Deputy Director, Settlements Accounting and Control at Central Bank of Kenya

Job Purpose

This position supports the Director, Financial Markets Department in providing strategic leadership and oversight of the Settlements, Accounting & Control Division, setting divisional strategy, establishing robust risk and governance frameworks and ensuring end-to-end excellence in domestic and foreign transaction processing, clearing, settlement, accounting, reconciliation and control functions in the Division.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Strategic Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and expertise to a team in the execution of the mandates. He/she will be required to work closely with Heads of other business functions and Management to define forward-looking best practice strategic initiatives for the function.
• Contribute as appropriate to the performance of other functions and to the overall achievement of CBK's strategic objectives.
• Work effectively as part of the senior departmental management team to deliver on the key result areas and demonstrate competencies of his/her role.

Technical and Operational Responsibilities

• End-to-end oversight of domestic and foreign payments: clearing and settlement, confirmations, reconciliation, budgeting, accounting, custodial services and cash management.
• Coordinate integration and performance of core banking and financial systems: RTGS, SWIFT, ORACLE, Treasury platforms, market infrastructure (e.g., DhowCSD) and any other system necessary for proper and timely recording of transactions.
• Define and enforce internal controls, segregation of duties, and access governance across settlement, accounting, and forex custodial functions.
• Ensure timely resolution of all payment queries and investigations; supervise high-value transactions and escalations.
• Ensure that interests and redemptions are funded, processed and paid in an efficient and timely manner.
• Lead divisional financial reporting and closure; ensure accuracy of trial balances, sub-ledgers, and reconciliations for bank accounts, securities registers, FX transactions, money market, and fixed income portfolios.
• Oversee government securities operations: auction settlement, interest and redemption funding, corporate actions, and post-trade reporting.
• Establish liquidity risk practices (intraday monitoring, funding forecasts, collateral optimization) supporting monetary policy operations and reserves management.
• 9. Strengthen cybersecurity and data integrity: message authentication, encryption, audit trails, incident response for critical payment systems.
•  Ensure business continuity and disaster recovery strategies are in place, e.g., set Recovery Time Objective (RTO) targets and run failover tests.
• Drive automation/STP and analytics initiatives to improve timeliness, accuracy, and cost efficiency.
• Coordinate internal and external audits; close findings with durable remediation tracked via risk registers.
• Coordinate maintenance of customer static data such as Standing Settlement Instructions (SSIs) and master data governance.
• Lead policy, procedure, and standards development for settlements, accounting, custody, and reconciliations; maintain up-to-date manuals and SOPs.
• Coordinate the overall financial reporting function in the Financial Markets Department.

Other Responsibilities

• Coach, mentor, and develop divisional talent; run succession planning and capability uplift programs.
• Represent CBK in committees, working groups, and stakeholder forums on payment systems and market operations and other strategic initiatives.
• Any other assigned duties and responsibilities

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Business, Finance, Economics, Banking or similar field from a recognized institution.
• Master's Degree in Accounting, Business, Finance, Economics, Banking, or similar field, or a professional qualification in a relevant field is an added advantage.
• Membership of a relevant professional body is an added advantage.
• Clear understanding of financial markets, banking, and relevant emerging issues in:
• National, regional, and international regulatory and statutory requirements.
• Foreign payments operations.
• Monetary policy operations.
• Government borrowing.
• Foreign exchange management and operations.
• Risk management.

Work Experience

• At least twelve (12) years' work experience in a relevant field including financial reporting, with at least two (2) years leading and driving Treasury Management in a reputable Bank, Financial Institution, Investment and Fund Management organization or related field.
• International working experience in financial markets institutions or multi-layered think tanks.
• High-level networking at national, regional, and global levels.
• Experience in managing a professional team of senior financial and market operations analysts.
• Demonstrated capacity in strategic and analytical thinking, sound policy judgment in areas of financial and capital markets as well as debt issues.