West Africa Cybersecurity Lead – Fintech

PawaPay; United States; Remote; USD 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

35 days of paid leave per year

Competitive remuneration

Job summary

PawaPay is a pan-African fintech delivering local payment channels across 20 countries. This role secures West Africa operations while aligning with global cybersecurity standards and collaborating with Engineering, Product, and Compliance teams.

You will lead risk assessments, oversee vulnerability management and incident response, and support regulators and auditors while promoting a strong security culture across the region.

Qualifications

• 4+ years' experience in cybersecurity or information security in regulated industries.
• Fluency in English and French (written and spoken).
• Experience implementing ISO 27001, NIST, PCI-DSS or similar in regulated environments.
• Hands-on in vulnerability management, incident response, monitoring and risk management.
• Experience supporting security audits or regulatory reviews.
• Familiarity with mobile money, payment infrastructure, API platforms or fintech environments.
• Experience with SIEM, EDR and related security tooling.

Responsibilities

• Execute cybersecurity programme across West Africa in line with global strategy and standards.
• Conduct risk assessments, vulnerability reviews and remediation plans.
• Coordinate regional security incident response with Engineering and Operations teams.
• Drive remediation of vulnerabilities, pen-test findings and audit actions regionally.
• Support regulatory engagements, audits and compliance reviews with authorities.
• Ensure regional adoption of security policies and control frameworks.
• Act as primary cybersecurity contact across West Africa.
• Coordinate third-party security assessments and tests with traceable outcomes.
• Deliver regional security awareness initiatives and promote a strong security culture.
• Monitor evolving cybersecurity and regulatory landscape and recommend improvements.

Skills

Cybersecurity experience

Bilingual English/French

Security frameworks ISO 27001/NIST/PCI

Vulnerability management

Security incident response

Security audits/compliance

Security tooling (SIEM/EDR)

Stakeholder management

Security risk assessment

Education

Bachelor's degree in Cybersecurity/CS/IT or related

Tools

SIEM

EDR

Vulnerability management platforms

Job description

PawaPay is a pan-African fintech delivering local payment channels across 20 countries. This role secures West Africa operations while aligning with global cybersecurity standards and collaborating with Engineering, Product, and Compliance teams.

You will lead risk assessments, oversee vulnerability management and incident response, and support regulators and auditors while promoting a strong security culture across the region.