Head of Product - Platforms

Kuda Technologies Ltd; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 1 562 000 - 2 084 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company is seeking a Head of Product to oversee the Platform tribe. This role involves leading the strategy and execution of core banking, payments, and compliance initiatives. The ideal candidate will possess over 7 years of product management experience with a focus on financial platforms. This position offers a hybrid working model and a range of competitive benefits.

Benefits

Pension

Career development

Competitive paid time off

Medical insurance

Employee wellness app

Award-winning training

Qualifications

• 7+ years in Product Management, 4+ years in payments or core banking.
• Proven track record in building reliable financial platforms.
• Strong knowledge of local payment rails and card schemes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Platform tribe's strategy and roadmap.
• Ensure system reliability and compliance with regulations.
• Manage dependencies for payment flows and tooling access.

Skills

Product Management

Team Leadership

Data-Driven Decision Making

Communication

Education

7+ years in Product Management

Experience in financial platforms

Job description

Kuda is a money app for Africans on a mission to make financial services accessible, affordable and rewarding for every African on the planet.
We’re a tribe of passionate and diverse people who dreamed of building an inclusive money app that Africans would love so it’s only right that we ended up with the name ‘Kuda’ which means ‘love’ in Shona, a language spoken in the southern part of Africa.
We’re giving Africans around the world a better alternative to traditional finance by delivering money transfers, smart budgeting and instant access to credit through digital devices.
We’ve raised over $90 million from some of the world's most respected institutional investors, and we’re rolling out our game-changing services globally from our offices in Nigeria, South Africa, and the UK.

Role Overview

The Head of Product, Platform will lead the Platform tribe at Kuda, overseeing Core Banking, Payments & Cards, and Internal Tooling. This tribe powers the reliability, scalability, and compliance of Kuda’s infrastructure — enabling all product tribes to deliver customer-facing innovation.

You will own the tribe’s strategy, roadmap, and delivery, ensuring that platform investments translate into measurable business efficiency, regulatory readiness, and improved delivery velocity across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Roadmap

• Define and own the Platform tribe strategy and roadmap, integrating business goals, regulatory needs, and market dynamics.
• Prioritise investments that improve system reliability, cost efficiency, and scalability while enabling new business opportunities.
• Set and communicate SMART goals (OKRs) to align teams and stakeholders.

2. Delivery & Execution

• Lead tribe planning and QBRs, managing alignment and dependencies across tribes.
• Champion thin-slice, iterative delivery with measurable impact.
• Provide proactive visibility to leadership and stakeholders on roadmap progress, risks, and key decisions.

3. Reliability, Scalability & Compliance

• Establish standards for system reliability, uptime, and performance, tracking SLA targets.
• Ensure compliance with card scheme rules, payment regulations, and data protection requirements.
• Drive automation and tooling that reduce operational friction and enhance efficiency.

4. Analytics & Financial Impact

• Use financial analytics to optimise ROI, cost-to-serve, and scalability.
• Analyse vendor costs, transaction volumes, reconciliation gaps, and efficiency gains to inform priorities.
• Apply cohort analysis to identify internal adoption trends and guide smarter platform investment.

5. People Leadership & Influence

• Hire, coach, and develop Product Managers with strong infrastructure and financial services instincts.
• Influence stakeholders by simplifying complex technical concepts into clear business narratives.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative culture where teams feel empowered to contribute and own outcomes.

6. Change Leadership

• Lead structural enhancements to Kuda’s infrastructure that benefit multiple business areas.
• Oversee transformation initiatives in core processes (ledger, payments, tooling) to increase efficiency.
• Act as a role model for learning, continuous improvement, and accountability.

Day-to-Day Collaboration

• With BLO (Platform): align on efficiency, uptime, and cost-reduction objectives.
• With DM/TLs: plan capacity, define SLAs, and deliver roadmap initiatives.
• With Other Tribes: manage dependencies for payment flows, ledger, and tooling access.
• With Risk, Compliance, Legal, Finance: ensure audit readiness, reconciliation integrity, and regulatory compliance.
• With Vendors: manage partnerships, SLAs, and integrations with card schemes, processors, and banking providers.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in Product Management, with 4+ years leading payments, cards, or core banking infrastructure products.
• Proven track record in building reliable, compliant financial platforms.
• Strong knowledge of local payment rails, card schemes, and core banking systems.
• Experience managing vendors and partners at scale.
• Data‑driven decision‑maker with financial modelling and ROI analysis experience.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, able to simplify complex concepts.
• Experienced in mentoring Product Managers and building high‑performing teams.

Nice to Have

• Experience in Nigerian or emerging market financial infrastructure.
• Familiarity with CBN regulations, scheme certifications, ISO20022.
• Background in internal tooling or financial operations automation.

At Kuda, our people are the heart of our business, so we prioritize your welfare. We offer a wide range of competitive benefits in areas including but not limited to:

💜A great and upbeat work environment populated by a multinational team

👴Pension

📈Career development & growth

😁Competitive annual leave plus bank holidays

🎁Competitive paid time off (Parental, Moving day, Birthday, Study leave etc)

💯Group life insurance

💖Medical insurance

🎁Well‑fare package (Wedding, Compassionate and etc)

✅Perkbox

🏃♀️Goalr - employee wellness app

🥇Award winning L&D training

💒 We are advocates of work‑life balance, working in a hybrid in office schedule

Kuda are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Kuda is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent.

We don’t regard colour, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.