API & Developer Market Place lead

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Safaricom, Ltd is a leading mobile network operator in Kenya. It was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone Group Plc of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company. Safaricom employs over 1,500 people mainly stationed in Nairobi and other big cities like Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret in which it manages retail outlets. Currently, it has nationwide dealerships to ensure customers across the country have access to its products and services.

JOB SUMMARY

Must have technical / professional qualifications:Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Business, or a related field.Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Technology Management, Digital Platforms, or related discipline is advantageous.Minimum 10–12 years’ experience in digital platforms, APIs, fintech, product management, or ecosystem strategy within large-scale, technology-driven organizations.Proven experience leading API strategy, platform exposure, or developer ecosystem initiatives at enterprise scale.Strong understanding of API productization, platform monetization models, and digital ecosystem economics.Demonstrated experience working within agile delivery environments and aligning API squads with DevSecOps practices.Solid understanding of cloud-native architectures, microservices environments, and scalable platform design principles (without requiring deep engineering specialization).Experience managing platform reliability, security, compliance, and performance standards in regulated financial or technology environments.Track record of building and scaling developer marketplaces, partner ecosystems, or B2B platform adoption programs.Strong commercial acumen with the ability to link API exposure strategy to revenue growth, monetization governance, and EBITDA impact.Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders across Product, Technology, Growth, and Commercial teams.Strong executive communication capability with the ability to translate technical concepts into strategic business outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Platform Strategy & API Exposure Architecture: Define and evolve the organisation wide platform exposure strategy, ensuring fintech capabilities are externalized through scalable, interoperable APIs that enable ecosystem growth while aligning with the cluster roadmap.API Productization & Lifecycle Governance: Lead the productization of APIs as managed platform assets, establishing lifecycle standards, version governance, security protocols, and performance benchmarks that ensure reliability, scalability, and regulatory compliance.Developer Marketplace Growth & Ecosystem Enablement: Build and scale the Developer Marketplace by strengthening developer experience (DX), structured onboarding, documentation standards, and ecosystem engagement models that accelerate third-party adoption and platform usage.Monetization Governance for Platform Exposure: Establish commercial guardrails for API monetization, including usage models, pricing principles, and revenue-sharing frameworks, ensuring platform exposureAnchored in Safaricom’s purpose of transforming lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities, and people to information, the Lead API & Developer Marketplace ensures that Financial Services evolves from product-centric offerings to a scalable, ecosystem-powered platform that expands access, innovation, and sustainable revenue growth.contributes sustainably to revenue growth and EBITDA targets without duplicating Product monetization ownership.Agile API Squads & DevSecOps Alignment: Align API squads with agile delivery principles and DevSecOps standards to ensure secure, high-performance, continuously deployable APIs that balance innovation speed with platform stability and risk management.Agile Leadership & Delivery Governance: Leads empowered cross-functional squads aligned to shared OKRs, operating within clearly defined decision rights and escalation protocols. Champions iterative delivery and hypothesis-driven experimentation while balancing speed with regulatory, financial, and operational guardrails to ensure responsible, outcome-led execution.Key accountabilities and decision ownership:Platform Strategy & API Exposure ArchitectureDefine and maintain the Safaricom and Financial Services API exposure strategy aligned to cluster growth and platform ambitions.Translate fintech roadmap priorities into scalable exposure architectures that enable ecosystem integration across payments, credit, wealth, insurance, and partner ecosystems.Establish scalability, interoperability, and security standards that support high transaction volumes and cross-border expansion.Partner with Product to ensure capabilities are platform-ready from inception — without assuming ownership of product functionality.Align exposure standards with regulatory, security, and risk requirements across all API surfaces.API Productisation & Lifecycle GovernanceProductise APIs as managed platform assets with defined lifecycle stages, version control, deprecation policies, and backward compatibility standards.Define performance benchmarks and reliability thresholds for all exposed services; embed security-by-design and compliance-by-design across API development.Ensure documentation, testing, sandbox environments, and support models meet enterprise-grade standards.Govern API portfolio rationalisation: eliminate duplication, retire deprecated APIs, and optimise platform efficiency.Developer Marketplace Growth & Ecosystem EnablementBuild and scale the Developer Marketplace as a structured ecosystem growth engine — strengthening developer experience (DX) through intuitive onboarding, self-service documentation, and structured support frameworks.Define clear value propositions and use cases for third-party developers, enterprises, and ecosystem integrators.Monitor ecosystem adoption metrics (active integrations, API call volumes, developer activation rates) and identify levers to accelerate usage.Establish structured feedback loops to continuously improve developer engagement and marketplace performance.Monetisation Governance for Platform ExposureDefine API monetisation principles aligned to revenue and EBITDA objectives — establishing pricing guardrails and usage models for API consumption.Ensure revenue-sharing and partnership structures are economically viable and margin-protective; track API monetisation performance against defined financial targets.Enable controlled commercial experimentation within approved boundaries; align monetisation frameworks with Product and Commercial teams to prevent overlap or duplication.Agile API Squads & DevSecOps AlignmentAlign API squads to agile delivery principles, enabling rapid iteration and continuous improvement.Embed DevSecOps practices to ensure secure, reliable, and scalable API deployments; ensure platform stability while supporting innovation velocity.Monitor service uptime, reliability, and incident response standards; coordinate cross-functional collaboration between API squads, Product, and Technology teams.Promote automation and continuous integration practices that enhance deployment speed and resilience.Leadership & Talent DevelopmentBuild and lead a high-performing, multidisciplinary team embedding OKR-driven accountability, agile ways of working, and a culture of continuous learning and innovation.Ensure succession readiness for all critical roles through structured coaching, mentoring, and capability development programmes.Champion cross-functional collaboration across M-PESA to ensure integrated, outcome-led delivery of products and initiatives.Model ethical leadership — reinforcing integrity, transparency, and responsible innovation — and ensure governance and compliance in all initiatives.Agile Leadership & Delivery GovernanceLead empowered cross-functional squads aligned to shared OKRs, with clearly defined decision rights, accountability structures, and escalation protocols.Champion iterative delivery and hypothesis-driven experimentation, balancing execution speed with regulatory, risk, and operational guardrails.Enable transparent progress tracking through sprint reviews and performance rituals, fostering a culture of ownership and outcome-based performance.Key performance indicators:Revenue & MonetisationAPI-driven revenue contribution: grow to at least 5% of total FS revenue .Developer marketplace revenue growth: achieve > 10% YoY growth.API monetisation yield per integration: achieve average acceptable yield per active third-party integration monthly.Ecosystem GrowthActive API integrations: achieve 10,000+ active enterprise and third-party integrations.API usage growth rate: achieve 15% YoY growth in total API call/transaction volume.Ecosystem partner activation and retention rate: achieve 80%+ 90-day partner retention.Average time to onboard new developers or partners: reduce to 48 hours.Platform Performance & QualityAPI platform uptime: maintain 99%+ availability across all production API surfaces.Mean time to resolve (MTTR) API incidents: achieve below 2 hours for P1/P2 incidents.Percentage of new fintech products that are API-enabled at launchAPI security compliance: zero critical security vulnerabilities in production; all findings remediated within defined SLA.

REQUIRED SKILLS

Application programming interfaces (API), JavaScript, Java, Relational databases (SQL)

REQUIRED EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree