Country Manager - South Africa

About the role

Wise, a global technology company that helps people and businesses move and manage money, is looking for a Country Manager to expand its product offering in South Africa. The role oversees local operations, defines and executes the market expansion strategy, and acts as the face of Wise in the country. Banking relationships, regulators and payment systems are central to the business.

Key responsibilities

• Expand Wise's regulatory presence in South Africa and manage the regulatory and licensing process end to end, including applications, submissions and regulatory buy-in
• Build strong relationships with regulators such as the South African Reserve Bank, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and the Financial Intelligence Centre, and turn regulatory requirements into compliant product implementations with the Compliance team
• Shape the product opportunity in South Africa by identifying the best products for the market and working with Product teams to define opportunities and build better products
• Open new relationships with banks, payment processors, card issuers, clearing and settlement participants and other payments partners, negotiating commercial agreements and completing due diligence
• Improve existing banking and payments relationships, lead commercial discussions, monitor economics and create new opportunities within current partnerships
• Work with global teams (Product, Finance, Treasury, Legal, Compliance, Operations) to keep customers and products at the centre of the mission

Required profile

• Able to negotiate independently with a clear product vision and strong commercial understanding
• Excellent at managing financial regulatory relationships and entrepreneurial, comfortable with ambiguity and a fast-growing environment
• Deeply familiar with how financial, payments and FX regulators work, and interested in AML, KYC, sanctions, exchange control and risk controls
• Familiar with South African financial licensing and regulatory frameworks, including payments, money remittance, FX, exchange control and banking partnerships
• Familiar with the South African financial ecosystem and how corporate banks and financial institutions work
• Fluent in English; able to work independently and flexibly

Required skills

• Ideal but not essential: experience with regulators and payment ecosystem stakeholders in South Africa, especially the South African Reserve Bank
• Ideal but not essential: experience obtaining licences, authorisations or regulatory approvals in South Africa or comparable markets
• Ideal but not essential: understanding of South Africa's payments infrastructure and the FX, remittance and cross-border payments market