Financial Security lead

Job Description

Financial Security lead.

Our mission

We’re making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That’s for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We’re solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don’t always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across six countries and are growing fast.

Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that’s where you come in…

How you’ll help us achieve it

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal, with over 7 million users. And, we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

As the Financial Security Lead, you will be an integral compliance team member tasked with safeguarding the interests of Wave Mobile Money, its customers, agents, and business operations.

Your primary responsibility will be to mitigate risks associated with non-compliance and anti-money laundering (AML). Additionally, you will ensure that our services remain both accessible and user-friendly for our target audience.

This position will report directly to the Compliance Operations Lead.

In this role, you will be expected to manage the 3 following subjects;

General Compliance

• Ensure compliance with internal Financial Security procedures by all operating entities.
• Ensure the effective planning and implementation of financial security controls and participate in the analysis of their results.
• Participate in non-compliance risk assessments of products, services, and activities.
• Assist in the drafting of periodic and ad hoc compliance reports to regulatory agencies.
• Contribute to the implementation of the compliance program.

Anti-Money Laundering / Terrorist Financing ​​:

• Assess the effectiveness of the systems in place, identify any weaknesses, propose any measures to be taken to improve them, and monitor the implementation of corrective measures.
• Investigate Suspicious Transactions and submit when-needed Reports (STRs) to the Financial Intelligence Authority (CENTIF).
• Supervise AML/CFT analysts in the performance of their duties.
• Constantly ensuring that the AML/CFT system deployed complies with the regulatory requirements in force and emerging risks.
• Support in verifying, centralizing, and coordinating information concerning sensitive, suspicious, or doubtful transactions detected by the analysts.
• Participate in the follow-up of audits/investigations carried out by the supervisory bodies and administrations concerned, as well as drafting answers to their questions during inspections.
• Participate in AML/CFT monitoring (new forms and techniques of fraud / Money laundering, possible means of prevention, etc.) in compliance with regional and international standards and regulations.
• Ensuring the development and implementation of a control baseline for transactions that may be linked to money laundering and suspicious transactions, and implementing action plans.

Financial embargoes :

• Ensures the accuracy and updating of lists of sanctions and embargoes and their integration into the screening tool.
• Ensuring the compliance of Wave entities with embargo restrictions.
• Centralize measures taken in the application of embargo restrictions.
• Other duties may be assigned as the business may require.

Key details

• Location: You’ll work from our office in Dakar and may travel to field locations.
• Work authorization in Senegal is required.
• This is a permanent position.
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses to strong performers who have been with the company for more than 6 months.
• We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.
• We support working parents – we offer 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidized child care when they return to work.
• Airtime reimbursement.
• Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

• Are proficient in spoken and written French and English.
• Have a minimum of 5 years in Compliance, Internal Audit, Internal Control, and Risk functions and 3+ years of experience in operations.
• Have strong proficiency in data analysis and the capability to interpret complex datasets to identify trends, draw actionable insights, and support data-driven decision-making.
• Experience in managing, coaching, and mentoring a high-performing team.
• Bachelor’s degree or above in Law, Compliance, Risk Management, Business & Economics, or other relevant disciplines.
• Any reputable Compliance professional Certificate and relevant experience in mobile money, banking, or other financial sectors would be an advantage.

You might be a good fit if you

• Have good analytical, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Are self-motivated and able to work under pressure.
• Have strong computer application skills.
• Communicate effectively and often, both in writing and in person, to the point of over-communication.
• Are detail-oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
• Have participated as a team player in achieving key results.
• Anticipation, decision-making, and communication skills.
• Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth.
• Are willing to go the distance to get something done.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions.

Our team

• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, and Uganda, plus remote team members spread across the world.
• We’re deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
• We foster autonomy for our employees. You’ll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
• We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
• In 2023, we were on Y Combinator’s top 50 companies by revenue.

How to apply

• Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.
• We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.
• Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.