In-Country Operations Specialist

This role at JUMO presents a significant opportunity for an experienced operations professional to make a tangible impact across key African markets. The In-Country Operations Specialist will be instrumental in translating JUMO’s strategic vision into concrete operational success, requiring a blend of local market insight, precise execution, and robust stakeholder engagement. The position reports to the Regional Manager for East Africa, with a primary focus on operations within Southern and East Africa.

About the Role

The core of this position revolves around driving the strategic roadmap for crucial partnerships. This involves leveraging deep, existing knowledge of local markets, ensuring seamless operational execution, and cultivating strong, productive relationships both within JUMO and with external partners. The specialist will be a key player in ensuring that JUMO's ambitious operational targets are met and exceeded.

This involves a proactive approach to identifying and resolving operational challenges, contributing valuable recommendations to strategic planning and performance reviews. The specialist will be responsible for developing and implementing action plans, initiating productivity enhancements, and maintaining high standards of quality. A critical aspect will be identifying emerging trends and systemic improvements to drive continuous evolution within the operational framework.

Your responsibilities will span several critical areas:

• **Operational Performance:** You will contribute directly to achieving product performance objectives by providing insights and recommendations for strategic planning and reviews. This includes developing and executing action plans, implementing productivity improvements, and ensuring rigorous quality checks. Problem-solving and identifying trends to enhance operational systems and drive change will be ongoing duties.
• **Relationship Management:** Building and maintaining strong rapport with key stakeholders is paramount. This will involve regular engagement, a deep understanding of their specific needs, and adeptly resolving challenges and identifying new opportunities for collaboration and growth.
• **Proactive Engagement:** You will actively seek input and foster discussions with various internal teams, including Portfolio Management, Product, Marketing, Customer Insights, Data Science, Finance, Capabilities, and Customer Operations. This collaborative approach is essential for preempting potential issues and uncovering new opportunities.
• **Project Management:** Taking full ownership of projects, from initial planning to execution, will be a key function. This includes managing both new and existing initiatives, as well as ensuring operational compliance across all activities.
• **Reporting and Governance:** You will be responsible for delivering timely, reliable, and insightful business information to support partner engagements, particularly for Steering Committee meetings. A keen understanding of evolving regulatory landscapes that could impact in-country operations is also essential.

What They're Looking For

JUMO is seeking a candidate with a comprehensive background and a proactive mindset. Essential qualifications include:

• A Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Business Administration, Commerce, Finance, Economics, or Accounting.
• A minimum of five years of experience in a similar operational or strategic role within the financial services, technology, telecommunications, FMCG, or fintech sectors.
• Fluency in both spoken and written English.
• Proven experience in project management.
• Demonstrated experience in sophisticated, high-level relationship management across various organisational levels.
• A strong understanding and practical experience with financial products, performance metrics, credit risk, and the dynamics of lending, savings, and insurance.
• Experience in negotiating with significant counterparties to achieve strategic objectives.
• Prior experience in leading a team.
• Previous exposure to mobile financial services is highly advantageous.

Beyond these qualifications, ideal candidates will possess exceptional time management, planning, and organisational skills. You should be an articulate and intelligent communicator with excellent listening abilities and strong presentation skills. A confident demeanour, the capacity to work effectively under tight deadlines, manage multiple priorities, and handle diverse workloads are crucial. The ability to be decisive, detail-oriented, enthusiastic, and a natural problem-solver will enable success in JUMO's fast-paced and dynamic environment.

For professionals in South Africa looking at roles like this, typical remuneration can vary widely based on experience, company size, and specific responsibilities, but often falls within a competitive range for mid-to-senior level operational management. JUMO, as an established fintech player, would likely offer opportunities for growth within its expanding African footprint, potentially leading to regional or broader strategic roles.

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Business Administration, Commerce, Finance, Economics, Accounting or similar.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in a similar role in Financial Services, Technology, Telecom, FMCGs, FINTECH.
• Spoken and written fluency in English.
• Experience in project management.
• Previous high level and sophisticated relationship management experience across various senior and other levels in an organization.
• A very good understanding and experience of financial products and performance, including credit risk, dynamics of lending, saving and some insurance.
• Experience in negotiating with major counter-party to achieve and facilitate a given strategy.
• Experience leading a team.
• Prior experience with mobile financial services.
• Excellent time management, planning and organizational skills.
• To be an exceptional communicator, with effective listening skills, intelligent and articulate with strong written and verbal skills.
• To have a confident personality with strong presentation ability.
• The ability to work to tight deadlines, multi-task, prioritize and handle a diverse workload.
• To be decisive, detail oriented, enthusiastic, problem solver.
• The ability to work in a fast paced ever changing environment.