Head of Brand Design and Creative

Wave Mobile Money; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Subsidised health insurance

Retirement contributions

Parental leave

Fertility assistance

Unlimited vacation

Donation matching

Job summary

Wave Mobile Money is seeking a senior leader to define and drive global brand design strategy. You will build scalable brand systems, lead a distributed team of designers, and align creative work with strategic business priorities across markets.

You will mentor the team, establish efficient processes, and collaborate with external agencies and partners to ensure consistent execution. This role requires travel to operating markets as needed.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of brand design or creative leadership experience.
• Experience leading and scaling creative teams in high-growth environments.
• Ability to design and implement scalable brand systems and governance.
• Experience operating across multiple markets or regions.
• Strong strategic thinking with high creative standards.
• Experience managing agencies and external partners.
• Fluent in English; French is a strong advantage.
• Bachelor's degree in advertising, design or related field.
• Willingness to travel to operating markets.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead Wave’s brand design strategy across markets.
• Conceive and implement scalable brand systems and guidelines.
• Build and lead a global team of brand designers.
• Establish creative processes and review cadences.
• Partner with Marketing, Growth, Product and leadership.
• Guide high-level creative direction and provide actionable feedback.
• Collaborate with external agencies and vendors.
• Mentor team members and develop career paths.

Skills

Brand design

Creative leadership

Team scaling

Scalable systems

Multi-market

Strategic thinking

Agency management

English fluent

BA/BS degree

Education

BSc/BA in advertising, design or related field

Job description

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...

How you'll help us achieve it

• Define and lead Wave’s brand design strategy, ensuring it supports business objectives across all markets
• Conceive and implement scalable brand systems, guidelines, approval processes and quality standards to ensure consistency and local adaptability
• Build, structure, and lead a global team of brand designers and creative leads
• Establish clear creative processes, intake systems, prioritisation frameworks, and review cadences to improve efficiency and quality
• Partner closely with Marketing, Growth, Product and leadership to align creative output with strategic priorities
• Lead and facilitate high‑level creative direction sessions and provide clear, actionable feedback that elevates the team’s work
• Collaborate and optimise relationship with external agencies, production partners, and vendors
• Set performance standards, mentor team members, and build career development paths

Key details

• This is a remote position and can work remotely from anywhere (between UTC -8 and +4) with reliable Internet access.
• Wave is a distributed team, and we fund up to three in‑person get‑togethers a year, in line with Wave's travel policy.
• Our salaries are competitive and are calculated using a transparent formula
• Subsidised health insurance for you and your dependents, and retirement contributions (both vary from country to country)
• 6 months of fully paid parental leave and subsidised fertility assistance
• Unlimited vacation with a 20-day minimum requirement
• $10,000 annual charitable donation matching

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in brand design or creative leadership roles
• Experience leading and scaling creative teams in high‑growth environments
• Proven ability to design and implement scalable creative systems and governance frameworks
• Experience operating across multiple markets or regions
• Strong strategic thinking paired with high creative standards
• Experience managing agencies and external partners
• Fluent in English (French is a strong advantage)
• Hold a BSc/BA in advertising, fine art, design, or a relevant field
• You will be occasionally be required to travel to our operating markets

You might be a good fit if you

• Have successfully built and scaled creative or brand teams in high‑growth, multi‑market environments
• Demonstrate strong organisational leadership, with the ability to implement structured processes and operating models
• Have a proven track record of translating brand strategy into scalable systems and consistent execution
• Are experienced in cross‑functional leadership and influencing senior stakeholders
• Bring experience managing external agencies and complex production workflows
• Have strong business acumen and understand how brand contributes to growth, trust, and customer adoption
• Combine high creative standards with operational rigor and accountability

Our team

• We have a rapidly growing in‑country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon 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.
• We are onY Combinator's top companies by revenue.

Wave is an equal‑opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.