Principal : Operational Risk

About Cellulant:

Cellulant
is Africa’s leading payments company, providing seamless, secure and innovative solutions that empower businesses, banks, and global brands to thrive in a fast-changing global economy.

With a presence in over 24 countries and 200+ payment methods across cards, bank transfer and mobile money , our single API payment platform, Tingg , simplifies collections, disbursements, and reconciliations. It processes over 1 million transactions daily for market leaders across sectors such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail, and Remittances.

By simplifying how people pay and get paid, we drive trust, commerce and scale – and connect companies to their ambitions.

Our Mission:
To deliver seamless, secure and innovative payment solutions for businesses.

Our Vision:
To create a connected world where businesses move money as easily as they share ideas.

Our Story:

Across Africa, payments are more than transactions. They are gateways to prosperity, connecting people, businesses and communities to opportunities and growth.

From enabling a logistics company in Lusaka to pay suppliers across borders, to enabling a hospitality brand in Lagos to scale effortlessly, to supporting an airline in Nairobi to reconcile payments from multiple platforms, Cellulant is the bridge that makes it all possible.

Through trusted technology and customer-centric innovation, we build connections that inspire progress, strengthen economies and transform payments into a tool for progress.

Since our founding in 2003, we've continuously adapted and grown, leveraging our experiences to simplify payments for businesses. We are driven by an unshakable belief that seamless people-centred payments are the key to unlocking prosperity.

Today, Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.

Role Overview:

This role is responsible for identifying, measuring, managing, and reporting both financial (including Credit and Market) and non-financial (Operational) risks. This involves devising and implementing risk mitigation strategies in collaboration with line management and ensuring follow-up for effectiveness. Coordination across all departments and business units is vital to embed an integrated risk management process throughout the organisation.

What You'll do:

- Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) : Establish a robust ERM framework, including risk analysis, reporting, and culture embedding. Develop and implement the organisation's risk appetite and tolerance, ensuring adherence in all operations. Set up a robust risk governance framework to ensure thorough oversight and control over Cellulant's risk exposure. Review and update risk policies, tolerances, and appetites in line with business needs and in alignment with oversight requirements of Board and Risk Committee

- Operational Risk Management: Support the documentation and assessment of risks and controls across the company, coordinating the monitoring and reporting of key risk indicators. Maintain risk events and issue logs, and drive improvement actions based on internal and external feedback. Lead risk mitigation strategies that leverage digital solutions and are scalable as the organisation expands.

- Strategic, Reputational Risk, AMP (Assessment, Mitigation & Performance) and Ethics : Set and enforce standards and procedures that manage stakeholder expectations and company reputation, ensuring performance alignment with these standards

- Risk Culture and Awareness - Drive initiatives that instil a risk-aware culture, fostering accountability and ownership of risk management across all levels of the organisation. Conduct regular training sessions and awareness programs, ensuring all teams understand and proactively manage risks associated with their functions.

- Reporting - Develop comprehensive reporting, provide Vice President of Risk, CEO, Board of  Risk Committee and the Board with regular, actionable reports on risk exposures, mitigation efforts, and emerging trends. Oversee the creation of real-time risk dashboards to enhance visibility and monitoring of critical KRIs and risk trends.

- Technology Risk Management and Data Protection
-  Identify, assess, mitigate, and monitor IT-related risks, such as cybersecurity threats, system failures, data breaches, and compliance violations. In addition, prevent or reduce the adverse effects of these risks on the operations, financial performance, and business reputation. Support initiatives to protect against data breaches and cybersecurity risks, collaborating closely with Information Security and IT to implement safeguards .

What we are looking for:

- A Bachelor's degree in finance, business administration, technology, law or any other relevant field, certifications in risk management

- At least 8 years relevant experience within Risk and Assurance roles ideally within reputable financial services or the payments industry. Experience should include:

- Familiarity with risk management international best practice and frameworks (COSO, COBIT, NIST, ISO, etc)

- Familiarity with the African fintech landscape, including credit, market, and operational, etc risk specific to emerging markets.

Experience that will count in your favor:

- Internal Controls, Audit, Data Protection, ISO Certification, Business Continuity, Operational Risk, Technology Risk.

Nice to have experience:

- People and Knowledge Management

Skills:

- Presentation/reporting skills, Interpersonal skill and Analytical skills; communication of complex risk management information to internal teams, management teams, Boards and other relevant stakeholders; collaborative approach to fostering risk culture.

Personal attributes:

- Credibility

- Openness

- Strategic thinker

- Ability to balance growth and risk

Why Work for Us?

At Cellulant, we are more than a payments company: we are bridge-builders. We believe that by simplifying the way people pay and get paid, we are connecting companies to their ambitions, people to opportunities, and Africa to the global economy . Our work goes beyond payments—it’s about what people, businesses, and communities can do when the movement of money becomes more dependable, seamless, and secure.

Some exciting things about us...

- We have an extensive footprint: We have an office presence in  10 countries, and our products serve 24 countries across Africa, with a global workforce of about 300 employees.

- We believe innovation is at the heart of Fintech: Thousands of market leaders and top enterprises trust our technology to power their payments. Our customers are in various sectors, including financial services, travel and hospitality, telecom, e-commerce, remittance companies, SaaS, and the gig economy.

- We put our employees first : We offer market-related compensation, generous personal time off, and medical and life insurance benefits (markets permitting).

- We seek collaborative builders. At Cellulant, we believe that great ideas happen when we come together. Therefore, we nurture a collaborative work environment that challenges, engages, and empowers each person to contribute to the growth and success of the business.

- We solve for Africa’s digital economy: We’re solving payment challenges on the continent to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.

- We support a diverse and inclusive workforce : We focus on the growth and development of our employees through well-developed, individualised career paths, ensuring you reach your full potential in a supportive and delivery-oriented environment.

Our inclusivity pledge: At Cellulant, we value the diversity of our people and the customers we serve. We're committed to a workplace where individual differences are recognised, respected and celebrated, and where fairness, dignity and respect guide how we treat everyone. As an equal opportunity employer, we recruit, employ, develop and reward our people based on merit, competence and business need, and we do not discriminate against any employee, worker or applicant on any ground prohibited by the law of the country in which they are employed. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply and thrive with us.

If you need assistance completing an application, accessing our website, or require reasonable accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact [email protected]/ [email protected]