CIO – Telco and FinTech Convergence at Equity Bank Kenya

The role holder works closely with the Director of IT and Operations, the Chief Commercial Officer, together with other leaders under the guidance of the IT and Innovations Board to drive equity Groups commercial agenda to create partnerships in diverse ecosystems to actualize commercial strategies and create new business opportunities.

In addition to the broad role requirements described above, for all technology domain areas in the Division, the CIO will be expected to:

Strategy, Planning & Execution

• Responsible for identifying, defining and developing opportunities for strategic partnerships with Telco’s, fintech and others with a goal of accelerating Equity Groups digital growth. 
• Design and deliver the Technical architecture required to deliver on the target products and market deployment needs for the different scenarios against the groups vision aligning Equity groups commercial strategy and markets need for Telco’s and FinTech’s
• Own the engineering software delivery aspects; work with product management to help set direction; define an engineering plan to meet product goals; execute on the plan.
• Develop, implement, and execute technology road maps, including non-functional aspects from security to production health.
• Create team multipliers through best practices like DevSecOps, automation, and pave the way for the team to focus on deliverables and build innovation velocity.
• Thrive on variety and working on all aspects of building full stack software, over the entire development cycle, working with Commercial Teams to set priorities and leading engineering teams to organize delivery to meet commercial outcomes of the business.
• Build partnerships across multiple stakeholders to ensure team, customer, and business success.

Product Management Responsibilities

• Equity is shifting into a product-centric technology development model in which the products’ functionalities are delivered in specified releases. In this case the CIO will aid in building a product house by identifying the necessary Telco & Convergence products that the bank should have and what’s the release plan for all those products.

Qualifications

Leadership and Management Responsibilities

• Build and direct a cohesive team of internal and external personnel to effectively build a Telco and Fintech Convergence Business
• Manage an array of technical resources managing various aspects that support the business
• Articulate and facilitate conversations with business owners and delivery teams.
• Support training and professional development for staff members as needed to perform job duties
• The ideal candidate will be part of the Telco & Fintech Business Leadership team and must have strong business acumen to leverage executive presence and become a trusted advisor to the group.
• Ensure adherence to Bank and information systems policies and procedures, security measures, and audit standards.

Knowledge and Experience

• At least 15 years of technology experience with at least 10 years as a CIO with a proven track record to originate ideas and deliver commercial outcomes.
• Prior experience working with Telco’s and FinTech’s in disrupting traditional banking and driving scenario based digital financial services
• Strong communication skills, with internal and external stakeholders
• Demonstrated ownership, can-do attitude, and data-informed decision making
• Ability to adapt to evolving product visions and emerging technologies.
• Experience with modern best practices including, DevSecOps, Agile development
• It would be a big plus if you have…
  • Prior engineering product experience, serving millions of users
  • Experienced in financial services technology market and products
  • Bachelor’s degree with major in Computer Science, Software Engineering or any other relevant Technology related degree.

Role Key Performance Indicators

• The number of third parties using a sandbox.
• The proportion of third parties launching live products.
• Mean time to onboard a third party.
• Total number of API offers.
• The number of third parties within the ecosystem.
• Number of transactions processed in ecosystem