The Role

We are hiring a Head of Payments and Platform to build and run that layer. The job is to turn a licence, a working core banking stack and an engineering team into a payments business with paying partners.

You will own four things, in this order:

The accounts platform. Our banking-as-a-service product: accounts, collections and payouts for partners' customers through our API. You define the first release with engineering, run partner onboarding with Compliance, and get the first partners live.

Cross-border payments and FX. The settlement routes for our customers' supplier payments and international receipts, the pricing to customers, and the daily treasury position with Finance.

Remittance termination. Umba as a receiving bank for money transfer operators, with payout to bank accounts and M-Pesa.

Credit alongside accounts. With our credit team, lending to partners' merchants and customers on our rails.

What You'll Do

• Write the product specifications engineering builds from, and the term sheets partners sign.
• Sign and onboard the first platform partners: payment companies, fintechs, marketplaces and vertical software platforms that need accounts, collections and payouts on a bank licence.
• Choose and contract the settlement routes, run the comparison on price, speed and counterparty risk, and keep them performing.
• Set pricing: platform fees, per-account and per-transaction fees, FX margins, remittance termination fees.
• Build the small team around you: a treasury dealer, partner success, and later a sales lead.
• Work with Compliance on partner approvals, KYC reliance models and regulatory approvals.
• Own the numbers: partners live, accounts opened, volume, revenue, and the capital and liquidity the business consumes.

What We're Looking For

• 7+ years in payments, fintech, or financial services — banking-as-a-service or fintech in East Africa, with cross-border or remittance experience preferred.
• You have built or run a sponsor-bank, aggregator or PSP integration from the inside. You know what fintechs need from a bank's API.
• You have dealt with the Central Bank of Kenya or an equivalent regulator on product approvals.
• You can read a treasury position, price FX and payments, and explain a fee schedule to a partner's CFO.
• You can sell and close, and you can write: a specification an engineer can build from, a term sheet a counterparty can sign.
• A network among Kenyan and regional fintechs, payment companies and remittance operators.
• Useful but not required: experience with digital-asset payment infrastructure, and with core banking systems.

• Define the first release of the accounts platform with engineering.
• Run partner onboarding with Compliance.
• Get the first partners live on the accounts platform.
• Manage cross-border payments and FX, including settlement routes, pricing, and daily treasury position.
• Oversee remittance termination, acting as a receiving bank for money transfer operators.
• Collaborate with the credit team on lending to partners' merchants and customers.
• Write product specifications for engineering.
• Write term sheets for partners.
• Sign and onboard platform partners (payment companies, fintechs, marketplaces, vertical software platforms).
• Choose and contract settlement routes, analyzing price, speed, and counterparty risk.
• Set pricing for platform fees, accounts, transactions, FX, and remittance termination.
• Build and manage a team including a treasury dealer, partner success, and a sales lead.
• Work with Compliance on partner approvals, KYC, and regulatory approvals.
• Own and report on key business metrics: partners live, accounts opened, volume, revenue, capital, and liquidity.

• Payments
• Fintech
• Financial services
• Banking-as-a-service
• Cross-border payments
• Remittance
• Sponsor-bank integration
• Aggregator integration
• PSP integration
• API knowledge
• Regulatory dealings (Central Bank of Kenya or equivalent)
• Treasury management
• FX pricing
• Payment pricing
• Sales
• Contract negotiation
• Product specification writing
• Networking within fintech and payment companies
• Digital-asset payment infrastructure (useful)
• Core banking systems (useful)

• BA/BSc/HND
• 7+ years in payments, fintech, or financial services
• Experience in banking-as-a-service or fintech in East Africa
• Cross-border or remittance experience preferred
• Experience building or running a sponsor-bank, aggregator, or PSP integration
• Understanding of fintech needs from a bank's API
• Experience dealing with regulators on product approvals
• Ability to read a treasury position
• Ability to price FX and payments
• Ability to explain fee schedules
• Sales and closing skills
• Ability to write product specifications
• Ability to write term sheets
• Network among Kenyan and regional fintechs, payment companies and remittance operators
• Experience with digital-asset payment infrastructure (useful)
• Experience with core banking systems (useful)