Safaricom has announced three senior career opportunities in Kenya for experienced professionals in product management, fintech regulation, digital financial services, technology leadership and Business Support Systems.
The available positions are spread across M-PESA Africa, Corporate & External Affairs and the Technology Cluster. These are senior-level opportunities involving strategic product development, regulatory oversight, technology modernisation and leadership of critical business support platforms.
Why Work at Safaricom?
Safaricom provides professionals with opportunities to work on large-scale digital, financial and technology solutions serving customers across Kenya and other markets.
Working in these areas can provide exposure to:
- Large-scale mobile money and digital financial services.
- Product development and commercial growth strategies.
- Financial technology regulation and institutional engagement.
- Modern cloud-native, AI-enabled and integrated technology platforms.
- Cross-functional leadership involving technology, commercial, regulatory and operational teams.
Safaricom Jobs in Kenya 2026 Overview
The three current vacancies are senior positions with different areas of responsibility. The M-Pesa Africa Head of Product role focuses on merchant solutions, the Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance position covers fintech regulation and governance, while the HoD Digital Business Support Systems role focuses on technology modernisation and operational excellence.
1. M-Pesa Africa: Head of Product, Merchant Solutions (SMME)
- Location: Kenya – Hybrid
- Posting Date: 30 September 2026
- Job Category: Sales, Operations & Product Management
- Job Schedule: Full-time
- Application Deadline: 7 October 2026
The Head of Product, Merchant Solutions will take responsibility for the merchant product portfolio. The role covers products such as tills, Pochi la Biashara, Buy Goods, Paybill, QR solutions, business applications, merchant tools and credit solutions.
The successful candidate will define the merchant product vision and roadmap, connect product development with measurable commercial outcomes, manage the merchant product stack and build a high-performing product team. The role also requires close collaboration with merchants, data teams, engineers, commercial stakeholders and technology vendors.
Key requirements include:
- At least 10 years of product management experience.
- At least four years leading product teams or managing a product portfolio.
- Deep experience in mobile money, payments or fintech in Africa.
- Experience with merchant, SME or agent products operating at scale.
- A demonstrated record of launching and growing products in Kenya or comparable East African markets.
- Strong understanding of merchant payment economics, including acceptance, pricing, settlement and reconciliation.
- Data fluency, including experience working with metrics, analysts and SQL outputs.
- Experience working with operators, regulators, partners and other complex stakeholder groups.
- Strong written, verbal and executive communication skills.
- A Bachelor’s degree in business, economics, engineering, computer science or a related field.
Desirable experience includes multi-market African product management, SME lending or working-capital products, third-party technology vendor management, knowledge of Central Bank of Kenya requirements and an MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification.
2. Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance
- Location: Safaricom House – HQ, Kenya
- Posting Date: 28 September 2026
- Cluster: Corporate & External Affairs
The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance will lead Safaricom’s regulatory strategy and institutional engagement framework across its digital financial services and fintech ecosystem.
The role covers areas including digital payments, credit, savings, interoperability, open banking, data governance, AI-enabled financial services and emerging fintech business models. It also involves engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya and other domestic, regional and international financial regulators.
Key responsibilities include developing fintech regulatory strategy, supporting licences and regulatory approvals, managing regulatory negotiations and supervisory reviews, monitoring prudential requirements, contributing to fintech policy, providing regulatory guidance for new products and maintaining regulatory intelligence and horizon scanning.
The successful candidate will also work across M-PESA, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal and Strategy teams and support regulatory oversight across subsidiary markets.
Key requirements include:
- Bachelor’s degree in Law, Finance, Economics, Public Policy, Banking, Business Administration or a related field.
- A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline is strongly preferred.
- 10 to 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 senior management experience in a regulated financial institution, fintech company, central bank, regulatory authority or advisory environment.
- Strong knowledge of Central Bank of Kenya regulatory frameworks.
- Experience with regulatory approvals for new financial products, partnerships or operating-model changes.
- Deep understanding of mobile money, open banking, APIs, interoperability, lending, data governance and AI-driven financial models.
- Experience engaging senior regulatory officials.
- Strong commercial understanding and the ability to balance regulatory compliance with business growth.
- Excellent analytical, drafting and executive communication skills.
3. HoD Digital Business Support Systems
- Location: Kenya
- Posting Date: 28 September 2026
- Cluster: Technology
- Department: Digital BSS Tribe
The Head of Department, Digital Business Support Systems will provide strategic planning, modernisation leadership and operational excellence across Safaricom’s Business Support Systems environment.
The role supports agile and AI-enabled systems for customer acquisition, revenue management and digital services. Its scope includes Revenue Management, Value Added Services, Enterprise Integration, Contact Centre, Order Management and Financial Reporting.
A major responsibility is modernising legacy technology environments by moving from complex monolithic platforms toward simplified, cost-efficient, cloud-native and AI-native architectures.
Key responsibilities include:
- Leading the transformation of legacy Business Support Systems.
- Defining and executing a three-year technical roadmap.
- Supporting TMF Open API compliance and composable platform design.
- Driving technology vendor selection and partnership strategies.
- Supporting data governance.
- Developing AI-driven digital customer self-service platforms.
- Supporting predictive customer care and Customer 360 capabilities.
- Enabling faster delivery and reusable technology platforms.
- Establishing and leading Platform and Site Reliability Engineering squads.
- Supporting predictive and zero-touch operations.
- Driving AIOps and business continuity capabilities.
- Managing departmental capital and operating expenditure budgets.
- Supporting controls against revenue leakage.
- Ensuring audit matters are addressed.
- Providing leadership and development to Business Support Systems teams.
Key requirements include:
- Degree in Information Services, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a similar tertiary qualification.
- More than 10 years of management experience in technical delivery and operations.
- 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
Interested candidates should apply through the Safaricom recruitment portal. Applicants should create or update their candidate profile, review the specific vacancy requirements and complete the online application process.
Candidates should also ensure that their resume is attached to their candidate profile when submitting an application. The source indicates that applications are made through the online recruitment platform rather than by email.
For the HoD Digital Business Support Systems position, applicants should similarly update their candidate profile and attach their resume before completing the online application.
Tips to Boost Your Application
Because these are senior-level opportunities, applicants should ensure that their applications clearly demonstrate experience relevant to the specific position.
- Tailor your CV to the requirements of the position you are applying for.
- Highlight measurable achievements rather than simply listing previous responsibilities.
- Clearly demonstrate senior-level leadership and decision-making experience where required.
- For product roles, emphasize experience in fintech, mobile money, payments and commercially successful product launches.
- For the fintech governance position, highlight regulatory, policy, financial services and stakeholder engagement experience.
- For the technology leadership position, emphasize Business Support Systems, technology modernisation, operations and technical management experience.
- Review your application carefully and ensure your resume is attached before submission.
Safaricom’s three senior vacancies provide opportunities for experienced professionals to take on significant responsibilities across product development, fintech regulation and technology leadership. Candidates whose qualifications and experience closely match these roles should review the specific requirements and complete their applications through the Safaricom recruitment platform before the relevant deadline.
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