Lead People Partner - Technology

M-KOPA; United States; Remoto; USD 150.000 - 200.000; Tempo pieno

Vantaggi offerti da questo lavoro

Fully remote role

Career development and coaching

Flexible working arrangements

Descrizione del lavoro

M-KOPA is hiring a Lead People Partner to own the people agenda for our Technology organisation as we scale the infrastructure behind financial inclusion for everyday earners across Africa. You will partner with our CTO and leadership across Engineering, Data, Analytics, IT and Security, shaping how we build, retain and grow top engineering talent.

This role sits at the center of a globally distributed team and requires genuine fluency in engineering org design.

Competenze

• Senior HR experience partnering with engineering organisations in scaling tech/fintech
• Proven org design depth: levelling, spans and layers, function redesign
• Ability to align people strategy with roadmaps at leadership level
• Experience supporting cross-cultural teams across regions
• Autonomy operating at C-level with ER judgement across jurisdictions

Mansioni

• Lead org design and workforce planning for globally distributed engineering teams
• Own end-to-end people partnering for Engineering and Product with a Senior partner under you
• Coach and develop a direct report, setting partnering standards for the tech portfolio
• Use people analytics with Centres of Excellence to inform capability and costs
• Drive team effectiveness in a fast-paced, multi-country environment

Conoscenze

Senior HR experience

Engineering partner

Org design depth

Remote/global savvy

Strategic/operational balance

Formazione

Bachelor's degree in HR or related field

Strumenti

ER expertise

Descrizione del lavoro

Join our growing People team! We're hiring a Lead People Partner to own the people agenda for our Technology organisation as the company scales the infrastructure behind financial inclusion for everyday earners across Africa.

The Impact

Your leadership will directly shape how we build, retain and grow the engineering talent powering our mission. We've now reached 10 million customers and unlocked $2+ billion in credit across five African markets. This role sits right at the centre of the machine that makes that growth possible.

The Opportunity

Mission-driven HR: Partner directly with our CTO and their leadership team across Engineering, Data, Analytics, IT and Security — work that translates straight into digital and financial access for everyday earners

Global recognition

Join a company named by TIME 100 as one of the world's most influential, and by the Financial Times as Africa's fastest-growing company for 5 consecutive years (2022–2026)

Scale challenges

Design the org structure for a globally distributed, senior engineering population spread across Africa, Europe and the UK — scaling and reshaping at the same time

Environmental impact

Work for a carbon-negative company that has displaced over 2 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions

What You'll Do You'll act as trusted advisor to our engineering, data and platform leaders, aligning people strategy to roadmap execution and organisational evolution. You'll hold overall accountability for people partnering across the full Technology and Product organisation, with one Senior People Partner reporting to you covering Product and adjacent functions. Your own focus is Engineering: a globally distributed, senior population where genuine fluency in how engineering organisations are built, levelled and retained matters far more than adjacency to them.

Day to day, you'll:

• Lead org design: workforce planning, levelling and team transformation in a function scaling and reshaping simultaneously
• Own Engineering and Product end to end: full accountability for people partnering across both, with a Senior People Partner reporting to you
• Lead and grow a partner: coach, develop and set direction for your direct report, building the partnering standard for the whole technology portfolio
• Use people analytics to inform action: partner with Centres of Excellence to turn data into decisions on capability, attrition and cost
• Drive distributed team effectiveness: optimise performance, engagement and team dynamics in a fast-paced, asynchronous, multi-country environment
• Handle complex employee relations: own the senior and sensitive end of the ER caseload for your portfolio

Your Environment

• Reporting line: People Director, alongside a peer group of senior partners covering our operating markets
• Client group: CTO and their leadership team across Engineering, Data, Analytics, IT and Security, plus accountability for Product via your direct report
• Team: one Senior People Partner reporting to you
• Population: globally distributed, senior engineering talent, majority based across Africa, Europe and the UK

Our Approach

• We scale and reshape our engineering function at the same time, so org design here is a live, ongoing discipline, not a one-off project
• We hold both a portfolio and a team in this role, which is unusual even within our own People function
• We lean on Centres of Excellence for data and specialist ER support, freeing you to focus on judgement and stakeholder relationships
• We expect direct engagement with C-level leaders, with genuine autonomy attached

What You Need

We're looking for someone who has partnered closely with engineering, data or platform leadership in a scaling technology or fintech business, and genuinely understands how those functions work.

Required Experience

• Senior HR experience partnering with engineering organisations in a scaling technology or fintech business
• Experience leading or formally coaching HR business partners, with the ability to raise the standard of someone else's work
• Proven org design depth: you've led real structural change (levelling, spans and layers, function redesign), not just supported it
• Strategic and operational range: equally comfortable designing long-term org strategy and working at team level
• Remote and global savvy: experience supporting cross-cultural teams across multiple regions
• Strong business acumen: able to translate between people priorities and business outcomes at leadership level
• Comfortable operating with autonomy at C-level
• Employee relations judgement across more than one jurisdiction, knowing when to own it and when to bring in specialists (UK/Europe employment law exposure is useful given where much of the engineering population sits, but not essential — we have an ER Centre of Excellence for statutory depth)

Location & Benefits

• Fully Remote role - Can be Based in the UK, Nigeria or specific locations across Europe
• Reports to the People Director
• Professional development and coaching partnerships
• Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements
• Well-being support and career growth opportunities
• Direct exposure to our CTO and CPO, with real influence over leadership-level people decisions

Our Mission

We create financial inclusion for the traditionally excluded through a fair, flexible, customer-centric financing model, driving greater inclusion of women, youth and low-income communities.

Our Impact

• Included: 10 million customers, $2+ billion in credit unlocked since 2010
• Prosperous: 70% of customers use their the company product for income generation, 35,000 livelihoods created for sales agents
• Green: over 2.1 million tonnes of CO₂ avoided, with 127,700 circular economy products sold since 2010

Why the company?

At the company, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), named on CNBC's World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 & 2026 and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 10 million customers, unlocking $2 billion in cumulative credit for the everyday earners across Africa, in addition to over 10,000 e-bikes financed in Kenya.

Important Notice

the company is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

the company explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. the company shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships.

the company does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.

If your application is successful the company undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.