Head, Business Kenya

Systemiq

Company Description: Systemiq is the system change company, working to accelerate the transition to a net-zero, nature-positive and more inclusive economy. As a certified B Corp, we partner with business, finance, policymakers and civil society to transform five interconnected systems: energy, nature and food, materials and circularity, sustainable finance, and urban transformation. We bring together strategy, policy, market design and capital mobilisation to deliver tangible results in the real economy. Founded in 2016, Systemiq has grown to a global team of more than 300 people across Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Kenya, the Netherlands, the UK and the US, united by a singular focus on sustainability. Systemiq is sharing an opportunity for a Head of Operational Improvement with a leading tropical forest restoration organisation operating in West Africa. Head of Operational Excellence (CEO Office) Reports to: Co-CEO Location: West Africa (Ghana / Sierra Leone) preferred; London considered Travel: Frequent site travel required (minimum ~15 weeks/year if London-based) Contract: Full-time, permanent — individual contributor role About the Organisation A large-scale tropical forest restoration company operating in West Africa, restoring degraded ecosystems through long-term, community-led projects. With 2,000+ employees across multiple countries and thousands of hectares already restored, the organisation is now scaling rapidly towards 100,000+ hectares under management over the next three years. Projects align with leading international standards (e.g. VERRA VCS, CCB), delivering measurable climate, biodiversity, and socioeconomic outcomes. The Role This role sits in the Co-CEO Office and exists for one reason: to make operations work at scale. You will go into parts of the organisation where things are unclear, inconsistent, or breaking — figure out what’s actually going on, and fix it. That means building systems, driving adoption, and holding the line until they stick. You are not tied to a function. You will move across the business — forest protection, restoration, livelihoods, ESG — focusing on the highest-priority problems at any given time. This is not a strategy role in the abstract. It is a hands-on execution role: diagnose → design → implement → embed → repeat The goal is to replace reactive, project-by-project execution with systems that are repeatable, measurable, and owned. There is no team to hide behind. Progress depends on your ability to cut through noise, build trust quickly, and deliver in messy, real-world conditions. Key Responsibilities * Find the real problems: Cut through reporting and surface what’s actually slowing execution down * Build what’s missing: Design SOPs, workflows, and decision frameworks that teams can realistically use in the field * Make it stick: Work side-by-side with teams to implement systems and drive adoption — not just design them * Create accountability: Define KPIs, establish reporting rhythms, and ensure ownership is clear and followed through * Upgrade how decisions get made: Introduce tools and processes that improve visibility and speed * Act as an extension of the Co-CEO: Step into priority issues, unblock teams, and drive cross-functional execution * Represent externally (over time): Engage with senior stakeholders (including government and partners) as a credible operator, not just a messenger Success in 12–18 Months * Core operational processes are no longer dependent on individuals — they run consistently across regions * Leadership has a clear, real-time view of performance (and trusts the data) * Teams spend less time dealing with recurring issues and more time executing against clear plans * Accountability is visible and enforced, not assumed * You are trusted to step into critical issues and represent leadership when needed Who You Are * 4–7 years in top-tier operational consulting or similarly demanding operational roles * You’ve worked on real operational problems — not just slide decks — and have seen implementation through * Strong structured thinker, but willing to get into the detail when needed * Comfortable operating without clear answers or clean data * Able to challenge senior stakeholders and still bring people with you * Equally credible in the field and with leadership * High ownership, low ego, and a bias for action * Resilient — you don’t lose momentum when things get ambiguous or slow * Willing to spend significant time on the ground * Motivated by building something that has long-term environmental and social impact Why This Role You will be working directly on the hardest operational problems in a fast-scaling organisation — with visibility from the top and very little insulation. If you want a clearly defined role with stable boundaries, this is not it. If you want to build systems that actually get used, in a complex, real-world environment, it is. Diversity & Inclusion At Systemiq, we absolutely believe diverse perspectives are essential to driving system change. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where people feel respected, supported and able to do their best work. Click here to view our Data Policy.

Moniepoint

WHO WE ARE Moniepoint is Africa's all-in-one financial ecosystem, empowering businesses and their customers with seamless payment, banking, credit, and management tools. In 2023, we processed $182 billion and are Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirer. JOB PURPOSE Builds and owns the Group's FP&A framework, methodology, and reporting standards, giving Group leadership a single, reliable view of financial performance and outlook across the Group's subsidiaries and business units: Moniepoint Nigeria, Moniepoint Kenya, MonieWorld and Moniepoint Technologies. This is a framework and consolidation role, not a day to day business unit finance role. Some subsidiaries and markets run their own standalone FP&A team that owns local budgeting, forecasting, and reporting for that business; this role sets the Group standard those teams work within and consolidates their output. Wherever a subsidiary or shared function doesn't yet have a dedicated FP&A resource, this role covers it directly. The intent is one Group framework, executed locally wherever a local team exists, with no duplicated effort. Curious about what makes Moniepoint an incredible place to work? Check out posts on how we cultivate a culture of innovation, teamwork, and growth. RESPONSIBILITIES: * Design and own the Group's FP&A framework: forecasting architecture, budget process, and management-reporting standards that every entity works to, including markets that maintain their own standalone FP&A team * Consolidate entity and BU-level forecasts, including those submitted by markets with their own standalone FP&A team, into a single Group P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow, with a working currency toggle and intercompany eliminations * Own the annual Group budget calendar and process: templates, timelines, challenge sessions, and Board approval, without taking over the local budget-building work each entity's own finance team already does * Produce the consolidated Group forecast (2026-28 and beyond), reconciled monthly to actuals, with a clear bridge explaining variances * Work closely with the Group Financial Controller so actuals, the consolidation, and the forecast reconcile cleanly month to month, and closing timelines support the reporting calendar * Run the monthly and quarterly reporting cycles at Group level: consolidated management accounts, Board packs, and investor-grade reporting * Build and maintain the Group's KPI and unit-economics framework, and ensure it is applied consistently across every entity's finance team, whether that entity has its own dedicated resource or is covered directly by this role * Partner with BU CFOs / finance leads (Moniepoint Nigeria, Moniepoint Kenya, Moniepoint Technologies, MonieWorld) as the standard-setter and consolidator, leaving day-to-day local execution with them * Lead scenario and sensitivity modelling for Group-level strategic decisions: new market entry, capital raises, new market expansion, licence applications etc. * Set and enforce FP&A style and modelling standards across the Group (structure, formatting, sign-off, version control) * Manage and develop the Group FP&A Analysts covering the subsidiaries and markets without a dedicated resource, plus central shared services CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS: * 8-10+ years in FP&A, corporate finance, or investment banking, including experience building forecasting frameworks from scratch * Proven experience consolidating multi-entity, multi-currency forecasts and management accounts * Background in banking, fintech, or another regulated, fast-growth environment * Advanced financial modelling skills (Excel at architect level); comfortable owning a model spanning multiple entities and currencies ACA / ACCA / CFA or equivalent * Proven ability to operate effectively as a remote, senior finance leader across time zones and geographies PREFFERED QUALIFICATIONS * Experience in a high-growth African or emerging-markets fintech or bank * Prior exposure to Board and investor reporting at Group level * Familiarity with planning/consolidation tooling (NetSuite, Aleph, Pigment or similar) beyond Excel * Experience standing up FP&A functions or frameworks during a scale-up phase, including defining where a Group function ends and in-country teams begin ABOUT YOU * You think in frameworks. You build the system once, properly, rather than patching it every quarter * You're comfortable holding a multi-entity, multi-currency picture in your head and explaining it simply to the CFO and Board * You know the difference between setting the standard and doing the work. You'd rather make each market's FP&A team excellent within a shared framework than take their work off them * You push back on numbers that don't reconcile, and you don't sign off until they do * You're a strong people manager. You can direct analysts and get consistent, house-standard output from a small team * You communicate in writing the way you model: structured, precise, no padding * You operate well remotely: proactive, well-organised, comfortable driving a Group-wide process without being in the room WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE * Group forecast is reconciled to actuals monthly, with variances explained within an agreed tolerance * Management, board and investor reporting are delivered on time, every cycle, without late-stage rework * Budget process runs to a fixed calendar with BU sign-off, with no material off-cycle changes * BU finance leads use the Group model and house standards as their working framework, not a parallel one * CFO and Group CEO treat the FP&A output as the single source of truth for decision-making WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE HIRING PROCESS * A preliminary phone call with one of our recruiters. * Hiring Manager Interview  * A Panel interview with existing Finance Leads * A behavioural and technical interview with a member of the Executive team.

Moniepoint

Who we are  Moniepoint Inc. is Africa's all-in-one financial platform, helping 20 million businesses and individuals access seamless payments, banking, credit, cross-border, and business management tools each month. As Nigeria's largest merchant acquirer, we power most of the country's point-of-sale (POS) transactions. Through our subsidiaries, Moniepoint Inc. processes over $250 billion in digital payment transaction value annually.   About the role   More than 6 million businesses run their financial lives through Moniepoint — and the primary way they interact with us every single day is through a POS device. For most of our merchants, that device is their business. It is how they accept payments, how they access credit, and how they track their finances. Everything those devices are capable of, in terms of speed, reliability, and developer quality, flows from the engineering platform this role leads. We are building a dedicated POS Application Platform function: the foundational engineering layer that sits beneath every POS product at Moniepoint. Think of it as the operating system for our POS engineering organisation — the standards, frameworks, tooling, and architectural backbone that every POS engineer across the business builds on top of. This is not a feature team. It is a platform team in the truest sense, and the Head of Engineering for POS Application Platform is the technical owner of that layer. We currently operate across approximately five POS device types from multiple OEM manufacturers, all running on Android. The engineering challenges here span device governance, developer experience, platform reliability, foundational frameworks, and adoption across a distributed set of POS engineers working in separate product squads. And the scope is only growing. We have a UK entity live, a cross-border payments product in market, and a microfinance bank acquisition finalizing in Kenya. The platform you build will become the foundation for tens of millions of businesses across multiple markets to accept payments, access financial services, and grow. If you have spent your career going deep on POS systems and you want to build the platform that underpins one of Africa's most consequential fintech businesses during its global expansion, this is the role. What you'll get to do * Own the technical strategy and architecture for the POS Application Platform, acting as the domain CTO for everything that runs on our POS devices. * Build and govern the four core platform pillars across the organisation: developer experience (tools, libraries, SDKs), platform reliability (observability, uptime, quality standards), foundational frameworks (architecture, coding standards, testing and release pipelines), and squad adoption (driving uptake of platform tooling across all embedded POS engineers). * Define and enforce engineering standards across all POS device types and OEM manufacturers, ensuring architectural consistency and quality across a heterogeneous device fleet. * Functionally lead POS engineers embedded across Payments, Onboarding, VAS, Savings, and Loans squads — setting the bar for engineering quality and providing the platform layer above all of them. * Own POS observability end-to-end: monitoring, alerting, and incident response frameworks that ensure platform health across all devices and squads. * Drive the architecture for how Moniepoint supports multiple POS device types, including defining how new devices are onboarded, governed, and integrated with the platform. * Collaborate with OEM partners and the POS hardware team when new device types are introduced, ensuring the application layer is ready to support them from day one. * Write and review code directly — this role expects 40 to 60 percent hands-on engineering time. You will set the technical standard, not just the technical direction. * Build and scale the POS platform team, including hiring, mentoring, and structuring for growth as the platform expands internationally. * Translate platform decisions into business impact, working closely with Product, Payments, and Business leadership across markets. * Establish and continuously improve engineering processes, tooling standards, CI/CD pipelines, and developer productivity metrics across the POS engineering community. To succeed in this role, we think you should have * A minimum of 10 years of hands-on software engineering experience, with at least 6 years leading engineering teams through meaningful growth phases, ideally in multi-national or large VC-backed companies. * Direct, hands-on experience building software that runs on Point-of-Sale terminal devices. This means engineering on the device itself — the application layer — not server-side integrations with POS systems. This is a non-negotiable requirement and candidates without it will not be considered. * Strong working knowledge of EMV standards (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) and experience navigating payment certification processes such as PCI DSS and P2PE. Candidates without this will not be considered. * Deep Android engineering expertise in Kotlin and Java. The POS application layer at Moniepoint is Android-based and there are no exceptions to this requirement. * Proven experience building internal engineering platforms, shared libraries, developer tooling, or foundational frameworks used by other engineering teams — not just consumer-facing feature products. * Experience governing or architecting across multiple POS device types from different hardware manufacturers, with an understanding of how OEM integrations and device management work at scale. * A track record of hands-on technical leadership at a meaningful frequency — a 40 to 60 percent coding ratio in your current or most recent role is what we expect. If you have moved into a fully managerial role with no direct contribution to code, this role is likely not the right fit. * Experience building or maturing platform engineering functions, including establishing engineering processes, tooling strategies, and cross-squad governance structures. * Demonstrated ability to scale engineering teams and build the organisational layer beneath you — leaders who can grow into and around the role you are hiring into. * Experience at a company processing high volumes of financial transactions in a regulated environment. Fintech background is strongly preferred. * Familiarity with terminal management systems and device observability tooling is a strong advantage. * Backend engineering experience in Java or Spring Boot is a strong plus given the breadth of the platform and the integration surface it sits on. * Experience working directly with OEM vendors on hardware specification and integration is a bonus. * Exposure to C or C++ is a plus — one of our device variants uses C. * Experience at Series A or B stage startups alone is unlikely to reflect the scale and complexity required for this role. Cultural Alignment We assess every candidate across eight dimensions that define how great leaders operate at Moniepoint. We look for evidence of all eight throughout the process, not just in a single conversation. * Customer Obsession: Deep empathy for the people depending on the platform — whether that is a merchant in Lagos trying to accept a payment, or a POS engineer blocked by missing tooling. You solve problems quickly and intuitively. You close loops by fixing root causes, not just tickets. * Craft: You have mastered your domain at the fundamentals level. You make trade-offs explicit, reason from first principles, and consistently produce solutions that are better than typical. * Systemisation: You convert recurring decisions into repeatable mechanisms. You reduce cognitive load for others. You strengthen institutional memory and improve engineering quality at scale. * Urgency: You move with disciplined speed. You act without waiting for permission when you are within scope. You escalate early when risk exceeds your authority. You remove friction and close loops. * Ownership: You treat the platform as yours to solve regardless of job description boundaries. You take responsibility without being asked. You follow through on commitments without being reminded. * No Ego: You put the mission ahead of personal status. You credit others genuinely, welcome challenge, and never protect your position at the expense of collective outcomes. * Candour: You surface reality early, clearly, and completely — especially when it is uncomfortable. You name risks before they become crises. Intelligent failure is acceptable; concealment is not. * Integrity: Truthfulness and ethical consistency in everything. You adhere to rules and obligations. You never perform under intimidation or corrosive behaviour. Performance without integrity is unacceptable. Some of the technologies you'll work with * Android (Kotlin, Java) — primary platform for all POS application development * EMV payment standards and PCI/P2PE certification frameworks * Multiple POS device types and OEM manufacturers, including Topwise and Telpo * Terminal management systems and device observability tooling * Java, Spring Boot — backend services and integration layer * Docker and Kubernetes * PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Elasticsearch * Microservices architecture on AWS What we can offer you * Culture - We put our people first and prioritise the well-being of every team member. We have built a company where all opinions carry weight and where all voices are heard. We value and respect each other and always look out for one another. Above all, we are human. * Learning - We have a learning and development-focused environment with an emphasis on knowledge sharing, training, and regular internal technical talks. * Compensation - You will receive an attractive salary, pension, health insurance, annual bonus, plus other benefits. What to expect in the hiring process * Stage 1: A preliminary phone call with one of our recruiters. * Stage 2: System Design - You will be asked to solve complex system design problems to assess your technical and architectural skills, with a particular focus on POS platform architecture and payment systems. * Stage 3: Technical and Architectural Leadership - A panel interview with two of our Heads of Engineering, assessing your depth in POS platform architecture, EMV systems, developer platform design, and engineering leadership at scale. * Stage 4: PM/Cultural Fit and Leadership - Explore your leadership qualities, cultural fit, and your approach to building high-performing, inclusive engineering organisations. * Stage 5: CTO Interview - A conversation with our CTO assessing first-principles thinking, problem-solving under ambiguity, clarity of thought, and cultural alignment. How to apply: Please send us your CV or LinkedIn profile via our career website. Moniepoint is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and candidates! #LI-Remote