Country Growth Operations Lead

Our mission

We're making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across 9 countries and are growing fast.

Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in...

How you'll help us achieve it

We’re hiring a Country Growth Operations Lead to drive growth in one of our early-stage West African markets. Based in-country, you’ll own the plan to take the market from launch to 1 million monthly active users. That means leading user acquisition and growth operations, and building and managing the agent network, including agent liquidity, that keeps the service running for customers.

In this role, you'll; Drive user growth by optimizing distribution strategies and leading user acquisition initiatives.

Collaborate with leadership and country teams to ensure alignment and maximize growth opportunities.

Enhance distribution processes through partnership with product and engineering teams, leveraging technology and data.

Oversee agent network operations, including acquisition, setup, and liquidity management, to support distribution and meet user demand.

Build and lead high-performing teams, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.

Manage business and financial KPIs in alignment with overall business objectives.

Champion Wave's values, leading by example and embedding them within the team culture.

Key Details

Location: At one of our early-stage countries in Africa, with a focus on West Africa. You must be willing to relocate to the primary growth country for up to one year, with periodic returns home after each trimester.

Travel: Anticipated travel requirements of 60-80% within a designated, growth-focused market.

Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula.

We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.

We support working parents - we offer 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidized child care when they return to work.

Airtime reimbursement.

Requirements

• 8+ years of senior leadership experience in user acquisition/agent operations and liquidity management within mobile money, finance, fintech, telecoms, or tech.
• Language: Bilingual proficiency is mandatory, with exceptional written and verbal communication skills in both English and French.
• Enhanced interpersonal skills in building and maintaining positive relationships, effective communication, active listening, and conflict resolution.
• Proven sales ability with a successful track record in sales, including identifying customer needs and connecting corridors.
• You might be a good fit if you
• Are deeply analytical in your approach to marketing and in optimizing the cost of customer acquisition and are metrics-oriented and experienced in leading teams towards KPIs.
• Are proactive, disciplined in your thoughts and actions, and committed to continuous self-improvement and professional development.
• Possess the humility, mission focus, and resolve to do what it takes to achieve growth goals.
• Build strong relationships and bring out the best in people.
• Excel at leadership and enjoy managing diverse and large field ops teams.
• Are a strong communicator and are comfortable defaulting to overreaching when it comes to coordination.
• Think from first principles about how things should work.
• Are excessively detail-oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
• Are a self-starter and proactive about achieving ambitious targets and willing to go the distance to get something done.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions.
• Our team
• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon plus remote team members spread across the world.
• We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
• We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
• We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
• We are on Y Combinator's top companies by revenue.
• How to apply
• Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.
• We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.
• Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.