Director, Payments Partnerships, Africa (Remote): Senior Fintech Job Opportunity

A leading cross-border payments platform is seeking an experienced Director, Payments Partnerships, Africa to join its regional leadership team. The opportunity is suited to a commercially driven professional with extensive experience building strategic partnerships, negotiating financial services deals and navigating regulatory environments across multiple African markets.

The position offers an opportunity to influence the growth of a fast-expanding payments business focused on making international money transfers into Africa more accessible and efficient.

The successful candidate will work closely with the CEO Africa, leading the partnerships strategy that supports payouts, foreign exchange operations and liquidity across the continent.

The employer is a confidential client, with its name available to shortlisted candidates during the recruitment process.

About the Director, Payments Partnerships Role

The Director, Payments Partnerships will play a central role in expanding and managing the company’s network of financial and strategic partners across Africa.

The role involves identifying new partnership opportunities, negotiating commercial agreements, managing relationships with regulators and ensuring that the company’s payment infrastructure meets the needs of different African markets.

Although the position is advertised as remote, the successful candidate must be based in Africa and should expect extensive regional travel. Approximately 75% of the role will involve field engagement, including partner meetings, commercial negotiations and regulatory discussions.

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Build and manage strategic relationships with payment partners across African markets.
• Develop partnerships that support payout services, foreign exchange operations and liquidity management.
• Identify prospective partners and manage the entire partnership process, from initial engagement and negotiations to implementation and live operations.
• Negotiate competitive commercial terms and pricing across assigned markets.
• Establish and maintain trusted relationships with regulators, policymakers and relevant government institutions.
• Represent the company’s interests in regulatory and policy discussions across the region.
• Communicate market insights and operational realities to internal teams, including product, engineering, operations, business development and marketing.
• Ensure that products and services are designed to meet the requirements of the markets in which they operate.
• Monitor market developments, industry data and partnership performance.
• Analyse market information and share insights with the wider growth team to support commercial decision-making.
• Lead regional partnership development and contribute to the company’s expansion strategy.
• Take on additional commercial responsibilities, including potential ownership of sub-regional profit and loss accounts (P&Ls).
• Support the launch and development of new markets across Africa.

Requirements and Qualifications

The employer is looking for a senior commercial professional with a strong track record in business development, strategic partnerships and financial services across Africa.

Applicants should demonstrate the following:

• Approximately 10 years or more of professional experience in fast-paced, high-performance environments such as technology, professional services or financial services.
• Experience working across multiple African markets, rather than experience limited to a single country.
• Demonstrable professional and business connections across Africa.
• Strong commercial judgement and an ability to negotiate complex strategic agreements.
• Experience managing partnerships from initial discussions through negotiation, implementation and ongoing operations.
• Previous engagement with regulators, policymakers or relevant public institutions in African markets.
• The ability to translate market intelligence into practical business and growth strategies.
• Strong communication, relationship management and stakeholder engagement skills.
• A willingness to travel extensively across the continent.

Candidates must be based in Africa.

What Makes This Opportunity Attractive?

This is a senior leadership opportunity within a cross-border payments business operating in a rapidly evolving financial technology sector.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to:

• Influence the company’s payments and partnership strategy across Africa.
• Build relationships with major financial and commercial stakeholders.
• Negotiate strategic agreements across multiple markets.
• Work directly with the CEO Africa and other senior business leaders.
• Contribute to product development and regional business expansion.
• Take on responsibility for sub-regional P&Ls as the business grows.
• Participate in launching new markets across the continent.

The company describes its working culture as one that values practical problem-solving, direct communication and a strong bias towards action.

Job Details

How to Apply

Interested and qualified candidates should submit their CV and a covering note by email to:

nadeema@halleseearch.com

Applications should be sent directly by email and not through LinkedIn.

The covering note must include:

1. Your salary expectations.
2. A brief explanation of how your experience meets each of the stated essential requirements.

Applicants should clearly demonstrate their experience across multiple African markets, commercial negotiations, strategic partnership development and engagement with regulators or policymakers.

Only candidates who meet the recruitment brief will be contacted.

Application email: nadeema@halleseearch.com

Important: This is a confidential senior-level recruitment opportunity. The employer’s name has not been disclosed in the vacancy announcement.