Legal Counsel Financial Services at Jumia

Job Description JUMIA is an e-commerce startup with an aim to mimic Amazon’s success by delivering a wide range of items, from toys to generators across the African continent. Shortly after the startup of the business in Nigeria, JUMIA launched warehouses in four other growing countries which include: Egypt, Morocco, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire.About the Role As Legal Counsel (Financial Services) for Jumia (East Africa), you will manage all legal and regulatory matters relating to the company’s payments business in East Africa (Kenya and any other countries in the region) as well as support the company’s finance operations and treasury teams on intercompany cash flows and cross-border payment issues. At times, you will also support strategic projects in other Jumia countries of operation as and when necessary.The ideal candidate will come from “start-up” like environments in digital payments or the financial services industry, be result-oriented, and a clear communicator with a solid background in banking, payments or the fintech space. The role is located in Nairobi, Kenya with possible travel to other markets as and when required. Responsibilities Serve as main point of contact to the local business team for all legal and regulatory matters in respect of the company’s affairs in East Africa including but not limited to contract drafting and review, general legal advisory, product risk reviews and company secretarial mattersMaster a deep understanding of the rules and regulations governing the East African market in which we operate, including monitoring of any changes and developments and maintaining active relationships with regulatory counterpartsWork closely with the company’s risk, business, finance, regulatory, compliance, product, sales, and other teams to understand and appropriately resolve legal, regulatory and other related risks in supporting the company’s businessManage external counsel in East Africa, and occasionally in other markets, to drive the business goals of the companySupport internal, external audits or local regulatory examinations in the East African marketProvide strategic legal and regulatory advice on core company initiatives that drive the company’s mission forward Requirements 5 – 10 years of experience as a qualified lawyer working on complex regulatory or technology matters, preferably in payments or financial servicesA broad legal knowledge that enables you to spot and resolve a variety of legal issues (e.g., regulatory, contract, IP, data privacy, employment, consumer protection, risk), and an ability to distill complexity and to identify and clearly communicate practical, risk-based solutionsYou must be a strong self-starter and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment with priorities that frequently change and occasionally competeYou must be a great communicator and solid project manager, able to effectively prioritize and advance a large number of matters, often on tight deadlinesYou must be able to work independently to drive execution on business objectives and with teammates across various jurisdictionsExperience with banking and financial services laws and regulations, payments and card network rulesExperience advising startups on structuring their products and servicesCompliance experience or experience partnering with compliance and risk teamsExperience working at a PSP or mobile money platform and on matters relating to fintech in general is desirable