Payments Product Manager

PawaPay is a pan-African fintech enabling local payment channels for merchants. They are seeking an experienced Payments Product Manager to own and drive the strategy, roadmap, and delivery of mobile money and banking payment products across African markets.

Responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end product lifecycle for pawaPay’s mobile money and banking payment products, from discovery through to delivery and iteration
• Define and maintain the product roadmap in alignment with company strategy, market demand, and customer feedback
• Work closely with Sales and Customer Success teams to gather requirements, understand pain points, and translate commercial needs into clear product specifications
• Partner with Marketing to shape product positioning, go-to-market strategy, and competitive differentiation
• Collaborate daily with Engineering to prioritise the backlog, define acceptance criteria, and ensure timely, high-quality delivery
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis across African payments markets to identify trends, opportunities, and risks
• Define and track key product metrics, using data to inform decisions and demonstrate product impact
• Engage directly with customers and partners to validate product direction and build strong feedback loops
• Champion a customer-centric, evidence-driven approach to product development across the organisation

Requirements:

• 5–10 years of product management experience, with a strong track record of owning and shipping fintech or payments products
• Demonstrable experience working cross-functionally with Sales, Marketing, and Engineering teams to define, refine, and deliver products
• Deep understanding of payment systems, payment processing, and financial services technology
• Strong commercial awareness — comfortable engaging with customers, interpreting sales feedback, and balancing business needs with technical feasibility
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels
• Experience with agile product development methodologies and modern product management tools
• Data-driven mindset with experience defining and tracking product KPIs
• Experience working in African markets, with a solid understanding of the mobile money ecosystem and its unique dynamics
• Direct experience with mobile money platforms (e.g., M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, Airtel Money, Orange Money) or mobile money aggregation services
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements across African payments markets
• Experience in a high-growth startup or scale-up environment
• Technical background or strong technical fluency — comfortable discussing APIs, system architecture, and integration patterns