Safaricom has announced three senior career opportunities in Kenya, targeting professionals with experience in product management, fintech regulation, digital financial services, technology leadership and Business Support Systems.
The latest Safaricom job vacancies include M-Pesa Africa: Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME), Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance, and HoD Digital Business Support Systems.
The positions are part of different areas of Safaricom’s operations, including M-PESA Africa, Corporate & External Affairs and the Technology Cluster. They offer experienced professionals an opportunity to take responsibility for major product, regulatory and technology functions within the organisation.
The M-Pesa Africa Head of Product, Merchant Solutions position is based in Kenya under a hybrid working arrangement and was posted on September 30, 2026. The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance and HoD Digital Business Support Systems vacancies were posted on September 28, 2026.
Candidates interested in Safaricom careers in Kenya should carefully review the responsibilities and qualifications for the individual positions before submitting applications through the company’s recruitment portal.
The three available positions are outlined below.
1. M-Pesa Africa: Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME)
Location: Kenya – Hybrid
Posting Date: September 30, 2026
Job Category: Sales, Operations & Product Management
Job Schedule: Full-time
M-Pesa Africa is recruiting a Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME) to take responsibility for its merchant product portfolio.
M-PESA serves millions of merchants across its markets. The organisation is seeking to further develop its merchant offering beyond facilitating payments by providing merchants with products and services that can help them receive payments reliably, understand their business performance, access working capital and grow their businesses.
The Head of Product will own the merchant product portfolio from end to end. This covers products ranging from tills and Pochi la Biashara to business applications, merchant tools and credit solutions.
A major objective of the position is to bring separately developed products together into a coherent merchant proposition.
The role will initially focus on Kenya, which represents a large and mature merchant market within the M-PESA footprint. Products and capabilities developed in Kenya are expected to be designed in a way that allows them to be reused and scaled across other M-PESA markets.
This is a senior and hands-on product leadership position. The successful candidate will be expected to define strategy and manage the product roadmap while remaining closely involved with data, merchants, engineering teams and technology vendors.
Key Responsibilities
The Head of Product, Merchant Solutions will be responsible for areas including:
- Defining the merchant product vision, segmentation approach and multi-year roadmap covering micro, small and medium-sized merchants.
- Connecting the product roadmap to measurable commercial outcomes, including the number of active merchants, product usage, revenue generation and credit adoption.
- Taking responsibility for the full merchant product stack, including payment acceptance products such as tills, Buy Goods, Paybill and QR.
- Overseeing merchant applications and portals that support businesses using M-PESA merchant services.
- Managing merchant notification and reconciliation capabilities.
- Overseeing business tools and other value-added services developed for merchants.
- Building and leading a high-performing product team.
- Establishing an effective product operating rhythm covering areas such as product discovery, product requirement documents, releases and post-launch reviews.
The role requires the successful candidate to combine strategic product leadership with practical involvement in the merchant ecosystem. This includes understanding merchant needs, working with data and collaborating with technical and commercial stakeholders.
Qualifications and Experience
Candidates applying for the position should meet the following essential requirements:
- At least 10 years of experience in product management.
- At least four years of experience leading product teams or managing a product portfolio.
- Deep experience in mobile money, payments or fintech in Africa, preferably involving merchant, SME or agent products operating at scale.
- A demonstrated record of launching and growing products in Kenya or comparable East African markets with measurable commercial results.
- Strong understanding of merchant payment economics, including acceptance, pricing, settlement, reconciliation and the merchant lifecycle.
- Data fluency, including the ability to define metrics, work with analysts and SQL outputs, and design experiments.
- Experience working across complex stakeholder environments involving areas such as operators, group functions, regulators and partners.
- Ability to influence stakeholders without necessarily having direct authority over them.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to make presentations to senior executives.
- Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, engineering, computer science or a related field.
The vacancy also identifies several desirable attributes:
- Multi-market product experience covering 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 requirements and regional payments and data protection regulation.
- MBA or another relevant postgraduate qualification.
Application Information
Candidates should submit their applications through the Safaricom recruitment system.
The vacancy information lists October 7, 2026 as the application deadline for this position.
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2. Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance
Location: Safaricom House – HQ, Kenya
Posting Date: September 28, 2026
Cluster: Corporate & External Affairs
Safaricom is also recruiting a Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance within the Corporate & External Affairs Cluster.
The successful candidate will report to the Group Chief Corporate & External Affairs Officer and will lead Safaricom’s regulatory strategy and institutional engagement framework across the company’s digital financial services and fintech ecosystem.
The position is designed to support sustainable innovation, regulatory resilience and Safaricom’s long-term licence to operate within the changing financial services environment.
The role covers a broad regulatory agenda that includes digital payments, credit, savings, interoperability, open banking, data governance, AI-enabled financial services and emerging fintech business models.
It also involves structured engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya and other domestic, regional and international financial regulators.
The position will work closely with M-PESA, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Strategy and Innovation teams to ensure that regulatory considerations are incorporated into product development, commercial strategy and platform expansion.
Key Responsibilities
The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance will undertake responsibilities in several major areas.
Fintech Regulatory Strategy and Framework
The successful candidate will:
- Develop and continuously refine Safaricom’s integrated fintech regulatory strategy.
- Align the regulatory strategy with the company’s digital financial services expansion and wider commercial ambitions.
- Define regulatory positioning covering payments, credit, savings, interoperability, open banking, embedded finance and emerging fintech models.
- Translate regulatory obligations into structured operating frameworks that support innovation while maintaining prudential integrity.
- Lead regulatory scenario planning to determine how policy changes could affect revenue, product pipelines and capital exposure.
- Ensure regulatory strategy remains aligned with commercial growth priorities across M-PESA and the wider digital financial services portfolio.
Regulatory and Central Bank Engagement
The role will also involve:
- Leading structured senior-level engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya and other financial regulators.
- Supporting the securing of licences, regulatory approvals and product clearances.
- Building and maintaining institutional relationships with financial sector regulators.
- Overseeing the preparation of regulatory submissions, impact assessments and consultation responses.
- Managing complex regulatory negotiations, inspections and supervisory reviews.
- Escalating emerging regulatory risks to executive and Board level where necessary.
Licence to Operate and Prudential Governance
Responsibilities will include:
- Safeguarding Safaricom’s financial services licence to operate through regulatory compliance positioning and oversight.
- Supporting alignment with prudential requirements covering areas such as capital adequacy, consumer protection, data governance, AML/CFT and operational resilience.
- Working with Risk, Compliance and Legal teams on regulatory findings, remediation plans and supervisory commitments.
- Monitoring changing supervisory expectations.
- Providing executive assurance concerning regulatory exposure and appropriate mitigation measures.
Fintech Policy and Industry Engagement
The successful candidate will also:
- Support the shaping of national and regional fintech policy through evidence-based engagement.
- Represent Safaricom in industry coalitions, regulatory forums and multi-stakeholder policy platforms.
- Develop policy positions that balance commercial objectives, public interest considerations and financial inclusion.
- Contribute to emerging policy frameworks involving digital identity, interoperability, open finance, cross-border payments and AI-enabled financial services.
Product and Innovation Regulatory Enablement
The position will:
- Integrate regulatory foresight into product ideation, development and commercialisation.
- Provide early regulatory guidance for new fintech propositions.
- Assess the regulatory implications of new business models, partnerships and platform expansion.
- Work with Product, Technology and Commercial teams when structuring compliant and competitive solutions.
- Support structured regulatory engagement intended to minimise regulatory delays affecting new products.
Regulatory Intelligence and Horizon Scanning
The role will be responsible for:
- Establishing a fintech regulatory intelligence capability.
- Monitoring relevant local, regional and global policy developments.
- Identifying emerging changes involving financial services regulation, digital currency and AI governance.
- Assessing potential revenue, operational and reputational implications of regulatory developments.
- Developing forward-looking regulatory roadmaps.
- Providing strategic briefings to executive leadership on anticipated regulatory changes.
Cross-Functional and Subsidiary Oversight
The successful candidate will additionally:
- Serve as a central regulatory interface across M-PESA, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal and Strategy.
- Support alignment of regulatory positioning across product, commercial and operational activities.
- Integrate regulatory risk considerations into transformation programmes.
- Support regulatory oversight and guidance across subsidiary markets.
- Assist with cross-border regulatory engagements relating to regional fintech initiatives.
- Monitor regulatory exposure across different markets and escalate significant risks.
- Support capability development within subsidiary regulatory teams.
- Maintain appropriate risk, governance, compliance and control practices within the function.
Qualifications and Experience
Applicants should have:
- Bachelor’s degree in Law, Finance, Economics, Public Policy, Banking, Business Administration or a related field from a recognised institution.
- Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Public Policy, Business Administration, Law or a related discipline is strongly preferred.
- Between 10 and 15 years of progressive experience in financial services regulation, digital financial services, fintech policy, banking supervision or regulatory advisory roles.
- At least five years of experience operating at senior management level within a regulated financial institution, fintech company, central bank, regulatory authority or advisory environment.
- Strong understanding of Central Bank of Kenya regulatory frameworks, including payment systems, prudential standards, consumer protection, AML/CFT and digital finance supervision.
- Demonstrated experience managing regulatory approvals involving new financial products, partnerships or changes to operating models.
- Deep understanding of digital financial services ecosystems, including mobile money, open banking, APIs, interoperability, lending, data governance and AI-driven financial models.
- Ability to analyse regulatory frameworks and translate supervisory expectations into commercially viable solutions.
- Experience engaging senior regulatory officials and participating in structured supervisory discussions.
- Strong commercial understanding and the ability to balance regulatory compliance with business growth and product scalability.
- Ability to work with discretion, sound judgement and political sensitivity in high-stakes regulatory environments.
- Excellent analytical, drafting and executive communication capabilities.
How to Apply
Interested candidates who meet the stated requirements should create or update their candidate profile through the Safaricom recruitment portal and proceed with the online application. Applicants are required to attach their resume when submitting their application.
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3. HoD Digital Business Support Systems
Location: Kenya
Posting Date: September 28, 2026
Cluster: Technology
Department: Digital BSS Tribe
Safaricom is recruiting a Head of Department (HoD) Digital Business Support Systems within the Digital BSS Tribe under the Technology Cluster.
The successful candidate will report to the Chapter Lead – Digital IT and will provide strategic planning, modernisation leadership and operational excellence across the Business Support Systems domain.
The role is responsible for supporting the end-to-end delivery of agile and AI-enabled Business Support Systems that facilitate customer acquisition, revenue management and the development of digital services.
Its scope covers Revenue Management, Value Added Services, Enterprise Integration, Contact Centre, Order Management and Financial Reporting.
A central part of the position is the modernisation of legacy technology environments. The role holder will lead the transition from complex monolithic platforms towards simplified, cost-efficient, cloud-native and AI-native architectures that comply with TMF Open API principles.
The position also covers intelligent and predictive customer care, digital self-service, reusable technology platforms and centralised Site Reliability Engineering operations.
Key Responsibilities
BSS Modernisation and Platform Strategy
The HoD Digital Business Support Systems will:
- Lead the transformation of complex monolithic platforms into simplified and cost-efficient cloud-native Business Support Systems.
- Define and execute a three-year technical roadmap.
- Support TMF Open API compliance, AI-native architecture and composable platform design.
- Take responsibility for architecture standards covering BSS, Value Added Services and integration platforms.
- Drive technology vendor selection and partnership strategy.
- Support effective data governance within the BSS environment.
Intelligent CARE and Digital Customer Experience
The position will:
- Transform fragmented channel tools into digital-first and AI-driven customer self-service platforms.
- Introduce AI, automation and agentic systems into customer-related processes.
- Support predictive customer care capabilities.
- Enable converged customer care platforms, including Customer 360 and Master Data Management capabilities.
- Support intelligent, insight-led go-to-market tools for trade, retail and marketing activities.
Agile Delivery and Time-to-Market
The successful candidate will:
- Support the transition from ticket-based waterfall delivery towards composable modern platforms.
- Enable platforms capable of supporting weekly releases with automated regression and testing.
- Drive the development of reusable technology artefacts that can be built centrally and shared across different Tribes.
- Use reusable templates and modern delivery approaches to reduce time-to-market.
- Support delivery against Programme Increment commitments.
Site Reliability Engineering and Operational Excellence
Responsibilities will include:
- Establishing and leading centralised Platform and Site Reliability Engineering squads.
- Supporting round-the-clock maintenance capabilities.
- Introducing predictive operations and zero-touch operations for business squads.
- Maintaining high levels of system availability.
- Improving mean time to recovery.
- Driving AIOps capabilities.
- Supporting business continuity planning.
- Leading operational excellence programmes across relevant platforms.
Financial, Governance and People Leadership
The role will also involve:
- Managing significant departmental capital and operating expenditure budgets.
- Supporting controls designed to prevent revenue leakage.
- Ensuring outstanding audit matters are appropriately managed.
- Driving agile adoption across the function.
- Supporting squad structure design and chapter development.
- Ensuring compliance with Safaricom policies and relevant ISO standards.
- Providing leadership and development to teams operating within the Business Support Systems environment.
Leadership Expectations
The position also carries leadership responsibilities connected to customer focus, purpose, innovation and collaboration.
The role holder is expected to strengthen the team’s connection with customers and communities, promote trusted relationships with customers and partners, support customer-centred decision-making and encourage digital-first approaches.
The successful candidate will also be expected to provide direction to teams, align resources with strategic priorities, encourage innovative thinking and support teams in adopting technologies and practices that improve simplicity, scale and efficiency.
Collaboration across organisational functions is another important element of the role. This includes helping teams work across organisational boundaries, developing employees, encouraging ownership and maintaining appropriate standards of integrity.
The position is also expected to uphold the company’s code of conduct, policies and procedures and comply with applicable safety, health and wellbeing requirements.
Qualifications and Experience
Applicants should have:
- Degree in Information Services, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a similar tertiary qualification.
- More than 10 years of management experience within a technical delivery and operations environment.
- Experience leading Business Support Systems planning, delivery and operations.
- Knowledge of billing and Value Added Services products and services.
- Knowledge of enterprise integration.
- Experience approving and monitoring departmental operating and capital expenditure budgets.
How to Apply
Candidates who meet the required qualifications and experience should update their candidate profile through the Safaricom recruitment portal and complete the online application process.
Applicants should ensure that their resume is attached to their candidate profile when submitting the application.
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Important Information for Applicants
Candidates interested in these Safaricom jobs in Kenya should carefully review the requirements attached to their preferred position before applying.
The three vacancies are senior roles with distinct areas of responsibility. The M-Pesa Africa Head of Product, Merchant Solutions position focuses primarily on building and scaling merchant products across M-PESA markets. The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance position concentrates on financial services regulation, regulatory strategy, institutional engagement and fintech governance. The HoD Digital Business Support Systems position focuses on technology modernisation, Business Support Systems, digital customer platforms, operational excellence and technology leadership.
Applicants should submit accurate information and ensure that their CV reflects relevant experience connected to the requirements of the position for which they are applying.
Applications are made through Safaricom’s online recruitment platform rather than by email. Candidates should therefore use the official recruitment portal, create or update their candidate profile, attach their resume and complete the required online application process.
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