Job Details

Location: Kampala, Uganda
Industry: Fintech / Digital Payments / Financial Technology
Department: Operations
Reporting To: Chief Executive Officer
Direct Reports: Payments Operations Manager, Merchant Operations Manager, Agent Network Manager, Customer Operations Manager, Reconciliation Lead, Fraud Operations Lead and Business Continuity Lead
Employment Type: Full-Time

About the Company

Our client is a growing financial technology business providing digital payment solutions to merchants, businesses, financial institutions and consumers.

Its services connect customers and commercial partners through technology-enabled payment channels, supporting faster transactions, broader access to digital financial services and more efficient business operations.

The company is strengthening its operational capabilities as transaction volumes, customer expectations and partner integrations increase.

It is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to establish the operational discipline, controls and service reliability required to support sustainable growth in Uganda.

Role Purpose

The Chief Operating Officer will have executive accountability for the company’s operational performance, payment-service delivery, operational risk, customer operations and business continuity.

The COO will work directly with the CEO and executive leadership team to translate the business strategy into reliable and scalable operations.

The successful candidate will ensure that transaction processing, settlement coordination, reconciliation, merchant support and other critical workflows operate efficiently and within approved risk and compliance frameworks.

The role requires a leader who can balance rapid commercial growth with operational resilience, financial controls and customer trust.

The COO will partner closely with Technology, Product, Finance, Commercial, Risk, Compliance and Legal teams. Responsibility for regulated activities will remain appropriately allocated to authorised and designated control functions.

Key Responsibilities

1. Operations Strategy and Executive Leadership

• Develop and implement an operations strategy aligned with the company’s growth and profitability objectives.
• Translate business priorities into operating plans, budgets, service standards and performance targets.
• Establish a scalable operating model capable of supporting higher transaction volumes and new products.
• Advise the CEO on operational capacity, business continuity, service performance and operational risks.
• Lead operational planning for new product launches, new partnerships and market expansion.
• Ensure operational teams are appropriately structured and resourced.
• Establish clear accountability for critical business processes.

1. Payment Operations and Transaction Reliability

• Oversee operational processes supporting payment initiation, processing, transaction monitoring, settlement coordination and reconciliation, according to the company’s operating model and partner arrangements.
• Establish controls for transaction exceptions, failed payments, reversals and unresolved discrepancies.
• Monitor transaction-processing performance and identify recurring causes of failure.
• Coordinate with Technology and external payment partners to resolve operational issues.
• Ensure appropriate escalation procedures are in place for high-impact payment disruptions.
• Maintain clear operating procedures for transaction exceptions and customer-impacting incidents.
• Review transaction trends and operational data to identify opportunities for improved reliability.
• Ensure operational teams understand their responsibilities across the payment lifecycle.

1. Settlement, Reconciliation and Financial Controls

• Work with Finance and designated control functions to strengthen settlement and reconciliation processes.
• Ensure discrepancies are identified, documented, investigated and resolved within agreed timelines.
• Establish appropriate segregation of duties and transaction-approval controls.
• Monitor unresolved reconciliation items and material settlement exceptions.
• Support the development of accurate operational and financial reporting.
• Coordinate with banking and payment partners on operational settlement issues.
• Ensure appropriate records and evidence are maintained for audit and investigation.
• Escalate material financial-control weaknesses to the appropriate executives.

1. Merchant and Agent Operations

• Oversee merchant onboarding operations, subject to the company’s approved onboarding and compliance framework.
• Develop operational standards for merchant activation, support and ongoing servicing.
• Work with Commercial teams to ensure merchant acquisition commitments can be supported operationally.
• Monitor merchant activity, service issues and operational performance.
• Strengthen processes for agent or distribution-network support where applicable.
• Establish procedures for operational queries, service disruptions and account-related escalations.
• Identify recurring merchant pain points and implement improvements.
• Improve the efficiency of merchant onboarding and activation without compromising required controls.

1. Customer Operations and Service Quality

• Establish customer-service standards for payment-related enquiries, complaints and transaction disputes.
• Ensure customer issues are assigned, tracked and resolved appropriately.
• Develop escalation processes for high-value or time-sensitive cases.
• Monitor service volumes, turnaround times and complaint trends.
• Work with Product and Technology teams to address systemic causes of customer issues.
• Ensure customer communications during disruptions are timely and accurate.
• Use customer feedback to improve operational procedures and product experience.

1. Operational Risk, Fraud and Compliance Coordination

• Establish and maintain an operational-risk framework for critical payment processes.
• Work with Risk, Compliance and Fraud teams to strengthen controls and incident management.
• Monitor operational indicators that may signal emerging risks or control failures.
• Ensure suspected fraud and security incidents are escalated through approved channels.
• Coordinate remediation of operational weaknesses identified through audits or reviews.
• Support implementation of relevant regulatory and partner requirements.
• Maintain appropriate documentation of material incidents and corrective action.
• Ensure the company has clear procedures for managing operational and service risks.

1. Technology, Systems and Process Automation

• Work with Technology and Product teams to identify opportunities to automate operational workflows.
• Ensure operational requirements are incorporated into system changes and new product development.
• Establish appropriate user-acceptance and operational-readiness checks.
• Monitor the operational impact of system releases and integrations.
• Improve reporting and visibility across payment operations.
• Ensure operational teams have appropriate tools, documentation and training.
• Support continuous improvement in transaction processing and service management.

1. Business Continuity and Resilience

• Develop and maintain operational continuity plans for critical business services.
• Identify operational dependencies on technology platforms, banks, payment networks, suppliers and key personnel.
• Establish escalation and recovery procedures for service interruptions.
• Coordinate operational response during significant incidents.
• Conduct periodic continuity exercises with relevant internal and external stakeholders.
• Ensure lessons from incidents are incorporated into future resilience plans.
• Monitor readiness to maintain or restore critical services within approved recovery objectives.

1. Financial Performance and Cost Management

• Develop and manage the operations budget.
• Monitor cost per transaction and other relevant efficiency indicators.
• Identify opportunities to reduce avoidable processing costs and operational rework.
• Evaluate the operational implications of new products, pricing models and commercial agreements.
• Work with Finance to understand the relationship between operational performance and profitability.
• Ensure new initiatives have appropriate operating-capacity and cost assessments.
• Report operational performance and improvement opportunities to the CEO.

1. Leadership and Organisational Development

• Build and lead a high-performing operations organisation.
• Establish clear objectives and performance standards for operational leaders.
• Develop succession plans for critical functions.
• Strengthen collaboration between Operations, Technology, Finance, Commercial and Risk.
• Develop employees’ capabilities in payments operations, control management and customer service.
• Promote a culture of accountability, resilience, continuous improvement and customer trust.
• Ensure the organisation can scale without introducing disproportionate operational risk.

4. Key Performance Indicators

• Payment-processing success rates.
• Transaction exception rates.
• Reconciliation completion and exception-resolution times.
• Settlement-related operational incidents.
• Merchant onboarding and activation turnaround.
• Customer complaint resolution.
• Service availability and operational incident frequency.
• Cost per transaction.
• Operational losses and control failures.
• Audit remediation completion.
• Business continuity readiness.
• Merchant and customer satisfaction.
• Operational budget performance.
• Delivery of approved operational improvement initiatives.

5. Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Operations Management, Economics, Information Systems or a related field.
• MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification is advantageous.
• At least 12 years of professional experience, including substantial operational leadership.
• At least five years in a senior leadership role within fintech, payments, banking, telecommunications or financial services.
• Demonstrated understanding of digital payment operations and transaction workflows.
• Experience managing reconciliation, settlement coordination, merchant operations or related financial processes.
• Strong understanding of operational controls, incident management and business continuity.
• Experience working with banks, mobile money operators, payment processors or financial technology partners.
• Demonstrated success scaling operations while maintaining service quality.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent executive communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Relevant professional qualifications in risk management, payments, operations or project management are advantageous.

6. Leadership Competencies

• Enterprise-wide operational leadership.
• Risk-aware decision-making.
• Customer and merchant orientation.
• Financial discipline.
• Technology-enabled process improvement.
• Crisis and incident management.
• Cross-functional leadership.
• Commercial judgement.
• Regulatory awareness.
• Talent development.

7. First-Year Priorities

1. Conduct a full review of payment operations, controls and service performance.
2. Establish baseline operational and transaction-reliability measures.
3. Improve exception handling and reconciliation discipline.
4. Strengthen merchant and customer support processes.
5. Establish an operational-risk and business-continuity improvement plan.
6. Improve visibility of operating costs and efficiency.
7. Strengthen coordination between Technology, Finance, Commercial and Operations.
8. Build a scalable operational model capable of supporting transaction growth.

8. Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is an experienced fintech or payments executive who understands the operational complexity behind reliable digital financial services. They will be commercially minded, disciplined in their approach to controls and capable of building operational capacity without compromising transaction reliability, customer trust or regulatory obligations.