M-Pesa Africa – Technical Operations Manager
Nairobi, Kenya
Trending
Job Description
About M-Pesa Africa
At M-Pesa Africa, we’re the heroes that make things happen.
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.
We are Africa’s 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 Kenya and South Africa, we serve markets that include Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.
About the Role
The Technical Operations Manager is expected to lead and manage the 24x7x365 Technical Enterprise and Service Operations Center, ensuring robust systems monitoring, effective incident management, and the overall availability, performance, health, and security of all services. This role is responsible for managing and optimizing key people, processes, and tools, integrating Zero Touch Operations (ZTO) and Automation to drive operational efficiency.
The role involves leading and coordinating multiple technical teams, including the Service Desk, L0 Monitoring, L1, L2 Support, and Incident Management. The primary objectives include optimizing operations, minimizing incidents, enhancing service quality, and driving automation while fostering teamwork, compliance, and communication across various stakeholders.
Responsibilities
Key performance indicators:
- Responsible for 24/7 efficient operation of the Shared Service Operations Center.
- Responsible for managing and coordinating the Operations technical support teams. The main aim for this coordination is to ensure that the operations centre runs efficiently without interruption.
- Responsible for informing Management, partners and peers about infrastructure performance issues and service availability.
- Must keep senior management informed about major incidents which impact business.
- Constantly evaluates the workings of the Operations centre and stays abreast of new technologies emerging in the industry.
- Report on key metrics of availability, incident resolution and service delivery performance.
- Manage and document Standards, Policies, and Processes for the Operations service based on best practices.
- Perform regular process improvement reviews to ensure ongoing optimization. Incident and Event Management.
- Ensures the duty shift table for the SSOC and the allocation of staff members (SSOC technicians and engineers) on different shift duties for ensuring the whole SSOC shift works in an efficient and effective manner.
- Responsibility for direct supervision of team members;-
o Conduct Performance Appraisals, coaching, training and objective settings.
o Provide an assessment of all staff and provide internal/external training schedule
o Provide direction and leadership to build process-focused, cross-functional team.
o Manage scheduling of shift coverage and operational work streams to optimize service delivery.
o Address technical and non-technical escalations.
Incident and Event Management
- Ensure efficient resolution of incidents through automation, optimized processes, and technology.
- Ensure accurate categorization of incidents to minimize SLA breaches and downtime.
- Provide timely, accurate, and effective communication on service-impacting events.
- Collaborate with vendors on issue resolution and communication.
Enterprise Monitoring & Zero Touch Operations
- Drive the implementation of Zero Touch Operations (ZTO) to reduce manual interventions and enhance system reliability.
- Leverage automation to improve event correlation, anomaly detection, and self-healing capabilities.
- Manage and optimize toolsets for event management and automated monitoring.
- Ensure compliance with tier models and SLAs through proactive monitoring.
Automation & Process Improvement
- Implement AI-driven automation to enhance operational efficiency and reduce manual tasks.
- Deploy self-healing and auto-remediation solutions to minimize downtime and enhance service stability.
- Define and optimize workflows for incident, change, and problem management.
- Identify opportunities for process improvements and automation to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Ad-Hoc Project Management
- Manage projects for upgrading and maintaining SSOC technologies.
- Lead automation initiatives to streamline service operations.
- Assist with various service-related projects as needed.
Qualifications
Knowledge and experience:
- Experience working in large multi-national, matrix-based organizations.
- 5+ years of team or project management experience.
- Proven experience in customer relationship management.
- Budget and cost management experience.
- Strong expertise in Zero Touch Operations and IT automation.
- Extensive experience in technical operations management, including leadership roles.
- Deep understanding of IT Service Management (ITSM) and ITIL best practices.
- Strong leadership and team management skills.
- Proficiency with IT monitoring tools, ticketing systems, and event management solutions.
- Experience implementing and maintaining monitoring policies and best practices.
- Proven ability to optimize incident management processes.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Knowledge of security and compliance standards in IT operations.
- Vendor Management experience
Essential
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related field (Master’s degree preferred).
- Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and work experience leading Technical Operations Teams.
- IT certifications (e.g., ITIL, PMP, or relevant automation certifications).
- Hands-on experience with automation frameworks and monitoring tools.
Desirable
- Experience in Mobile Payments or Financial Services.
- Experience working in regulated industries.
About Us
We are the leading telecommunication company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 42 million customers connected and play a critical role in the society, supporting over one million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 362 Billion ($ 3.2 billion) for the 12 months through March 2021. We are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and with annual revenues of close to KES 298 Billion ($2.5 billion) as at March 2022. We were founded in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya before a 40 percent acquisition by Vodafone Group PLC in May 2000, and a public offering of 25 percent shares through the NSE in 2008. Under the management of Vodafone Group PLC, we welcomed Michael Joseph, as our first CEO, a few months later in July of 2000. He led the company’s growth to accommodate 16.71 million subscribers from the previous 20,000, largely owing to innovative products like M-PESA in 2007.
About the Team
We are 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. To achieve all this, we are ever-reliant on our competent and dependable staff who make it possible for us to achieve greater heights for our customers.
