Head of Operations

Head of Operations Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso • View all jobs 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 9 countries and are growing fast. Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in... Wave Burkina is hiring a resourceful and results-oriented Head of Operations. In this key role, you will oversee operations during a period of rapid business growth. We are looking for a proven leader capable of managing core operational teams, including agent operations, user growth, agent liquidity, cash security, agent quality, and operational training.  Additionally, you will be instrumental in innovating and implementing growth initiatives to build a high-quality agent network that enables faster, more efficient user acquisition. You'll report directly to the General Manager of Burkina, with a dotted line to the Head of Scaling Operations, and work closely with the Growth Operations Country Lead to align on national and cross-market priorities. In this role you'll; Lead and oversee all day-to-day field operations, solving growth bottlenecks from first principles. Manage core operational teams: agent operations, liquidity, quality, cash security, and training. Drive key strategic projects to improve agent network quality and user growth. Hire, grow, and manage a high-performing local team. Translate company-wide objectives into operational strategies for Burkina. Live and champion Wave's values and embed them in team culture. Collaborate closely with cross-functional leaders across Growth, People, and Ops. Share insights from Burkina to shape Wave's broader operational strategy. Provide direct management of direct reports leading core operations functions. Key details Location: You'll work from our office in Burkina Faso and travel to field locations as needed. Work authorization in Burkina Faso 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 Speak English fluently, French. Other local languages are helpful but not essential. Excellent leadership skills with at least eight years of experience managing large field teams. Very strong communication and stakeholder management skills. Burkina market knowledge. You might be a good fit if you  Have led large-scale teams or projects that directly supported company-wide goals. Have successfully managed complex field operations, including agent networks, and contributed to balancing liquidity, quality, and volume growth. Delivered high-quality, data-driven work that leads to visible impact in your OpCo or business unit. Are an effective coach who grows and empowers your direct reports. Can unblock your team and manage projects from scratch with a clear sense of ownership and urgency. Collaborate smoothly across teams from Operations to Product to Finance and help align multiple stakeholders. Think beyond your market and contribute to solutions and improvements at a global or cross-OpCo level. Run productive, outcomes-focused conversations with both team members and senior leaders. Plan to anticipate challenges before they arise. Frequently propose and implement innovative process improvements. Are comfortable reasoning with data, asking strong questions, and making decisions on behalf of your team.