Product Manager

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.

At Wave, Product Managers:

• Own a product or feature holistically, including any internal tooling needed to support it. 
• Relentlessly gather feedback (by talking to users and looking at data) to deeply understand the problem space and our users' needs.
• Work from first principles to understand the user's biggest problems and then figure out how the product should work to solve those problems.
• Prioritize the biggest problems blocking the product's growth and impact.
• Directly manage a small product team to get the improvements into users' hands in rapid iteration cycles, gather more feedback and reach more people.

You might be a good fit if you

• Are a strong communicator that can inspire and lead by influence.
• Are great at coordinating across teams and excel at communicating across multiple cultures.
• Have a good nose for user-focused product design and obsess over user experience.
• Take ownership for outcomes and do whatever you can to make them close to inevitable.
• Have strong instincts for asking questions that could move the needle.
• Have the courage and persistence to replan when feedback or new information arrives.
• Always listen with empathy but ruthlessly prioritise based on impact.
• Are excited about travel and meet users where they are — your users will be in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and other countries in Africa, and some travel will be essential.

Requirement

• 3+ years of professional product management or similar experience, ideally in a high-growth and rapidly changing environment.
• Proven success in overseeing all elements of the product development lifecycle, such as user research, design, implementation and evaluation
• High effectiveness in managing cross-functional teams
• Speak fluent English
• Bonus points if you:
• Speak at least conversational French.
• Have professional experience in a consumer fintech company.
• Are a mobile money user in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Key Details

• You can work remotely from anywhere (between UTC -5 and +4) with reliable internet access.
• You’re willing to travel to one of our key markets at least once per year for ~6 days (Wave covers all costs). We also provide a yearly stipend of $800 to meet with coworkers.
• Our salaries are competitive and are calculated using a transparent formula. For this role, depending on your level and location, we offer a salary between $113,900 - $ 198,100 USD, plus a generous equity package.
• We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses or promotions to strong performers who have been with the company for more than six months.
• Major benefits:
• Subsidized health insurance for you and your dependents, and retirement contributions (both vary from country to country).
• 6 months of fully paid parental leave and subsidized fertility assistance.
• Flexible vacation, with most folks taking between 30-40 days per year. 
• $10,000 annual charitable donation matching.

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.