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

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 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.

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, diversifying 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

• Senior Trading Experience: 7+ years in FX trading, with a proven track record of managing a trading book or leading a desk in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment.
• Frontier Market Mastery: Expert-level knowledge of African FX markets, including illiquid currencies, parallel market dynamics, and the regulatory nuances that affect execution and settlement.
• P&L Management: Direct experience owning a revenue or margin target, with the judgement to balance risk and reward under volatile market conditions.
• Risk Framework Expertise: Demonstrated ability to design and manage hedging strategies and exposure limits that protect the business without sacrificing competitiveness.
• Extreme Ownership: A startup-ready mindset — you identify gaps, build the infrastructure to fill them, and operate with urgency and accountability rather than waiting for direction.
• Stakeholder Communication: The ability to translate complex FX dynamics into clear, actionable insight for non-specialist audiences including senior leadership, product, and clients.

Nice to have requirements

• Deep Market Network: An established network of liquidity providers, central bank contacts, and counterparties across Africa and Asia that can be activated quickly.
• Tech-Forward Approach: Experience with automated trading systems, API-driven pricing engines, or alternative settlement rails such as stablecoins (USDC/USDT) as a liquidity tool.
• Payments Context: Prior experience in a cross-border payments or remittance business, with an understanding of how FX interacts with payment flows, compliance, and customer experience.
• Advanced Credentials: CFA, ACI Dealing Certificate, or a Master's degree in a quantitative financial field.

✅ Success in the role looks like

3-Month Metrics

• Full ownership of the FX trading book established, with clear margin targets set and tracked weekly.
• Existing liquidity provider relationships audited and a prioritised plan to deepen or diversify coverage across key corridors delivered to leadership.
• Initial assessment of pricing engine gaps completed, with a roadmap for automation improvements agreed with Engineering and Product.
• Risk framework reviewed and any critical exposure gaps addressed with interim hedging measures.

6-Month Metrics

• Measurable improvement in FX margin performance versus baseline, with clear attribution to pricing, liquidity, or process improvements.
• At least two new liquidity provider relationships activated, improving depth or competitiveness in priority corridors.
• Automated pricing workflows live for at least one high-volume corridor, reducing manual intervention and improving execution speed.
• A high-performing trading team in place, with clear roles, development plans, and a culture of commercial rigour embedded.

➡️ Interview Process

1. [30 mins] Interview with the Hiring Manager — In this stage we want to get to know you a bit more and follow up on your experience and motivations.
2. [60 mins] Problem-Solving Interview — a role-specific problem-solving exercise.
3. [60 mins] Bar Raiser Interview — a final conversation focused on your track record, ambition and fit.

⭐️ Benefits

• 27 Days Off Plus UK Bank Holidays: Take the time to decompress. Working at a startup is hard!
• Birthday Leave: Celebrate your special day with a bonus day off that month.
• Enhanced Parental Leave: 16 weeks of full pay for the primary caregiver and 4 weeks for the secondary caregiver (after a 6-month probationary period).
• Enhanced Pension: Salary sacrifice pension scheme via Penfold.
• Global Workspace: Access to WeWork locations worldwide.
• Learning Budget: $1000 annually for learning and development.
• Sarabi: Themed snacks and Friday lunch focused on building great working relationships.
• Monthly Socials: Fun social events every month.
• Free Coffee: Barista-style coffee at your fingertips.