About the Role:

To manage and coordinate Change, Release, and Transition processes across M-Pesa Africa, ensuring that new systems and services are introduced into production in a controlled, compliant, and stable manner. The Manager ensures operational readiness, governance adherence, risk mitigation, and seamless collaboration between technical and business stakeholders.

Key Accountabilities and Decision Ownership

Change Management

• Own and lead the end-to-end change lifecycle in alignment with ITIL best practices.
• Chair CAB meetings and conduct risk assessments, deployment readiness checks, and quality reviews.
• Monitor change KPIs (e.g., success rate, failure rate, emergency changes) and drive continuous improvement.
• Manage emergency changes and ensure effective communication with senior stakeholders.

Release Management

• Plan and coordinate the release of software, infrastructure, and patches across environments.
• Align release windows with business calendars and platform readiness.
• Ensure version control, test validations, rollback plans, and compliance checks are in place.

Transition Management

• Manage transitions from project delivery to steady-state operations.
• Define and enforce operational acceptance criteria, go-live checklists, and OAT plans.
• Coordinate handovers and ensure support teams are trained and resourced for new services.
• Track transition progress, risks, and readiness milestones across markets.
• Conduct post-release reviews and lead root cause analysis for failed deployments.

Risk, Compliance & Governance

• Implement and enforce change and release controls to minimize service disruption.
• Maintain change logs, release documentation, and transition artifacts for audit readiness.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies, security standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Support internal and external audits and respond to compliance-related queries.

Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting

• Act as the primary liaison for change, release, and transition matters across markets and teams.
• Provide clear reporting on upcoming releases, risk items, and performance KPIs to leadership.
• Collaborate with market IT teams to ensure localized readiness and smooth deployment.
• Drive process optimization by engaging delivery, support, and DevOps teams.

Leadership & People Management

• Lead a team of 5–8 change analysts, release coordinators, and transition leads.
• Set clear objectives, conduct performance reviews, and mentor staff for growth.
• Ensure appropriate resource allocation and team coverage for project and release demands.
• Promote a culture of accountability, proactive planning, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

Knowledge and Experience

• 5 to 7 years of IT Service Management experience, with at least 2 years in team leadership or supervisory roles.
• Proven expertise in ITIL Change Enablement, Release Management, and Transition Planning.
• Strong track record of managing CABs, emergency changes, and high-volume release cycles.
• Experience with go-live readiness, OAT planning, and service handovers to operations.
• Knowledge of hybrid/cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, DevOps environments, and enterprise systems.
• Familiarity with automating elements of change/release workflows is a plus.

Technical / Professional Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.
• ITIL v3 or ITIL 4 Certification.
• Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and planning skills.
• Working knowledge of data protection and regulatory compliance standards.
• Experience in working in dynamic and high-growth environments.
• Mobile Payment or Financial Services experience.
• Experience working in dynamic, multi-market, and multicultural environments.
• Project management certification (e.g., PRINCE2, PMP, AgilePM).