Safaricom is the leading provider of converged communication solutions in Kenya. In addition to providing a broad range of first-class products and services for Telephony, Broadband Internet and Financial services, Safaricom seeks to uplift the welfare of Kenyans through value-added services and support for community projects.

The Technical Product Manager – Payments & Partner Integrations drives the adoption, growth and continuous evolution of M-PESA Africa’s payment capabilities, leading the intersection of Product, Technology, Commercial, Operations, Markets and Strategic Partners. Serving as the organisation’s technical and commercial authority for payment integrations, you ensure payment products are scalable, partner-ready, commercially viable and consistently delivered across multiple markets.

Working across the entire partner lifecycle — from opportunity identification and solution design through technical integration, certification, launch and ongoing optimisation — you ensure every integration contributes to platform growth, operational excellence and commercial success.

As a trusted advisor to Product, Engineering and Commercial teams, you influence product strategy, define integration standards, enable strategic partnerships and translate customer and partner requirements into scalable payment solutions that strengthen the M-PESA ecosystem.

Responsibilities or duties

Key Accountabilities:

Technical Product Leadership

• Own the technical product vision for payment integrations and define integration product roadmaps aligned to business strategy, accelerating value delivery across the payments ecosystem.
• Translate market opportunities into scalable technical capabilities, prioritising integration features based on customer value, partner needs and commercial impact.
• Manage the integration capability throughout its lifecycle, simplifying integration journeys and driving continuous innovation to improve platform adoption.

Payments Domain Leadership

• Serve as the organisation’s recognised subject-matter expert across merchant, business, collections, payouts, cross-border and wallet payments, banking and card-scheme integrations, and settlement and reconciliation.
• Provide thought leadership on industry trends, payment innovation and market opportunities, shaping the future direction of the M-PESA ecosystem.

Partner Integration Management

• Own the complete lifecycle of strategic partner integrations — from partner discovery, solution architecture and integration planning through technical enablement, certification and operational readiness to production launch and post go-live optimisation.
• Ensure every integration is delivered efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality, security and operational resilience.
• Champion an exceptional partner experience by continuously improving the Partner Integration Portal, documentation, onboarding frameworks, certification processes and self-service capabilities, growing partner satisfaction and retention.

Technical & Architecture Leadership

• Collaborate with Engineering teams to review solution designs, define integration standards and promote reusable integration patterns, improving API quality and consistency.
• Enhance platform security, resilience and observability and support architecture governance, driving operational excellence across complex payment initiatives.

Product Advisory & Commercial Enablement

• Partner closely with Product Managers on feasibility, technical design, integration impacts, platform scalability and roadmap prioritisation, representing the voice of partners throughout the product lifecycle.
• Support Commercial and Business Development teams on solution positioning, technical value propositions, effort estimation, commercial feasibility and proposal development, translating complex capabilities into compelling business value.

Multi-Market Enablement & Ecosystem Growth

• Drive standardised, reusable integration approaches with market-localisation and regulatory-alignment guidance, championing a “Build Once, Scale Across Markets” approach wherever possible.
• Identify opportunities to expand strategic partnerships, increase payment adoption and transaction volumes, improve interoperability and enable new payment capabilities, enabling sustainable ecosystem growth.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Core Competencies, Knowledge and Experience:

• Extensive experience (typically eight or more years) in Payments, FinTech, Banking or Digital Financial Services, solving non-routine problems, improving practices and mentoring others.
• Demonstrated capability in technical product leadership, including integration roadmap definition, feature prioritisation and product lifecycle management.
• Demonstrated capability in payments domain depth, including merchant, business, collections, payouts and cross-border payments, settlement and reconciliation, and financial messaging standards (ISO 8583, ISO 20022, SWIFT).
• Demonstrated capability in partner integration management, including solution architecture, certification and operational readiness across the partner lifecycle.
• Strong technical grounding in modern integration architectures — REST/SOAP APIs, API management and gateways, event-driven and microservices patterns, OAuth 2.0/OIDC/JWT, and platform security, observability and resilience.
• Strong stakeholder management, executive communication and cross-functional influence to work effectively with Product, Engineering, Commercial and Markets teams and enable strategic partnerships.
• Proven experience working with strategic partners and enterprise customers across multiple markets or regions within a regulated fintech environment.
• Clear communication skills, able to translate complex technical matters for both technical and non-technical audiences.

Technical/Professional Qualifications:

Essential

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Business or a related discipline.
• Minimum of eight years’ experience within Payments, FinTech, Banking or Digital Financial Services.
• Demonstrated experience managing technical products or payment integration capabilities, with a strong understanding of payment ecosystems and integration technologies.
• Proven experience working with strategic partners and enterprise customers.
• Experience working across multiple markets or regions, with excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills.

Desirable

• Professional certifications in Product Management, Agile, Project Management or Enterprise Architecture.
• Experience working with international payment providers, banks, card schemes, telecommunications or fintechs.
• Experience within a pan-African or multinational organisation.
• Knowledge of emerging payment technologies, Open Finance and Embedded Finance.
• Exposure to multi-market operations across M-Pesa Africa’s footprint

• Own the technical product vision for payment integrations and define integration product roadmaps aligned to business strategy, accelerating value delivery across the payments ecosystem.
• Translate market opportunities into scalable technical capabilities, prioritising integration features based on customer value, partner needs and commercial impact.
• Manage the integration capability throughout its lifecycle, simplifying integration journeys and driving continuous innovation to improve platform adoption.
• Serve as the organisation’s recognised subject-matter expert across merchant, business, collections, payouts, cross-border and wallet payments, banking and card-scheme integrations, and settlement and reconciliation.
• Provide thought leadership on industry trends, payment innovation and market opportunities, shaping the future direction of the M-PESA ecosystem.
• Own the complete lifecycle of strategic partner integrations — from partner discovery, solution architecture and integration planning through technical enablement, certification and operational readiness to production launch and post go-live optimisation.
• Ensure every integration is delivered efficiently while maintaining high standards of quality, security and operational resilience.
• Champion an exceptional partner experience by continuously improving the Partner Integration Portal, documentation, onboarding frameworks, certification processes and self-service capabilities, growing partner satisfaction and retention.
• Collaborate with Engineering teams to review solution designs, define integration standards and promote reusable integration patterns, improving API quality and consistency.
• Enhance platform security, resilience and observability and support architecture governance, driving operational excellence across complex payment initiatives.
• Partner closely with Product Managers on feasibility, technical design, integration impacts, platform scalability and roadmap prioritisation, representing the voice of partners throughout the product lifecycle.
• Support Commercial and Business Development teams on solution positioning, technical value propositions, effort estimation, commercial feasibility and proposal development, translating complex capabilities into compelling business value.
• Drive standardised, reusable integration approaches with market-localisation and regulatory-alignment guidance, championing a “Build Once, Scale Across Markets” approach wherever possible.
• Identify opportunities to expand strategic partnerships, increase payment adoption and transaction volumes, improve interoperability and enable new payment capabilities, enabling sustainable ecosystem growth.

• Technical product leadership
• Integration roadmap definition
• Feature prioritisation
• Product lifecycle management
• Payments domain depth
• Merchant, business, collections, payouts and cross-border payments
• Settlement and reconciliation
• Financial messaging standards (ISO 8583, ISO 20022, SWIFT)
• Partner integration management
• Solution architecture
• Certification and operational readiness
• Modern integration architectures (REST/SOAP APIs, API management and gateways, event-driven and microservices patterns, OAuth 2.0/OIDC/JWT)
• Platform security, observability and resilience
• Stakeholder management
• Executive communication
• Cross-functional influence
• Working with strategic partners and enterprise customers
• Clear communication skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Business or a related discipline.
• Minimum of eight years’ experience within Payments, FinTech, Banking or Digital Financial Services.
• Demonstrated experience managing technical products or payment integration capabilities, with a strong understanding of payment ecosystems and integration technologies.
• Proven experience working with strategic partners and enterprise customers.
• Experience working across multiple markets or regions, with excellent stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
• Professional certifications in Product Management, Agile, Project Management or Enterprise Architecture (Desirable).
• Experience working with international payment providers, banks, card schemes, telecommunications or fintechs (Desirable).
• Experience within a pan-African or multinational organisation (Desirable).
• Knowledge of emerging payment technologies, Open Finance and Embedded Finance (Desirable).
• Exposure to multi-market operations across M-Pesa Africa’s footprint (Desirable).