Head of Merchant Operations at Cellulant

Role Overview

• As Head of Merchant Operations, you will lead a core function responsible for the end-to-end operational experience of Cellulant's merchant customers — from onboarding and activation to daily transaction processing, payouts, and reconciliation.
• You will oversee a team that ensures operational excellence in how merchants are brought onto the platform and how they are supported throughout their lifecycle. This role sits at the intersection of operations, product, compliance, and customer success, with a strong mandate to scale and automate mission-critical processes that directly impact our merchants' experience and trust in Cellulant.

This role reports to the Vice President: Business Operations.

Key Responsibilities

Functional Leadership

• Lead the Merchant Onboarding & Activation and Merchant Production Operations teams, covering go-live readiness, daily transaction monitoring, and payouts.

• Build and scale standardized onboarding processes across markets to ensure seamless merchant experiences from integration to activation.

• Oversee daily production support for live merchants — ensuring service reliability, real-time responsiveness to issues, and proactive performance monitoring.

Operational Excellence & Automation

• Own payment reconciliation, settlement, and float management processes across all payment rails (mobile money, bank transfers, card schemes).
• Drive automation and process optimization across onboarding, reconciliation, and payout functions.
• Ensure accurate and timely settlements for merchant accounts, including USD payouts aggregated across multiple local currencies.

Performance, Risk & Controls

• Set and track performance KPIs (e.g., onboarding turnaround time, payout SLA adherence, reconciliation success rate, merchant NPS).
• Establish operational controls to manage risk, including RCSAs, segregation of duties, and audit readiness.
• Act as the first line of defense for risk — ensuring all operational activities meet compliance and regulatory expectations.

Collaboration & Integration

• Work cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, Treasury, Compliance, and Customer Success to integrate operational readiness into new product launches and platform changes.
• Champion the role of Merchant Operations internally — ensuring the function is recognized as a strategic enabler of growth and customer satisfaction.

Governance & SLA Management

• Manage service-level agreements (SLAs) with internal teams and third-party partners, ensuring transparency, accountability, and performance delivery.
• Support internal and regulatory audits by maintaining full compliance documentation and process integrity.

Key Success Measures

• Merchant onboarding turnaround time (TAT)
• Merchant satisfaction score (NPS/CSAT)
• % SLA adherence for payouts and reconciliations
• % of processes automated vs. manual
• Number of issues resolved within defined resolution timeframes
• First pass reconciliation accuracy
• Operational audit ratings

Must-Have Experience

• 7–10 years leading high-performing operational teams in a fintech, payments company, or bank.
• Demonstrated success in scaling operational processes, including onboarding, payouts, reconciliation, and partner support.
• Hands-on experience operating in high-growth, fast-changing environments with ambiguity and complexity.
• Deep understanding of merchant lifecycle operations, including KYC, transaction flows, and settlements.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience working with payment service providers, aggregators, or banking partners across Africa.
• Background in managing first-line operational risk and regulatory compliance.
• Familiarity with automation tools and process mapping frameworks (e.g., Lean Six Sigma)
• Ability to collaborate deeply with technical teams on system changes, integrations, and platform enhancements.

Education & Certifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Operations Management, or a related field.
• Relevant professional certifications in payments, operations, or financial risk (e.g., CPP, CTP, Lean Six Sigma) are a strong plus.
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree is desirable but not mandatory.