Risk Lead

Kotu, The Gambia • View all jobs

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.

Our Risk team plays a pivotal role in safeguarding Wave against fraud and mitigating associated risks while minimizing impact on user experience and business operations.

The Risk Lead will drive the development, execution, and monitoring of Wave’s risk management framework, internal control systems, and audit processes in The Gambia, and may support with risk management and internal control work as required in other Wave markets. The role ensures alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and operational excellence.

This role reports directly to Wave’s Regional Head of Risk and Internal Control.

In this role, you'll;

Develop, implement, and refine Wave’s risk management framework to ensure proactive risk identification, assessment, and mitigation that is specific to the Gambia.
Perform risk assessments on new products, features, and major initiatives.
Anticipate and evaluate emerging risks while recommending corrective measures.
Prepare and present periodic risk reports to the leadership team.
Design, document, and implement key internal controls for high-risk processes across various functions.
Collaborate with functional leads to integrate controls into day-to-day operations.
Monitor compliance with established controls, track findings, and ensure timely remediation.
Conduct control testing to evaluate effectiveness and address gaps.
Lead and support internal audits in The Gambia to assess risk exposure, compliance, and process efficiency.
Develop an audit plan based on risk prioritization and business objectives.
Support external audits and drive implementation of corrective actions following audit recommendations.
Oversee Field Audits, ensuring agent audits are planned, executed, and reported effectively to address control weaknesses and operational risks.

Key details

Location: You'll work from our office in The Gambia and may travel to field locations.
Work authorization in The Gambia is required.
Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We run performance reviews twice a year and award bonuses to strong performers who have been with the company for more than 6 months.
We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.
We support working parents - we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized child care when you return to work.
We help you live your fullest life now! We subsidize gym memberships and fitness classes.
Airtime reimbursement.
Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

5+ years experience in risk management or audit.
A Degree in Finance, Risk Management, Business & Economics, or a comparable field.
Strong knowledge of risk frameworks and internal control principles.
Experience in audit processes, compliance, and regulatory reporting.
Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally with diverse teams.
Fluency in English.
Knowledge of fraud and/or compliance operations.
Experience in mobile money operations or in the financial services sector will be an added advantage.

You might be a good fit if you

Possess the ability to assess complex data sets, identify patterns, and draw insightful conclusions.
Have a track record of developing, implementing, and managing risk management systems and frameworks in a fast-paced environment.
Demonstrate capability in developing innovative solutions to combat fraud and mitigate risks.
Have a deep understanding of risk management principles, methodologies, and best practices.
Maintain a strong ethical foundation in your approach to decision-making.
Have excellent communication and presentation skills, including the ability to convince and influence a wide range of stakeholders at all levels.
Exhibit meticulous attention to detail in all analyses and processes, ensuring accuracy and thoroughness.
Have the ability to anticipate changes in risk trends and proactively make adjustments to risk management strategies.
Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth.
Love owning projects - you're autonomous yet know when to escalate problems.
Are comfortable defaulting to over-communication and overreaching when it comes to coordination.

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.