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 November 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. In 2019, we expanded to Cote d'Ivoire. Now, we have millions of users 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 looking for a Director of Operations who's resourceful and excited about getting things done. You'll be responsible for overseeing our operations in The Gambia as we rapidly scale our business there.
In this role, you'll:
- Oversee daily business operations in The Gambia, working from first principles to understand the problems blocking the business' growth and taking ownership of resolving those problems.
- Work closely with Wave's Executive Team to determine key objectives and operationalize strategies.
- Provide direct management of key functional managers within the business.
- Own key projects for Wave Gambia, including developing the strategy and executing what is needed to achieve them.
- Lead by living Wave's values, and ensure they're deeply ingrained within the team.
- Be an advocate for your team within the company more broadly.
- Work with our People Team to identify and hire local talent.
- Help to develop Wave's global strategy by sharing insights and learnings from The Gambia.
Key details
- Location: You'll work from our office in The Gambia, occasionally traveling to field locations.
- Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses to strong performers who have been with the company for more than 6 months
- We pay 100% of your health care insurance premium cost for yourself and your dependents.
- We support working parents - we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized childcare when you return to work
- Free food and a beautiful office space.
Requirements
- Have 10+ years of experience either in mobile money, finance, fintech, telecoms, or technology sectors as a senior leader or executive managing cross-functional teams.
- Hold a bachelor's degree or higher in business administration.
- Have 8+ years of experience building and leading strong teams in achieving results.
- Possess a track record in managing stakeholders through strategic reporting for external partners.
- Strong track record in building country-level and multi-country partnerships in Africa.
- Work authorization in The Gambia.
- Fluency in English and, ideally, in a local language.
You might be a good fit if you
- Demonstrate very strong communication and stakeholder management skills, communicating effectively and often, both in writing and in person, to the point of overcommunication.
- Are able to adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions and cope effectively with complexity and change.
- Are deeply passionate about our mission of bringing financial services to the people who need them the most.
- Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth.
- Possess a bias toward action and testing and are analytical in your approach.
- Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
- Enjoy owning projects - you're autonomous yet know when to escalate problems.
Our team
- We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte D'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, and Uganda, 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 own projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
- We’re backed by world-class investors including Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator and Partech Africa.
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.
Optional: Please feel free to add a cover letter or note if there is anything additional that you would like to share about your interest in Wave/the role or your experience. We review applications on a rolling basis.
Wave is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.