Public Policy Manager
Dakar, Senegal
We’re making Africa the first cashless continent.
In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That’s for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.
We’re solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don’t always work, you can still send money with Wave. In November 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. In 2019, we expanded to Cote d’Ivoire. Now, we have millions of users and are growing fast. Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent. And that’s where you come in….
How you’ll help us achieve it
We’re looking for a Public Policy Manager who understands financial inclusion in Senegal, has existing networks with the private and public sector, is highly energetic, resourceful and excited about getting things done. You’ll be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with stakeholders (especially financial sector partners) as we rapidly scale our business in the WAEMU region.
In this role, you will be responsible for:
- Strategic Level Contribution
- Understanding the overall Wave business especially in the market of your focus, analyzing potential challenges and advising General Managers and Heads of Operation in-country of current and potential roadblocks as well as approaches that will help them achieve their business targets.
- Deeply understanding payment systems and other financial sector laws and regulations pertinent to the business including but not limited to national financial inclusion strategies, financial sector development strategies and other national documents that have a direct or indirect relevance to Wave’s business. Advising business units and support units like expansion, compliance and legal based on in-country and cross-country comparative analyses and trends.
- Working within the public policy team to contribute to macro level thinking on positive and negative headwinds (through market intelligence, research and more) affecting our business.
- Building playbooks, toolkits or frameworks that will help the business, expansion, legal and compliance teams at Wave.
- Reviewing and developing documents for external and internal consumption that demand inputs from the policy team.
- Stakeholder and Relationship Management
- Building excellent stakeholder relationships especially in-country with the country GM. This will include building out stakeholder maps, thinking through both current tactical actions that support business units as well as proactive participation within bodies like relevant industry associations and more.
- Ensuring that key decision makers in country understand Wave’s mission of financial inclusion.
- Representing Wave at conferences, key meetings and being able to present our vision, mission and impact in a compelling manner.
- Building and supporting key partnerships (business and advocacy related) for the company.
- Communications
- Work with the PR and Comms team members to produce, review and contribute to key strategic communication material including but not limited to press releases, blog posts, video content, that promote a domestic, regional and global understanding of Wave’s mission.
- Being able to contribute to thought leadership through white papers, blogs and other knowledge outputs for internal and external consumption.
Key details
- Location: You’ll work from our office in Senegal
- Work authorization in Senegal required.
- This is a permanent contract
- Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses to strong performers who have been with the company for more than 6 months
- We pay 100% of your health care insurance premium cost for yourself and your dependents
- We support working parents – we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized childcare when you return to work
- We help you live your fullest life now! We subsidize gym memberships, fitness classes, and workout equipment
- Airtime reimbursement
- Free food and a beautiful office space
Requirements
- Fluency in English and French required
- 4+ years of experience in the financial inclusion or financial services space is a pre-requisite. Experiences in other sectors like Technology is a positive.
- A strong network and enjoy meeting new people. Good network of key deciders in Telcos, regulatory institutions, administrations, banks, Microfinance and industry associations.
- Clear and proactive communicator
- Have experience working with Regional or global organizations.
- Have published thought pieces (blogs, papers, etc.)
You might be a good fit if you
- Are passionate about financial inclusion.
- Are excited and motivated by the power of technology to solve global problems.
- Slow-moving processes or partners frustrate you, but you’re inclined to lean into the problem and push however you can rather than accept a slow pace.
- A clear and proactive communicator, you are able to independently follow through on tasks and can manage priorities effectively.
- You know how to navigate working with senior partners and stakeholders by spotting and seizing upon mutually beneficial opportunities.
- You like team work, but you also know how to work well independently
- Have a strong network and enjoy meeting new people. Good network of key deciders in Telcos, regulatory institutions, administrations, banks, Microfinance and industry associations.
- You are equally at ease in a boardroom giving a presentation or preparing partner on-boarding documents in French/English.
- Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth
- Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
- Are excessively detail oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
- Well organized and can manage competing priorities.
- You can quickly learn regulatory requirements and prioritize paths to meeting them.
- You’re enthusiastic about Wave’s mission and excited to do what needs to be done to achieve it.
Our team
- We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte D’Ivoire, Mali, and Uganda, plus remote team members spread across the world. We’re deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
- We foster autonomy for our employees. You’ll own your own projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
- We’re backed by world-class investors including Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator and Partech Africa.
How to apply
Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English.
Optional: Please feel free to add a cover letter or note if there is anything additional that you would like to share about your interest in Wave/the role or your experience. We review applications on a rolling basis.
Wave is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
