Strategic Partnerships Lead // Banking Distribution

About this job

As Strategic Partnerships Lead  // Banking Distribution you will be accountable for creating, structuring and scaling strategic partnerships with banks where the bank is both the distribution partner and the balance sheet provider. This is a step-change from JUMO’s mobile-money-led model: it places the bank at the centre of customer acquisition, product distribution, funding and risk, and demands a partnership lead who can operate as a credible peer to bank executives. You will articulate the JUMO proposition, co-design the product and operating construct with the bank, lead the rollout of new initiatives end-to-end, and drive portfolio growth, revenue and risk outcomes in line with the partnership agreement. You will report to the MD of Capital Partnerships.

You will

• Build and own senior, executive-level relationships across partner banks — typically with C-suite, Heads of Retail / SME / Digital, articulating the JUMO model in a way that lands with banking decision-makers and unlocks the partnership.
• Lead the design and rollout of new bank-led distribution and lending propositions end-to-end, from concept and commercial structuring through credit and risk approvals, regulatory sign-off, technology integration, launch and scale-up.
• Structure the commercial, credit, risk and operating constructs of each partnership in a way that reflects the bank’s balance sheet, capital and regulatory realities while delivering JUMO’s growth and revenue objectives.
• Continually monitor portfolio performance against agreed KPIs across origination, credit quality, collections, revenue and customer outcomes, and convert insight into clear actions with the bank’s product, credit and risk leadership.
• Identify and translate regulatory changes, central bank policy shifts, and macro and banking-sector trends into concrete implications for the partnership and JUMO’s product and portfolio strategy.
• Drive cross-functional execution across JUMO’s legal, regulatory, data, product, marketing, customer insights, finance and operations teams, setting the pace, owning the critical path, and unblocking decisions to deliver against revenue goals and manage risk.
• Optimise existing partnerships and originate new banking opportunities across Africa, structuring deals that are commercially compelling for the bank, regulatorily sound, and aligned with the JUMO business model.

You will need

• A Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, Accounting or similar
• Significant senior experience in banking or financial services; ideally including roles in corporate or retail banking, digital banking, credit and risk, transaction banking, or banking partnerships, with a real working knowledge of how a bank actually runs.
• A deep understanding of credit risk and the dynamics of lending, with some fluency to debate credit policy, scorecards, provisioning, capital and balance sheet implications with bank specialists as a peer.
• A demonstrated track record of executing new product launches, partnerships or distribution initiatives at scale inside or with a bank, including navigating governance, credit and risk committees and regulatory approval processes.
• Awareness of mobile money and digital financial services and how they intersect with bank-led distribution, enough to position JUMO’s value within a bank’s digital strategy.
• The ability and willingness to travel across the region as the role requires.

Capability

• Executive presence and credibility: holds the room with ExCos and risk and credit leadership
• Strong commercial and banking acumen: can structure a deal, read a portfolio, debate unit economics and translate the JUMO strategy into concrete, bankable plans and deliverables.
• Strong project execution discipline: able to lead complex, multi-stakeholder rollouts end-to-end, set the critical path, manage governance, and drive delivery to time, quality and risk standards.
• High levels of intellect and judgement: makes the right trade-offs and weighted decisions in line with the JUMO business model and the bank’s risk appetite
• Excellent communication and influence skills (written and verbal), with the range to move between board-level narrative, commercial detail and operational execution.
• Ability to break down complex, ambiguous challenges into measurable workstreams and lead the delivery across internal and partner teams.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, highly adaptable, with the resilience to navigate banking timelines and fintech pace simultaneously.
• Excellent time management, planning and organisational skills.
• Decisive, detail-oriented, enthusiastic, with strong problem-solving abilities and a bias to execution.

Bonus if you have

• 6–8+ years of progressive experience in banking, financial markets or fintech-bank partnerships, with at least some exposure at executive level (direct engagement with C-suite or membership of senior committees).
• Experience structuring and launching lending, digital banking or embedded finance products in partnership with a bank; covering commercial, credit, risk, regulatory and technology dimensions.

We ask a lot of each other at JUMO, but we give a lot too.

You will love

• Collaborating with smart, engaging people in an inspiring work environment.
• Working for impact.
• Growing and learning continuously, with loads of encouragement and support.
• Boldly taking risks as we navigate new challenges.
• Flexible work practices enabling your best delivery.
• Being autonomous and empowered to lead.

Remote First

You will be based in South Africa. We operate a remote first working approach where working remotely is our default way of working. You have flexibility on where to work from in the country of hiring, as long as you have access to a reliable connection and are set up to work remotely.

Diversity and Inclusion

At JUMO, we firmly believe that diversity strengthens our teams. We are dedicated to fostering an inclusive recruitment process that cultivates an environment where all individuals can be authentic, collaborate, and thrive.