Job Openings at Safaricom

Job Description

Reporting to the Software Engineering Lead, the role holder is required to research and design the most robust security architecture for Safaricom Digital Channel Projects and Platforms. Work closely with all organization security and risk groups and solution architects. Providing technical guidance to front-end and back-end engineers on security items and best practices. Make sure applications comply with industry security standards as required. Make sure data is secure with the required accessibility and encryption. In liaison with digital product owners, lead in the digital technical delivery of channel security strategy development and execution. Develop a "digital" identity strategy for the digital platforms and implementation & operations plan. Put the logging mechanism for every activity in digital channel applications and conduct a regular audit. Collect logs from every component, including all transactions and each API call, to put centralized monitoring in place.

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Regular team and one-on-one engagements
2. Build the technical digital skillset according to the fit for future program
3. Team technical leadership and performance management
4. Provide technical leadership in architecture and providing oversight on implementation; designing programs that drive channel digital analytics, security and identity.
5. Provide leadership in evaluation, recommendation and documentation of current and proposed changes to system and application processes pertaining to digital channel analytics, security and identity.
6. Lead will review, propose, document and publish design and standards that will guide in implementation of digital channel analytics, security and identity.
7. Guide the organization develop digital channel analytics strategy in liason with the data management and business intelligence teams.
8. Responsible for digital channel analytics architecture  evolution .
9. Technical lead in delivery of digital channel analytics in the organisation.
10. Guide the organization develop digital channel security and digital identity strategy in liason with the risk and security teams.
11. Responsible for digital channel security and digital identity architecture  evolution.
12. Responsible in delivery of digital channel security implementation.
13. Responsible in delivery of digital Identity for digital channels in liason with the security team.
14. Responsible for evolving to a micro-services architecture for all digital solutions and evolving to modern architectures and frameworks for security and analytics applications.
15. Responsible for driving the DevSecOps culture within the chatbot engineering team.
16. Responsible for giving technical leadership in CI/CD pipeline automation for security and data engineering on the digital channels.
17. Responsible for driving the Agile culture within chatbot engineering team.
18. Responsible for coaching all IT members on agile and ensure all digital products are delivered using  agile methodology
19. E2E accountability for systems support including and not limited to MTTR, SLA, individual and global incidents
20. E2E accountability for building automated monitoring for all digital channels
21. E2E accountability for building proactive controls based on machine learning and similar techniques
22. Accountable for all developed digital channel security and identity implementation.
23. Accountable for digital channel anaytics implementation.

 QUALIFICATIONS

1.  Strong knowledge of software architecture.
2. Bachelor's or master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field
3. 5-8+ years of working experience in application and software development, working in application development environment.
4. Proficiency in a modern coding language such as: Java, C#, Python, JavaScript etc.
5. Deep back-end development skills with proficiency in modern coding languages such as: Java, C#, Python, JavaScript etc.
6. Understanding of front-end web development principles and technologies (HTML/CSS)
7. Machine Learning and data analysis skills. Capability to apply machine learning automated analytical model building that helps the machine to identify patterns and make informed decisions based on that data.
8. Proven development experience on AWS Cloud, Google Cloud, Azure Cloud and/or IBM Cloud etc.
9. Effective communication skills e.g. fluent soft skills. Strong communication skills; the ability to convey complex technical details to all audiences
10. Ability to learn quickly
11. Familiarity with CI/CD solutions and DevSecOps principles
12. Development experience in agile teams, with strong product development and collaboration skills.
13. Must be have experience in developing and implementing algorithms.
14. You can create compelling and articulate arguments to Senior Leadership when presenting or negotiating on projects
15. Develop an enterprise wide technical strategy to effectively adopt technologies related to digital identity and security.

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Role Description

M-Pesa, is a pioneer and global market leader in mobile money. From starting in 2007 as a convenient means by which the unbanked and underbanked can send money digitally, M-Pesa has now grown to offer millions of customers financial services, enterprise, merchant, and retail solutions. We are proud of our work in enabling the digital economy in our markets, and in driving financial inclusion. M-Pesa is now making strides to strengthen its offering to businesses in our operating countries, making it easier for them to get onboarded and to accept M-Pesa payments across channels, including in-store payments, online payments, and payments through social media.

In your role, you will be driving M-Pesa’s “local payments acceptance” strategy and products. Your responsibilities will centre on driving the strategy and the solutions to support the acquisition and onboarding of businesses across our 7 M-Pesa markets. This includes strategic tasks such as deep-diving into the competitive landscapes of each country and understanding the needs of businesses and consumers, as well as tactical tasks such as digitizing and streamlining the on-boarding process for merchants across our 7 markets and driving the development of acceptance methods for merchants. You are expected to work together with your commercial counterparts in each of the local M-Pesa markets. You are expected to share best practices, contribute to their strategies, and take responsibility for deliverables. You will also serve as the “linchpin” between the technical product teams and the commercial teams in the M-Pesa markets.You will play a pivotal role in enabling over 50m M-Pesa customers to pay for goods & services with M-Pesa, and growing our base of over 300k businesses that accept M-Pesa.

What you will be executing

Catalyze merchant growth in each market:

1. Co-create the business plans and drive advocacy with regional CEO for merchant acquisition and engagement budget, develop acceleration plans.
2. Trusted advisor to M-Pesa Heads: share pricing, product, and execution best practices from across the M-Pesa footprint.
3. Drive a level of rigor across markets in running the merchant business through monthly forums, ad-hoc workshops, etc.

Develop and Own Local Acceptance Proposition and Roadmap:

1. Oversee digital self-onboarding and MSME online (payment links, shop front, QR, etc.) strategy and delivery.
2. Drive the thinking around the local developer community and create an ecosystem around open APIs and the business homepage.
3. Drive the merchant super app roadmap including prioritization and unblocking issues for the team of squads incl. POs, ensure co-creation with the SFC team.
4. Liaise with the financial services team to design and launch merchant credit, insurance, and savings solutions in-app.
5. Reimagine the business portal to cater to business (MSME to global corporate) needs, drive execution in partnership with the SFC team.
6. Create the merchant rewards strategy in partnership with loyalty colleagues and drive execution within the merchant product suite.
7. Drive multi-acceptance and POS strategy and execution for local businesses (MSME/gov/nat corporate).

Develop and drive the Agent Proposition & Roadmap:

1. Reimagine the agent experience via the super-app channel.
2. Future-proofing of the agent business model through engagement and retention including e-commerce, financial services opportunities, and loyalty schemes.
3. Lead agent centred research and prototype with select agents.
4. Track emerging P2P float sharing and liquidity management models.

 QUALIFICATIONS
 Apply if you have:

1. Bachelor’s degree is required, a master’s degree in a related field is preferred.
2. 7+ years of professional experience with at least 5 years in payments and/or mobile money/merchant acquiring.
3. Extensive budgeting experience.
4. Expertise in developing partnerships with third parties.
5. Experience driving product roadmaps and working with agile squads in product development.
6. International experience and multicultural sensitivity.
7. Analytical bent of mind, a structured thinker with strong business acumen.
8. Self-starter with exceptional people, presentation, and communication skills.
9. Solid influencing and negotiation skills.
10. Passion for, and commitment to driving mobile money growth and innovation.

We are happy if you have:

1. Agile certification.

What you can expect from us:

1. We live the spirit values of M-Pesa Africa: Customer Focus; Innovation; Experiment & be bold; Teamwork.
2. We believe in a fair and robust interview process
3. We have a robust flexible total reward scheme
4. Dedicated support and mentoring/coaching
5. Opportunity to develop and progress – plus a solid dedication to work-life integration. It all means you’ll have everything you need to advance your career and achieve your full potential.