From the employer's hiring system · Verified employer
M-Pesa Africa: Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME)
Safaricom
Job at a glance
- Employer
- Safaricom
- Position
- M-Pesa Africa: Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME)
- Location
- Kenya
- Possible duty stations
- Kenya
- Job type
- Full-time
- Experience
- 10+ years in product management
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in relevant field
- Salary
- Not stated in the advert
- Application deadline
- 7 October 2026
- Posted on VacancyKE
- 30 September 2026
VacancyKE summary
Safaricom's M-Pesa Africa is hiring a Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME) to own the merchant product portfolio end-to-end. Based in Kenya, this senior role focuses on unifying existing tools into a coherent proposition for micro, small and medium enterprises.
What stands out about this opportunity
- Focuses on SMME merchant solutions within M-Pesa Africa
- Requires designing reusable products for multiple African markets
- Emphasises activating existing products over new builds
- Involves direct collaboration with engineers, vendors and merchants
Key responsibilities
- Define merchant product vision, segmentation and multi-year roadmap tied to commercial outcomes
- Own full merchant stack including acceptance, apps, portals, reconciliation and value-added services
- Prioritise activation of existing products via structured experiments before building new features
- Partner with financial services to design working-capital and credit journeys using transaction data
- Drive single merchant identity and common data model for cross-market reuse
- Set evidence base by defining core metrics, instrumenting journeys and making data-led decisions
- Lead vendor selection, contracts and delivery with internal engineering and external partners
- Build high-performing team and set product operating rhythm from discovery to post-launch
Who should apply?
This role suits a senior product leader with deep African fintech experience who can balance strategic roadmap ownership with hands-on data analysis and merchant engagement.
Key requirements
- 10+ years product management experience
- 4+ years leading product teams
- African mobile money/fintech expertise
- Merchant payments economics knowledge
- Data fluency and experimentation skills
- Stakeholder influence without authority
- Bachelor's degree in relevant field
Nice to have
- Multi-market product experience across several African countries
- Exposure to SME lending, working capital or data-driven credit products
- Experience managing third-party technology vendors and commercial contracts
- Knowledge of Central Bank of Kenya and regional payments/data protection regulations
- MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification
What you should know
- Role starts in Kenya, the largest and most mature merchant base in the footprint
- Design solutions in Kenya intended for reuse across other M-PESA markets
- Senior, hands-on position requiring field work with merchants and data analysis
How to apply
Official source: From the employer's hiring system · egjd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com. VacancyKE never charges job seekers.
Original employer advertisement
Published by Safaricom on egjd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com. Shown for reference; the employer’s version is the official one.
The employer’s advert
M-Pesa Africa is the largest FinTech providing services to more than 60 million customers and 5 million businesses solutions across Financial Services, Enterprise, Merchant and Retail. We are now well on our way to becoming the preferred digital payment method across the markets that we serve, for both in-store, remote and online payments. With headquarters in both Nairobi and Johannesburg, we serve markets that include Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.
We are a united , energetic and passionate team. A place where leaders coach, teams connect, and everyone is empowered to go further, faster. A place where heroes become superheroes; through growth, opportunity, and the chance to work with the best minds in FinTech.
M-PESA already moves money for millions of merchants across our markets. What it does not yet do well is help them run their businesses: get paid reliably, see their numbers, access working capital, and grow. We are hiring a Head of Product to own the merchant product portfolio end to end, from the till and Pochi la Biashara to business apps, merchant tools and credit, and to turn a set of separately built products into one coherent merchant proposition.
You will start in Kenya, the largest and most mature merchant base in the footprint, and design what you build there so it can be reused across the other M-PESA markets. This is a senior, hands-on role: you will set strategy and own the roadmap, but you will also be in the data, in the field with merchants, and in the room with engineering and vendor partners.
Responsibilities
• Strategy and roadmap: Define the merchant product vision, segmentation and multi-year roadmap across micro, small and medium merchants, tied to clear commercial outcomes (active merchants, usage, revenue, credit attach).
• Portfolio: Own the full merchant stack: acceptance (till, Buy Goods, Paybill, QR), merchant apps and portals, notifications, reconciliation, business tools and value-added services.
• Activation before build: Prioritise getting merchants to use what already exists before building new. Run structured experiments on onboarding, configuration and engagement, and hold the team to measurable movement.
• Working capital and credit: Partner with financial services to design merchant working-capital and credit journeys that use transaction data well, and fix where the funnel breaks.
• Identity and platform foundations: Drive a single merchant identity and a common data model across products, so every merchant has one view of their business, and every market can reuse what Kenya builds.
• Data and insight: Set the evidence base: define the core merchant metrics and denominators, instrument journeys, and make roadmap decisions from data and merchant research rather than opinion.
• Vendors and delivery: Lead product input into vendor selection and contracts, with particular attention to data rights, IP and reuse across markets. Manage delivery with internal engineering and external partners.
• Team and practice: Build and lead a high-performing product team; set the product operating rhythm (discovery, PRDs, release, post-launch review).
Qualifications
Essential
• 10+ years in product management, with at least 4 years leading product teams or a product portfolio.
Deep experience in mobile money, payments or fintech in Africa, ideally with merchant, SME or agent products at scale.
• A track record of launching and growing products in Kenya or comparable East African markets, with measurable commercial results.
• Strong grasp of merchant payments economics: acceptance, pricing, settlement, reconciliation and merchant lifecycle.
• Data fluency: comfortable defining metrics, working with analysts and SQL outputs, and designing experiments.
• Experience working across complex stakeholder environments (operators, group functions, regulators, partners) and influencing without direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including presenting to senior executives.
• Bachelor's degree in business, economics, engineering, computer science or related field.
Desirable
• Multi-market product experience across several African countries.
• Exposure to SME lending, working capital or data-driven credit products.
• Experience managing third-party technology vendors and commercial contracts.
• Knowledge of Central Bank of Kenya and regional payments and data protection regulation.
• MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification.
We are a united , energetic and passionate team. A place where leaders coach, teams connect, and everyone is empowered to go further, faster. A place where heroes become superheroes; through growth, opportunity, and the chance to work with the best minds in FinTech.
M-PESA already moves money for millions of merchants across our markets. What it does not yet do well is help them run their businesses: get paid reliably, see their numbers, access working capital, and grow. We are hiring a Head of Product to own the merchant product portfolio end to end, from the till and Pochi la Biashara to business apps, merchant tools and credit, and to turn a set of separately built products into one coherent merchant proposition.
You will start in Kenya, the largest and most mature merchant base in the footprint, and design what you build there so it can be reused across the other M-PESA markets. This is a senior, hands-on role: you will set strategy and own the roadmap, but you will also be in the data, in the field with merchants, and in the room with engineering and vendor partners.
Responsibilities
• Strategy and roadmap: Define the merchant product vision, segmentation and multi-year roadmap across micro, small and medium merchants, tied to clear commercial outcomes (active merchants, usage, revenue, credit attach).
• Portfolio: Own the full merchant stack: acceptance (till, Buy Goods, Paybill, QR), merchant apps and portals, notifications, reconciliation, business tools and value-added services.
• Activation before build: Prioritise getting merchants to use what already exists before building new. Run structured experiments on onboarding, configuration and engagement, and hold the team to measurable movement.
• Working capital and credit: Partner with financial services to design merchant working-capital and credit journeys that use transaction data well, and fix where the funnel breaks.
• Identity and platform foundations: Drive a single merchant identity and a common data model across products, so every merchant has one view of their business, and every market can reuse what Kenya builds.
• Data and insight: Set the evidence base: define the core merchant metrics and denominators, instrument journeys, and make roadmap decisions from data and merchant research rather than opinion.
• Vendors and delivery: Lead product input into vendor selection and contracts, with particular attention to data rights, IP and reuse across markets. Manage delivery with internal engineering and external partners.
• Team and practice: Build and lead a high-performing product team; set the product operating rhythm (discovery, PRDs, release, post-launch review).
Qualifications
Essential
• 10+ years in product management, with at least 4 years leading product teams or a product portfolio.
Deep experience in mobile money, payments or fintech in Africa, ideally with merchant, SME or agent products at scale.
• A track record of launching and growing products in Kenya or comparable East African markets, with measurable commercial results.
• Strong grasp of merchant payments economics: acceptance, pricing, settlement, reconciliation and merchant lifecycle.
• Data fluency: comfortable defining metrics, working with analysts and SQL outputs, and designing experiments.
• Experience working across complex stakeholder environments (operators, group functions, regulators, partners) and influencing without direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including presenting to senior executives.
• Bachelor's degree in business, economics, engineering, computer science or related field.
Desirable
• Multi-market product experience across several African countries.
• Exposure to SME lending, working capital or data-driven credit products.
• Experience managing third-party technology vendors and commercial contracts.
• Knowledge of Central Bank of Kenya and regional payments and data protection regulation.
• MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification.