Head of Banking Platform
On-siteJohannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Job Summary
Define and lead platform strategy by owning the end-to-end vision for the banking platform across all markets, moving from fragmented solutions to a scalable, modular architecture. Establish clear success metrics across conversion, cost, performance, and reliability while overseeing the full banking product lifecycle including deposits, withdrawals, integrations, reconciliation, and tooling. Manage and develop a team of Leads across Delivery, Front-End Platform, and Back Office & Tooling to build strong leadership capability and foster accountability. Drive vendor and payment ecosystem strategy by owning relationships with banks, payment providers, aggregators, and acquirers, leading provider selection, onboarding, commercial negotiations, and SLA management. Execute effective delivery across South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania, balancing local regulatory needs with long-term scalability. Own operational and financial performance by driving improvements in deposit success rates, withdrawal speed, and cost efficiency, partnering with Finance and Operations to optimize reconciliation and risk management. Maintain full compliance with all regulatory and licensing requirements across jurisdictions while influencing at the executive level to present strategy and investment cases to leadership.
Required Qualifications
- Clear, confident communication and the ability to translate complexity into strategic direction
- Strong leadership capability, with experience managing multi-layered teams and developing future leaders
- Exceptional organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple high-impact initiatives simultaneously
- A highly analytical mindset, using data to drive decisions and measure success
- Adaptability and resilience in fast-moving, high-complexity environments
- 10 - 12+ years' experience in Product, Payments, Fintech, or Banking
- Deep understanding of payment ecosystems (deposits, withdrawals, reconciliation, settlement, failure handling)
- Proven experience leading large-scale platform products and cross-functional teams
- Strong commercial acumen with clear understanding of payments impact on P&L
- Experience operating across multiple markets or regions
- Track record of influencing senior stakeholders and driving strategic outcomes
- Clear, confident communication and the ability to translate complexity into strategic direction
- Strong leadership capability, with experience managing multi-layered teams and developing future leaders
- Exceptional organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple high-impact initiatives simultaneously
- A highly analytical mindset, using data to drive decisions and measure success
- Adaptability and resilience in fast-moving, high-complexity environments
- 10 - 12+ years' experience in Product, Payments, Fintech, or Banking
- Deep understanding of payment ecosystems (deposits, withdrawals, reconciliation, settlement, failure handling)
- Proven experience leading large-scale platform products and cross-functional teams
- Strong commercial acumen with clear understanding of payments impact on P&L
- Experience operating across multiple markets or regions
- Track record of influencing senior stakeholders and driving strategic outcomes
- Must be able to lift 50 lbs
- Must be available for weekend shifts
- Valid driver's license
- Bachelor's degree
- Excellent communication skills
- Must be able to effectively lead and coach others
- Strong attention to detail
- Helping customers gives you energy
- Get charged up by interacting with others
- Must be available for weekend shifts
- You believe that food is central to our lives
- Passionate about excellence
- If you have a smile to share, we'd love to have you
- We want amazing humans
Desired Qualifications
- Experience within African payments ecosystems and market-specific methods
- Background in iGaming, betting, or regulated digital platforms
- Exposure to payment orchestration, Merchant of Record (MOR), or acquiring models
- Experience building or scaling payment infrastructure platforms
- Strong understanding of reconciliation processes and operational finance workflows
Hiring someone like this?
Get your role in front of qualified candidates on Sorce.