Chief Operating Officer at Payzeep

ROLE SUMMARY

• The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for leading PayZeep's operational strategy, performance, and scalability to ensure the secure, reliable, efficient, and compliant delivery of payment and digital financial services. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the COO drives operational excellence, business growth, customer experience, service resilience, and organizational effectiveness across the Company's payments ecosystem.
• The COO is accountable for building a high-performing operating model that supports transaction growth, merchant and agent expansion, operational profitability, regulatory compliance, and continuous innovation. Working closely with Product, Engineering, Infrastructure, Information Security, Compliance, Risk, Finance, Sales, and Business Development teams, the role ensures PayZeep maintains the capabilities, controls, and operational discipline required to scale as a leading regulated fintech.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own end-to-end execution of company strategy, translating Board and CEO priorities into functional plans, budgets and KPIs across all business units.
• Directly oversee Operations, Sales, People & Culture and Product functions, ensuring alignment, resource allocation and cross-functional delivery.
• Design, implement and continuously improve operating processes, SOPs and internal controls that support safe, scalable payment operations.
• Partner with the CFO, CTO, CISO and Chief Risk & Internal Control Officer to ensure operational readiness for licensing, audits and regulatory examinations.
• Build and lead a high-performing senior leadership bench; own organisational design, workforce planning and performance management at company level.
• Provide executive oversight of payment operations, merchant acquiring, agency banking, POS and mPOS services, settlements, customer operations, and service delivery functions.
• Drive operational excellence by improving transaction success rates, service availability, customer experience, productivity, and overall business performance
• Build and optimize scalable operating models, processes, controls, and governance frameworks that support growth, innovation, and increasing transaction volumes.
• Ensure operational readiness and seamless execution of new products, services, platforms, and strategic initiatives in collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Technology teams.
• Establish and monitor operational KPIs, service levels, and performance metrics to drive accountability, efficiency, and continuous improvement.
• Lead business continuity, operational resilience, incident management, and disaster recovery capabilities to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
• Drive automation, digitization, and process improvement initiatives that enhance scalability, operational efficiency, and cost effectiveness.
• Partner with Sales, Business Development, and Customer Experience teams to support customer acquisition, merchant growth, retention, and market expansion.
• Oversee settlement operations, reconciliation processes, transaction monitoring, and operational controls to ensure financial accuracy and operational integrity.
• Ensure compliance with CBN regulations, licensing obligations, PCI-DSS requirements, data protection laws, and other applicable regulatory standards.
• Partner with Compliance, Risk Management, and Information Security teams to strengthen risk controls, mitigate operational threats, and maintain a strong governance environment.
• Manage strategic relationships with regulators, banks, payment schemes, switches, processors, technology partners, vendors, and other ecosystem stakeholders.
• Lead and develop high-performing teams while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, customer-centricity, collaboration, and execution excellence.
• Provide the CEO, Executive Committee, and Board with regular insights on operational performance, strategic priorities, business risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Manage operational budgets and implement cost-saving initiatives without compromising quality

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, or a related field (required).
• MBA or Master's degree in a relevant discipline (strongly preferred).
• Professional certification in operations, project/programme management (e.g. PMP) or a relevant financial-services qualification is an advantage.

EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

Total Relevant Experience: 10–15 years

Fintech / Financial Services Experience: 10+ years in fintech, banking, payments or financial services

Leadership / People-Management Experience: 7+ years in senior executive or general-management roles, including at least 4 years leading multiple functions or business units, with demonstrable evidence of having built and scaled operating teams and functions from the ground up

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Proven track record scaling operations in a regulated, high-growth startup or scale-up environment
• Strong grasp of payments/fintech operating models, unit economics and licensing pathways
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership, stakeholder management and executive communication
• Data-driven decision-making and comfort operating with ambiguity and speed
• Experience building governance, controls and SOPs suitable for regulatory scrutiny
• Strong expertise in operational excellence, business transformation, service management, process optimization, and organizational scalability.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with the ability to balance growth, profitability, customer experience, and risk management.
• Experience leveraging technology, automation, and data analytics to improve operational performance and decision-making.
• Strong strategic planning, execution, stakeholder management, and leadership capabilities.
• Strong knowledge of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulations applicable to PSSPs, PTSPs, Super-Agents, and other regulated payment service providers.
• Strong understanding of PCI-DSS standards, payment security controls, and operational risk management practices.
• Knowledge of Data Protection and Privacy regulations.
• Understanding of AML/CFT requirements, fraud management controls, and financial crime prevention frameworks.
• Familiarity with Information Security, Cybersecurity Governance, Third-Party Risk Management, and Technology Risk Management frameworks

REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS (NIGERIA)

• Accountable, alongside the CEO, for the organisation's overall compliance posture with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) licensing conditions, guidelines and directives applicable to PayZeep's payment/switching license category.
• Ensures operational readiness for CBN examinations, on-site inspections and regulatory returns.
• Oversees adherence to the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 and NDPC regulations across business operations.
• Works with Risk & Compliance to ensure AML/CFT obligations under the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act and CBN AML/CFT Regulations are embedded in operating processes.