled world-class products. We act with urgency, think deeply, and put our customers first, always. At NALA, this isn't just a job. It's ownership, impact, and the chance to change global payments forever. Join us in building Payments for the Next Billion . 🙌 Your Mission This is not a conventional trading seat. As the Senior FX Trading Lead, your mission is to own and evolve NALA's FX trading capabilities across frontier markets - turning liquidity access into a durable competitive advantage. You'll be working in opaque, relationship-driven markets: wide spreads, capital controls, imperfect data, and currencies that don't trade on a screen. Liquidity here is something you source, not something you click. You will lead the strategy and execution of our trading desk, managing risk, driving pricing excellence, and ensuring we deliver the best rates and deepest liquidity for both our consumer and B2B clients at scale. If you've built your career on tight G10 spreads, this probably isn't the role for you. If you thrive in markets where judgement, relationships, and market feel matter more than algos and order books - read on. 🎯 Your Responsibilities in this Role Own the Trading Desk: Lead the day-to-day operation of NALA's FX trading function, setting the standard for execution quality, pricing discipline, and risk management across all currency corridors. P&L Ownership: Take full accountability for the FX trading margin. Actively manage the spread between liquidity sources - banks, non-bank financial institutions, and parallel markets - and client-facing rates to maximise profitability. Risk & Exposure Management: Design and implement sophisticated hedging strategies to protect the business against volatility in frontier and emerging markets, while keeping client pricing sharp and competitive. Liquidity Strategy: Identify, onboard, and manage relationships with liquidity providers across African and Asian markets - sourcing directly from LPs through calls, relationships, and counterparty networks. Diversify sources to improve pricing, resilience, and execution speed. Product & Automation Partnership: Work closely with Engineering and Product to build and refine automated pricing engines and trading workflows, scaling the desk's capabilities without scaling headcount linearly. Market Intelligence: Serve as the internal authority on FX market dynamics - parallel vs. official rates, central bank policy shifts, corridor-level liquidity conditions - translating insight into actionable pricing and risk decisions. Leadership & Team Development: Mentor and develop a high-performing trading team, fostering a culture of commercial urgency, rigorous thinking, and continuous improvement. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Finance, Compliance, and Product to ensure trading activity is aligned with regulatory requirements, treasury policy, and business objectives. 🔥 Must-Have Requirements Frontier Market Mastery: Expert-level knowledge of African FX markets - illiquid currencies, parallel market dynamics, capital controls, and the regulatory nuances that affect execution and settlement. This is the non-negotiable. EM experience outside Africa will be considered, but African corridor experience is strongly preferred. Senior Trading Experience: 7+ years in