How you'll help us achieve it

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, with millions of users, growing rapidly year on year. And, we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

We are looking for a Country Growth Operations Lead who will be based in one of our early-stage countries in West Africa, who will lead our efforts to expand our user base and manage user acquisition strategies in the allocated countries. This role involves leading both user growth operations and agent operations/agent liquidity to help grow a market from an early stage to 1 million monthly active users. 

The Country Growth Ops Lead will report to the Head of Scaling Operations and work closely with the Chief Executive Officer and Country General Manager/Director of Operations.

In this role, you'll;

• Drive user growth by optimizing distribution strategies and leading user acquisition initiatives.
• Collaborate with leadership and country teams to ensure alignment and maximize growth opportunities.
• Enhance distribution processes through partnership with product and engineering teams, leveraging technology and data.
• Oversee agent network operations, including acquisition, setup, and liquidity management, to support distribution and meet user demand.
• Build and lead high-performing teams, fostering a culture of excellence and innovation.
• Manage business and financial KPIs in alignment with overall business objectives.
• Champion Wave's values, leading by example and embedding them within the team culture.

Key Details 

• Location: At one of our early-stage countries in Africa, with a focus on West Africa. You must be willing to relocate to the primary growth country for up to one year, with periodic returns home after each trimester.
• Travel: Anticipated travel requirements of 60-80% within a designated, growth-focused market.
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula.
• 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.

Requirements 

• 8+ years of senior leadership experience in user acquisition/agent operations and liquidity management within mobile money, finance, fintech, telecoms, or tech.
• Language: Bilingual proficiency is mandatory, with exceptional written and verbal communication skills in both English and French.
• Enhanced interpersonal skills in building and maintaining positive relationships, effective communication, active listening, and conflict resolution.
• Proven sales ability with a successful track record in sales, including identifying customer needs and connecting corridors.

You might be a good fit if you

• Are deeply analytical in your approach to marketing and in optimizing the cost of customer acquisition and are metrics-oriented and experienced in leading teams towards KPIs.
• Are proactive, disciplined in your thoughts and actions, and committed to continuous self-improvement and professional development.
• Possess the humility, mission focus, and resolve to do what it takes to achieve growth goals.
• Build strong relationships and bring out the best in people.
• Excel at leadership and enjoy managing diverse and large field ops teams.
• Are a strong communicator and are comfortable defaulting to overreaching when it comes to coordination.
• Think from first principles about how things should work.
• Are excessively detail-oriented and seek to achieve excellence in everything you do.
• Are a self-starter and proactive about achieving ambitious targets and willing to go the distance to get something done.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions.

#LI-MM1

How you'll help us achieve it

At Wave Mobile Money, the Security Manager is a business-critical operator responsible for ensuring that our operating model can scale safely in a cash-intensive and high-risk environment.

This role is about more than just physical safety; it is about protecting our people, assets, and financial flows while enabling rapid business growth. You will integrate security directly into the design of our operations—particularly around cash movement and agent networks—ensuring that Wave remains resilient even in the most challenging context

In this role, you'll be responsible for:

Risk Management & Security Framework

• • Develop and maintain a security risk management framework aligned with Wave’s business objectives and local DRC requirements.
  • Implement operational security policies tailored to fintech activities (cash, agents, and network).
  • Integrate location risk considerations into agent network design and expansion decisions.
  • Identify emerging risks and propose pragmatic, growth-oriented mitigation measures.

  Analysis, Monitoring & Reporting

  • Monitor cash exposure levels, rebalancing patterns, and operational risk indicators across the network.
  • Establish a structured system for incident management and post-incident analysis.
  • Produce actionable briefings and reports with clear recommendations for leadership.
  • Develop tools for mapping risks and tracking leading indicators (e.g., high exposure nodes or repeated anomalies).

  Operational Security & Business Continuity

  • Manage physical security systems, resources, and in-house training for security staff.
  • Design and implement secure cash handling, storage, and movement practices across distribution points.
  • Serve as the primary point of contact for local security services and authorities.
  • Assess vulnerabilities for existing locations and contribute to Business Continuity Plans (BCPs).
  • Advise field teams on travel, deployments, and safety during working hours.

  Support for Teams & Safety Culture

  • Empower operational teams to integrate safety practices into their daily routines without sacrificing speed.
  • Roll out security training modules on cash handling and rebalancing for field staff.
  • Promote a culture of prevention and accountability; ensure security practices are consistently applied in the field.
  • Carry out background checks for key individuals, including new hires, stakeholders, and partners.

  Protection of People & Assets

  • Implement measures to secure staff, offices, and service points (CCTV, access control, fire/intrusion detection).
  • Lead investigations into cases of embezzlement, theft, physical assault, or cash discrepancies.
  • Ensure crisis response readiness, including a 24-hour on-call support capability.

Key details

• The location is primarily based in Kinshasa, with frequent travel to field operations. 
• Work authorization in DRC is required.
• This is a permanent position.
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula.
• 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

• Experience: Proven track record in operational security, risk management, or safety within the private sector (Fintech, NGO, or Multinationals).
• Domain Knowledge: Strong understanding of field operations, cash management, and agent networks.
• Context: In-depth knowledge of the security landscape in the DRC and a strong local network.
• Education: Relevant degree or professional certifications in security/risk management.
• Languages: Fluent in French and English. Lingala is strongly preferred.

You might be a good fit if you

• Balance Risk with Growth: You don't just say "no"; you find ways to make operations safer so we can move faster.
• Are Data-Driven: You use indicators and mapping to stay ahead of risks rather than just reacting to incidents.
• Operate with Pragmatism: You value simple, effective solutions over complex, bureaucratic processes.
• Are a Calm Leader: You remain composed and decisive during critical incidents or crisis situations.
• Are a Builder: You enjoy creating frameworks and systems from scratch in a dynamic, evolving environment.

About Sand

Sand Technologies is a global Physical AI company using data and AI to make critical industries work better. We partner with governments, cities and enterprises to improve how essential systems operate across healthcare, water, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

Our work delivers proven real-world impact. We have built AI systems that help manage London’s water supply, supported telecom network planning across hundreds of cities, and developed digital healthcare platforms serving tens of millions of people across Africa. From intelligent command centers to AI-powered infrastructure platforms, we help organizations sense, analyze and act in complex environments.

Our people are ambitious, curious and relentlessly practical. Our teams work alongside clients in the field, solving hard problems and deploying solutions that last. With colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US, we operate across the full stack - from research and engineering to deployment and capability building.

Our mission is simple: to harness AI to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges.

About the role

Sand is scaling rapidly across Africa, partnering with Ministries of Health to deploy the Health Operating System (HOS) — a decision-support and execution platform that transforms how health systems sense, analyze, and act on data. The HOS is already operational across multiple countries, with plans to expand to 15 countries by end of 2026, supported by 80+ Forward Deployed Engineers.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE), you are the technical spearhead of our client engagement in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unlike our roaming FDE roles, this is a permanently embedded position. You will be based full-time within the Ministry of Health in the DRC, becoming a long-term extension of the client's operational team. Your mandate is to build deep institutional relationships, develop comprehensive understanding of the national health system, and deliver sustained value over an extended engagement — not just rapid sprints, but lasting transformation.

This is not staff augmentation. You are an amalgamation of three roles:

1. The Software Engineer — Deep technical acumen to build and deploy production-grade solutions using Sand's product suite
2. The Product Manager — Strategic foresight to understand client problems, influence business objectives, and identify expansion opportunities
3. The Consultant — Client-facing finesse to navigate complex stakeholder relationships, manage scope, and transfer knowledge

Your primary mission is to prove our value fast, delivering functional solutions rapidly using Sand's products, playbooks, and tools, and then maturing those solutions into mission-critical infrastructure that the Ministry depends on daily. Over time, you become the institutional memory of the deployment — the person who understands the data landscape, the stakeholder dynamics, and the operational realities better than anyone.

Who We're Looking For

The Forward Deployed Engineer is a highly ambitious individual. You are someone who is deeply keen on learning — someone who dives in headfirst to solve some of the hardest, most complex problems in global health. You thrive on understanding the technology, understanding the stakeholders, understanding our product suite, and weaving all three together to deliver solutions that change how health systems operate.

This role is not for someone looking for comfort or routine. It is for someone who wants to step outside of their comfort zone, build something they can be proud of, and grow faster than they thought possible. The FDE programme is a career accelerator — an intensive rotation that exposes you to technical depth, strategic thinking, and client leadership in equal measure, all while working on problems that matter for millions of people.

For this permanently embedded role, you also need the maturity and resilience to sustain deep client relationships over months and years — not just weeks. You will become the face of Sand in Malawi, and that requires patience, cultural fluency, and the ability to navigate institutional complexity while maintaining momentum.

Key Responsibilities

Serve as Sand's Permanent Technical Presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• Embed full-time within the Ministry of Health, becoming a trusted member of the client's extended team
• Develop deep, longitudinal understanding of the national health data landscape, institutional dynamics, and operational priorities
• Build and maintain relationships across all levels of the Ministry — from frontline data officers to senior leadership
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for all Sand activities in-country, coordinating with launchers, country directors, and visiting FDE teams

Drive On-Site Value Delivery

• Rapidly unlock, explore, and integrate client data sources (e.g., DHIS2, SCADA systems, network management platforms, operational databases)
• Understand client problems through prototyping and rapid value delivery — deploying POCs and MVPs using Sand's product components and playbooks
• Transition initial solutions into hardened, production-grade systems that the Ministry relies on daily
• Own the long-term health of deployed solutions — monitoring adoption, troubleshooting issues, and iterating based on user feedback
• Deliver and track value generated through deployment of Sand products

Enable Product-Led Growth

• Lead with Sand's existing product suite — know the products by heart and where each solution is most effective for the domain you're deployed in
• Document learnings, client challenges, and successful solutions as reusable patterns for the broader FDE community
• Drive discovery and expansion by uncovering new opportunities on the ground

Build Local Capacity and Sustainability

• Work alongside Ministry teams to co-create solutions and progressively transfer knowledge, ensuring they can operate and maintain systems independently
• Identify, recruit, and mentor local data engineers, scientists, and analysts to build sustainable in-country capacity
• Develop training materials and documentation tailored to the local context, language, and skill level
• Be the continuity that ensures handover isn't a cliff — you bridge the gap between Sand's deployment and the Ministry's long-term ownership

Feed the Platform Feedback Loop

• Channel field learnings back to improve the core product through structured mechanisms (Technical Deep Dives, Solution Swarms, pattern documentation)
• Turn "gravel roads" into "paved superhighways" — document solution patterns so the next FDE can move faster
• Contribute field feedback that influences 30% of the product roadmap

Requirements — Essential

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical field
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, data science, system deployment, or technical leadership
• Proficiency in at least one of: Python, SQL/PostgreSQL, JavaScript — with ability to write production-grade code
• Strong problem-solving skills with a bias toward action and rapid prototyping
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills — comfortable presenting to senior government or corporate stakeholders and translating between technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working with or deploying to government, public sector, or large institutional clients
• Proven ability to lead local technical teams and build capacity
• Willingness to relocate and be permanently based in the DRC for the duration of the engagement (12-24+ months)
• Language: Local language proficiency is a significant advantage

Requirements — Preferred

• Experience with data integration, ETL pipelines, and working with diverse data sources
• Experience in one or more of Sand's focus domains: health informatics/digital health, water utility operations, telecommunications network operations, or energy systems
• Familiarity with domain-specific platforms (e.g., DHIS2, OpenMRS for health; SCADA, GIS for water/energy; OSS/BSS for telecom)
• Experience with BI and dashboarding tools, particularly Apache Superset
• Experience with data transformation tools such as dbt or Airflow
• Comfort working with data dictionaries, reporting requirements, and identifying common data quality issues
• Knowledge of data security, privacy, and interoperability standards (e.g., FHIR for healthcare, GDPR, local data sovereignty requirements)
• Experience operating in resource-constrained environments (unreliable power, limited connectivity)

Work Environment

This is a permanently embedded role. You will work on-site at the Ministry of Health in the DRC 4 days per week, with 1 day for focused remote work, internal collaboration, and knowledge sharing with the broader FDE community. You should expect to be based in the DRC for a minimum of 12-24 months.

You must be self-driven, comfortable operating as Sand's primary technical representative in-country, and disciplined with online collaboration tools to stay connected with the broader Sand team across geographies. Cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and genuine interest in the local context are essential — you are not passing through, you are putting down roots.