Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance at Safaricom Plc

Job Description

Job Description

Reporting to the Group Chief Corporate & External Affairs Officer, the Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance is accountable for leading Safaricom’s regulatory strategy and institutional engagement framework across its digital financial services and fintech ecosystem, ensuring sustainable innovation, regulatory resilience, and long-term license to operate within an increasingly complex financial services landscape.

The role shapes and executes a forward-looking regulatory agenda covering digital payments, credit, savings, interoperability, open banking, data governance, AI-enabled financial services, and emerging fintech models. It drives proactive, structured engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and other domestic, regional, and global financial regulators to secure timely approvals, influence policy direction, and manage systemic regulatory risk.

The role embeds regulatory foresight into product design, commercial strategy, and platform expansion by partnering closely with M-Pesa, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Strategy, and Innovation teams. It ensures that regulatory considerations are integrated early in innovation cycles, accelerating time-to-market while safeguarding prudential integrity and consumer protection standards. Through disciplined horizon scanning, regulatory scenario planning, and fintech intelligence capability, the role anticipates shifts in prudential regulation, financial inclusion policy, digital identity, cross-border payments, embedded finance, and platform governance. It translates early signals into structured engagement strategies that protect revenue continuity, unlock new growth opportunities, and strengthen Safaricom’s credibility as a trusted financial ecosystem player.

The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance safeguards Safaricom’s financial services license to operate while enabling strategic growth ambitions, positioning Safaricom as a responsible fintech leader within Kenya and across its subsidiary markets.

The Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance is accountable for shaping Safaricom’s external regulatory strategy, influencing policy direction and maintaining strategic relationships with financial regulators to secure and sustain the Group’s licence to operate. The role anticipates regulatory change, secures regulatory approvals, influences policy outcomes and provides regulatory guidance to the Financial Services business and regulated subsidiaries. It does not own operational execution of regulatory requirements within Financial Services.

Therefore, the Lead Fintech Oversight & Governance is strategically accountable for:

• Fintech Regulatory Strategy & Framework: Lead the development and execution of Safaricom’s end-to-end fintech regulatory strategy, ensuring alignment with commercial ambitions, evolving financial sector policy, and prudential requirements across digital financial services.
• Regulatory & Central Bank Engagement: Drive structured, senior-level engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya and other financial regulators to secure approvals, shape regulatory interpretation, and proactively manage systemic regulatory risk.
• License to Operate & Prudential Governance: Safeguard Safaricom’s financial services license to operate by ensuring robust compliance positioning, regulatory readiness, and alignment with consumer protection, capital, and operational risk expectations.
• Fintech Policy Shaping & Industry Influence: Influence national and regional fintech policy development through evidence-based submissions, coalition building, and structured stakeholder engagement to enable innovation and financial inclusion.
• Product & Innovation Regulatory Enablement: Embed regulatory foresight into product design, commercial planning, and new fintech initiatives to accelerate time-to-market while mitigating regulatory exposure.
• Horizon Scanning & Regulatory Intelligence: Establish forward-looking regulatory intelligence capability to anticipate shifts in digital finance, open banking, interoperability, AI-driven services, and cross-border financial models.
• Cross-Functional Regulatory Integration: Partner with M-Pesa, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Legal, Compliance, and Strategy teams to ensure regulatory considerations are integrated into enterprise decision-making and transformation initiatives.
• Subsidiary Oversight, Governance & Enablement: Provide structured oversight and strategic support to subsidiaries, ensuring alignment to Group standards while enabling effective local execution within market context.
• Risk, Governance & Control Ownership: Embed and maintain effective risk, governance, compliance, and control practices within the function by proactively identifying and mitigating operational, regulatory, financial, people, technology, and reputational risks. Ensure adherence to internal policies, regulatory requirements, audit actions, and enterprise governance frameworks while driving accountability, ethical practices, and a strong controls environment across all areas of responsibility.

Anchored in Safaricom’s ambition to lead Africa’s digital financial services evolution, the role ensures Safaricom engages regulators from a position of credibility, preparedness, and strategic influence, enabling growth with regulatory confidence rather than constraint.

Responsibilities

Health and Safety

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions.

Fintech Regulatory Strategy & Framework

• Develop and continuously refine Safaricom’s integrated fintech regulatory strategy aligned its ambitions and digital financial services expansion.
• Define the regulatory positioning across payments, credit, savings, interoperability, open banking, embedded finance, and emerging fintech models.
• Translate regulatory obligations into structured operating frameworks that enable innovation while maintaining prudential integrity.
• Lead regulatory scenario planning to assess impact of policy shifts on revenue, product pipelines, and capital exposure.
• Ensure alignment between regulatory strategy and commercial growth priorities across M-Pesa and broader DFS portfolios. 

Regulatory & Central Bank Engagement

• Lead structured, senior-level engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya and other financial regulators to secure licenses, approvals, and product clearances.
• Build and maintain trusted institutional relationships that strengthen Safaricom’s credibility as a responsible fintech ecosystem player.
• Oversee preparation of high-quality regulatory submissions, impact assessments, and consultation responses.
• Manage complex regulatory negotiations, inspections, and supervisory reviews.
• Escalate and manage emerging regulatory risks at executive and Board level where required.

License to Operate & Prudential Governance

• Safeguard Safaricom’s financial services license to operate through proactive regulatory compliance positioning and oversight.
• Ensure alignment with prudential requirements including capital adequacy, consumer protection, data governance, AML/CFT, and operational resilience standards.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, and Legal to manage regulatory findings, remediation plans, and supervisory commitments.
•  Monitor evolving supervisory expectations and embed regulatory readiness into business processes.
• Provide executive assurance on regulatory exposure and mitigation strategies. 

Fintech Policy Shaping & Industry Influence

• Shape national and regional fintech policy outcomes through evidence-based advocacy and structured stakeholder engagement.
• Represent Safaricom in industry coalitions, regulatory forums, and multi-stakeholder policy platforms.
• Develop policy position papers that align commercial objectives with public interest and financial inclusion goals.
• Influence emerging frameworks in digital identity, interoperability, open finance, cross-border payments, and AI-enabled financial services.
• Strengthen Safaricom’s positioning as a strategic partner in Kenya’s digital transformation and economic development agenda.

Product & Innovation Regulatory Enablement

•  Embed regulatory foresight into product ideation, development, and commercialization cycles.
• Provide early regulatory advisory to accelerate time-to-market for new fintech propositions.
• Evaluate regulatory implications of new business models, partnerships, and platform expansions.
• Partner with Product, Technology, and Commercial teams to structure compliant yet competitive solutions.
• Reduce regulatory-driven delays through structured engagement and pre-consultation mechanisms.

Horizon Scanning & Regulatory Intelligence

• Establish fintech regulatory intelligence capability to monitor local, regional, and global policy developments.
• Identify early signals in financial services reform, prudential regulation, digital currency, and AI governance.
• Conduct impact analysis to quantify potential revenue, operational, and reputational exposure.
• Develop forward-looking regulatory roadmaps aligned to enterprise growth ambitions.
• Provide strategic briefings to Executive Leadership on anticipated regulatory shifts.

Cross-Functional Regulatory Integration

• Serve as the central regulatory interface across M-Pesa, Financial Services, Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Strategy functions.
• Align regulatory positioning across product, commercial, and operational workstreams.
• Embed regulatory risk management within transformation programs and platform modernization initiatives.
• Drive enterprise-wide awareness of regulatory implications in strategic decision-making.
• Ensure regulatory considerations are integrated into investment and expansion decisions.

Subsidiary & Regional Regulatory Oversight

• Provide strategic regulatory oversight and guidance to subsidiary markets, including Ethiopia and future fintech expansions.
• Ensure alignment of regulatory strategy across markets while adapting to local supervisory frameworks.
• Support cross-border regulatory engagements for regional fintech initiatives.
• Monitor regulatory exposure across markets and escalate systemic risks.
• Strengthen governance and capability building within subsidiary regulatory teams.

Subsidiary Oversight, Governance & Enablement

• Define and drive a Group-wide framework for corporate and external affairs across subsidiaries, ensuring alignment to Safaricom’s strategy, policies, and governance standards.
• Establish clear governance cadence including regular engagement forums, reporting structures, and escalation mechanisms across subsidiary markets.
• Provide strategic advisory and on-the-ground support to subsidiaries on regulatory, public affairs, PR, and stakeholder engagement priorities.
• Ensure consistency in policy positioning, stakeholder engagement approaches, and corporate reputation management across all markets.
• Support subsidiaries in navigating complex regulatory and political environments, including proactive risk identification and mitigation.
• Enable capability building within subsidiary teams through knowledge transfer, playbooks, and shared best practices.
• Monitor and track subsidiary performance against defined corporate and external affairs KPIs, highlighting risks and intervention areas.
• Strengthen coordination between Group and in-country teams to ensure seamless execution of cross-market initiatives and strategic priorities.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:
Customer Obsession

• Deepen team connection to our customers and communities.
• Foster authentic relationships with customers and partners that build trust.
• Explicitly take customer-centric decisions and take personal ownership to achieve results.
• Simplify processes through digitalization and promote a digital mindset and digital first customer experience.
• Stay focused on the big priorities, know when to make meaningful trade-offs and demonstrate brilliant execution.

Purpose

• Create an inspiring vision for your team to drive strategy and performance.
• Show ambition and courage, empowering others to go beyond the plan.
• Bold and challenge teams to reimagine how things are done.
• Prompt new thinking and ideas by asking “what if” questions.
• Use knowledge of the external environment (customers, partners, competition, external bodies) to identify and act on opportunities for growth at pace.

Innovation

• Create psychological safety so everyone can have an impact.
• Fuel innovative ideas from others and test them to enable growth.
• Explore successes and failures with curiosity and resilience; fearlessly recognizing lessons learned.
• Share your ongoing learning and personal purpose with others.
•  Learn fast from digital adoption, using learnings to drive simplicity, scale and efficiency.

Collaboration

• Articulate your team’s role in making our strategy happen, prioritizing and aligning resources with current and future needs.
• Actively collaborate to break silos and hold your team accountable to do the same.
• Develop others to make the most of their talents and coach them to take ownership to get things done.
•  Create an inclusive environment ensuring the safety and wellbeing of others.
• Live our Purpose and demonstrate the highest Standard of integrity.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Finance, Economics, Public Policy, Banking, Business Administration, or related field from a recognised institution.
•  Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Public Policy, Business Administration, Law, or related discipline (strongly preferred).
• 10–15 years’ progressive experience in financial services regulation, digital financial services, fintech policy, banking supervision, or regulatory advisory roles.
• Minimum 5 years operating at senior management level within a regulated financial institution, fintech, central bank, regulatory authority, or advisory environment.
• Strong understanding of Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) regulatory frameworks, including payments systems, prudential standards, consumer protection, AML/CFT, and digital finance supervision.
• Demonstrated experience managing regulatory approvals for new financial products, partnerships, or operating model changes.
• Deep understanding of digital financial services ecosystems including mobile money, open banking, APIs, interoperability, lending, data governance, and AI-driven financial models.
• Proven ability to analyse regulatory frameworks and translate supervisory expectations into commercially viable solutions.
• Experience engaging senior regulatory officials and participating in structured supervisory discussions.
• Strong commercial acumen, ability to balance regulatory compliance with growth enablement and product scalability.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with high discretion, judgment, and political sensitivity in high-stakes regulatory environments.
• Excellent analytical, drafting, and executive communication capability.