Terms of Service

v1.0 · Last updated: 2026-05-16 · Index & changelog

These Terms govern your use of Zamala. By creating an account or otherwise using the platform, you agree to them. If you do not agree, please do not use the platform.

1. What Zamala is, and is not

Zamala is a marketplace. It connects two kinds of users: candidates seeking a job referral at a target employer, and referrers who can submit them through their own employer's internal process for a fee they set themselves.

Zamala is not:

If you need any of those things, Zamala is not the right service for you.

2. Definitions

3. Eligibility

To use Zamala you must be:

For referrers, you must additionally:

4. Your account

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials confidential. You are responsible for everything that happens under your account. If you suspect unauthorized access, tell us immediately at info@zamala.net.

Information on your profile must be true. We may suspend or terminate accounts that contain false information.

5. How referrals work

  1. A candidate creates a profile, uploads a CV, and lists target companies.
  2. The candidate browses the marketplace and finds referrers at relevant target companies. Referrer profiles are anonymized — see Section 8.
  3. The candidate makes a request to a specific referrer, pays the referrer's fee to escrow.
  4. The referrer accepts or declines within a reasonable window. If declined, the candidate is refunded automatically.
  5. On accept, the referrer submits the candidate through their employer's internal referral process within 14 days.
  6. On submission, the funds are released to the referrer minus the platform's 28% cut. If no submission happens within 14 days, the candidate is refunded automatically.
  7. What happens next — interview, offer, hire — is between the candidate and the target employer. Zamala has no role in that.

6. Referrer verification

Every referrer goes through a four-step verification before they appear in the marketplace:

  1. Corporate email verification. We send a code to the email address on the referrer's claimed employer's domain.
  2. LinkedIn cross-check. Zamala verifies that the LinkedIn profile matches the claimed role, tenure, and employer; with strengthened checks on profile age, activity, and connection signals.
  3. Employment confirmation. Zamala verifies current employment via the corporate email exchange and, where appropriate, public information.

In Phase 2, automated identity verification via Stripe Identity (government ID + selfie) replaces the in-person element of step 2 and adds an independent fraud-detection layer.

Verification is renewed at least every six months. A referrer whose verification has lapsed is paused — they cannot accept new requests — until re-verified.

Verification is a checkpoint, not a guarantee. We exercise reasonable diligence; we do not warrant that any referrer is truthful about every detail. If you discover that a verified referrer has misrepresented themselves, tell us and we will investigate.

7. Referrer's relationship with their employer

This is important. You, the referrer, are responsible for ensuring that paid referrals are permitted by your employer's policies. Some employers explicitly forbid third-party splits of internal referral bonuses; some allow paid referrals with disclosure; some are silent.

Zamala's model does not depend on, track, or pay out from internal corporate referral bonuses. The fee the candidate pays you is your fee for your time and your access — it is not a split of an internal bonus.

If your employer's policy changes such that paid referrals are no longer permitted, you must pause your referrer account and tell us. Continuing to accept requests in violation of your employer's policies is your responsibility, not ours.

8. Anonymous profiles

To protect referrers from employer scrutiny and peer-network gossip — which would collapse supply — we hide the following from public marketplace listings:

We show: role, company tier, tenure band, ratings, statistics, anonymized identifier (e.g. REFR-XXXXXX). Candidates know who they are paying only after a referral request has been accepted and the referrer chooses to introduce themselves. This is a deliberate design feature (see ADR-004) and is part of what you are getting when you sign up. If full identity-visibility is what you want, Zamala is not the right service for you.

9. Pricing and platform fee

Referrers set their own fee per request, in Saudi Riyals (SAR), within a range of 150 SAR to 1,500 SAR. The platform fee is 28% of that fee; the referrer receives the remaining 72%. The fee is calculated when the candidate makes the request and is fixed for that request.

The platform may revise the range or the percentage going forward. Changes will be announced in advance and will not apply retroactively to in-flight requests.

Premium-subscription pricing, add-on services, and B2B pricing are governed by the offer presented at the time of purchase and the corresponding service-specific terms (where applicable).

10. Payments, escrow, refunds

The candidate pays the fee to platform-held escrow at the moment they make the request. Funds remain in escrow until one of the following triggers releases or refunds them:

Full mechanics are in the Refund Policy.

11. Off-platform circumvention

When a candidate and a referrer connect through Zamala, they agree to a 6-month exclusivity: any referral, submission, or job-introduction arising from that connection runs through the platform for six months from the first introduction.

This protects the platform's ability to keep operating — without it, the marginal cost of arranging a referral on the side would erode the model that keeps verification, escrow, and dispute resolution funded.

If we detect circumvention (for example, a candidate is hired at the referrer's employer within six months and the platform has no record of the referral fee being paid), we will invoice the platform fee that would have been owed, and we may flag or suspend the accounts involved. Repeated circumvention results in termination.

12. Prohibited conduct

You will not:

We may suspend or terminate accounts for any of the above.

13. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if you breach these Terms, if your verification lapses without renewal, or if we are required to do so by law. We will tell you why where we can.

You may close your account at any time by emailing info@zamala.net. Closing your account does not retroactively cancel transactions that have already settled.

14. Disputes

If something goes wrong, please contact us first at info@zamala.net. We aim to acknowledge within 24 hours and resolve within 48 hours where possible. We refund generously in Year 1 — the principle is that reputation is worth more than the unit economics of any single transaction.

Where a dispute cannot be resolved through direct conversation, it will be referred to the competent court in Riyadh under Section 18.

15. Service availability

We do not promise the platform will be available 24/7 or that it will be free from errors. We will make reasonable efforts to keep it running and to communicate planned downtime.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law:

These caps do not apply to liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law (for example, liability arising from gross negligence or wilful misconduct).

17. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Zamala from claims, damages, and costs arising from (a) your breach of these Terms, (b) your violation of any law or third party's rights through your use of the platform, or (c) misrepresentations you make on your profile.

18. Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. The competent courts of Riyadh have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising from these Terms.

These Terms exist in Arabic and English. In case of any conflict between the two, the Arabic version prevails.

19. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. Material changes will be announced by email (where we have one) and by a banner on the website at least 14 days before they take effect, so that you can review and decide whether to continue using the platform.

Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

20. Contact

Changelog