Technical Program Manager – Digital Payments

Job Title: Technical Program Manager – Digital Payments
Employment type: Contract
Contract length: 6 months
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT
As a Technical Program Manager, you will drive the delivery of complex, large-scale payment and technology initiatives. The role involves working across functional teams from engineering, product, risk, and operations to design, build, and scale secure, high performing payment solutions. You will drive the overall program strategy, execution, and governance, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with regulatory and business requirements.
You will function as a bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders, translating business needs into scalable technical solutions, managing dependencies, mitigating risks, and continuously improving processes. The role requires strong technical acumen, stakeholder management, and the ability to navigate fast paced, highly regulated environments while driving innovation in digital payments.
Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of complex, large-scale payment systems, ensuring reliability, scalability, and alignment with architecture standards.
• Ensure solutions meet regulatory requirements, manage system risks, and continuously optimise performance, uptime, and transaction success rates.
• Align engineering, product, business, and external partners by clearly translating technical concepts into business outcomes.
• Drive program strategy, anticipate challenges, and resolve complex issues in fast paced, high stakes environments.
  

Knowledge and Experience:

• Strong understanding of payment ecosystems (authorisation, clearing, settlement), APIs, and distributed systems to support secure, high-volume transaction processing.
• Hands on experience managing programs across distributed systems, APIs, and cloud-based platforms.
• Comfortable working with engineering teams and understanding system architecture, dependencies, and scalability challenges.
• Proven ability to work across product, engineering, risk, and external partners, including managing expectations, priorities and driving execution in a matrix organisation.
  

Mandatory Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Technology, or a related field (Master's preferred).
• Previous experience within Banking, Digital Payment & Card solutions or the FinTech industry.
• An understanding of regional regulations across financial services or payment networks.
• Regional experience across Kenya, including working in a faced-paced matrix organisation.
• Excellent communication skills in English (written, verbal, and presentation).
  

Preferred Skills:

• The ability to analyse data, troubleshoot payment issues, optimize processes, and make data-driven decisions.
• Good understanding of payment systems, digital platforms, system workflows, security basics, and industry technologies.
  

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