M-Pesa Africa: Senior Manager - Service Operations

Key Accountabilities:

Impact on the business

• Ensure stable, reliable and resilient technology services across M-PESA Africa markets, aligned to agreed service levels, regulatory expectations and customer experience outcomes.
  
• Own end-to-end operational service performance across critical platforms, enterprise applications, shared services, revenue-generating services, revenue protection platforms, AML/financial crime platforms and market-facing capabilities.
  
• Lead the Technology Operations operating model covering Service Management, Technical Operations, OIT, UAM, Enterprise Applications, Observability, Enterprise Tools and supplier operations.
  
• Accountable for all ITIL-aligned service management processes, ensuring governance, process maturity, operational discipline, compliance, continual improvement and customer satisfaction.
  
• Ensure 24/7 monitoring and event management coverage for critical services, with effective alerting, triage, escalation, event correlation and service degradation detection.
  
• Own 24/7 incident response capability for priority incidents, including command-and-control, major incident mobilisation, stakeholder visibility and restoration discipline.
  
• Ensure support teams have clear scope, shift coverage, triage procedures, escalation paths, knowledge articles, SOPs, runbooks and measurable targets.
  
• Govern OIT and UAM operations, including workplace technology support, productivity platforms, access operations, evidence readiness and alignment with security controls.
  
• Drive service availability, recoverability, operational readiness, resilience, productivity and cost optimization through data-led improvement and automation-led remediation.
  
• Own Technology Operations budget planning inputs, cost control, supplier spend governance, resource utilization and operational investment prioritization.
  

Customers, suppliers and third parties

• Build and maintain strong relationships with Executive Leadership, Local Markets, Business Leadership, Group Functions, Technology Teams, Vendors, Suppliers and Strategic Partners to drive operational outcomes.
  
• Govern vendor and supplier performance, including SLA/OLA compliance, operational contract obligations, service reviews, remediation plans, service improvement commitments and escalation management.
  
• Partner with Supply Chain, Finance, Legal and Technology leadership on contract reviews, supplier performance assessments, renewal inputs and operational risk decisions.
  
• Ensure vendor accountability is clearly separated from internal BAU support accountability, with documented ownership, escalation routes and corrective action tracking.
  

Leadership and teamwork

• Lead a multi-disciplinary Technology Operations function covering Service Management, Technical Operations, 24/7 Monitoring, Service Desk, Level 1, Level 2 application support, Incident Response, OIT/UAM, Enterprise Apps, Observability and Enterprise Tools.
  
• Build a high-performing Technology Operations team with high employee engagement, clear accountability, strong leadership capability and a culture of ownership and continuous learning.
  
• Drive talent development, succession planning, coaching, recognition, wellbeing and leadership development to sustain a motivated, skilled and productive workforce.
  
• Embed Agile ways of working and strengthen collaboration with Agile Release Trains, product teams, platform engineering, architecture, security and market stakeholders.
  

Innovation, governance, risk and compliance

• Drive transformation from reactive operations to proactive, intelligent and automated operations using observability, AIOps, automation, self-healing and predictive operational insights.
  
• Ensure Technology Operations controls, processes and support models align with market-specific regulatory, compliance and operational requirements.
  
• Support internal and external audits, regulatory reviews and compliance assessments through evidence, documentation, control oversight and remediation tracking.
  
• Identify, assess, mitigate and report operational, supplier, technology and service risks, ensuring executive visibility and effective remediation.
  
• Track operational cost drivers, managed service consumption, support utilisation, vendor spend, automation benefits and efficiency initiatives.
  

Qualifications

Must-Have Experience / Qualifications:

• Degree in Technology, Engineering, Computer Science or a related field.
  
• 15+ years of experience leading enterprise technology operations in complex, mission-critical environments.
  
• Proven leadership of large-scale support, service management and operational teams in different locations or regions.
  
• Strong knowledge of ITIL-aligned service management practices.
  
• Experience leading 24x7 operations, monitoring and incident response functions.
  
• Experience managing enterprise vendors, suppliers and managed service providers.
  
• Experience managing operational budgets, cost optimisation and financial governance.
  
• Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills.
  
• Experience working across regulated and multi-country operating environments.
  
• Experience supporting audit, risk, compliance and regulatory requirements.
  
• Agile leadership experience within product-oriented delivery environments.
  
• Demonstrated success in operational transformation, automation and continuous improvement.