Senior Manager - Nairobi, Nairobi County - M-KOPA

Description

We are looking for a Senior Manager to join our Credit team as we scale up and drive digital and financial inclusion across our markets.
Are You Ready to Shape the Future of Credit in Emerging Markets?
At M-KOPA, we're pioneering financial access for millions across Africa. We're seeking a
Senior Credit Manager
who will serve as an analytical project manager, bridging credit experience, qualitative observations, economic and behavioral research, and technical data analytics to answer the most critical questions about our credit portfolio.

The Role: Your Impact
This position is where analytical rigor meets strategic influence. You'll lead analysis, management, and communications regarding credit performance across our company's portfolio, customers, products, and services. Your work will provide actionable insights that directly influence consumer credit behavior and shape business decisions at the highest levels.

What You'll Do
Credit Management Excellence

• Evaluate & Approve: Assess business proposals against sound business criteria, ensure credit risk falls within acceptable parameters, and recommend appropriate credit facilities with strategic terms and conditions
• Risk Assessment: Identify, quantify, and evaluate credit risks in relation to profitability and financial viability of business banking credits
• Portfolio Analysis: Provide quality analysis using SQL, R, Python, Excel, and BI visualization tools to inform management on credit performance across portfolios, products, and customers
• Design Experiments: Create and implement initiatives and experiments aimed at improving and maintaining healthy credit performance across M-KOPA's customer base, working extensively with cross-functional teams
• Market Intelligence: Stay attuned to industry and market risk developments and trends, understanding their impact on customers and underlying portfolios
• Economic Analysis: Consolidate, analyze, and maintain economic/market data for portfolio analysis, stress testing, and other departmental objectives

Systems, Models & Reporting

• Model Development: Contribute to developing credit and financial models including IFRS 9 provisioning, bad debt modeling, cash flow modeling, and predictive loss rate models
• Performance Monitoring: Track and report on key metrics for M-KOPA's core products and pilots—including portfolio health, delinquency reporting, repayment rates, and roll rates
• Systems Innovation: Challenge existing credit management systems, procedures, and practices, implementing improvements across all credit management areas
• Executive Reporting: Lead development of reports for senior management, country leadership teams, and investors using graphical analysis, PowerPoint presentations, and compelling written/verbal communications
• Continuous Innovation: Test new data, analytics approaches, and models to push the boundaries of what's possible
• Granular Analysis: Analyze portfolio performance at segment level on an ongoing basis, identifying trends and conducting root-cause analysis to isolate key performance drivers

Leadership & Collaboration

• Stakeholder Relationships: Build strong relationships with key stakeholders to improve quality of business proposals and turnaround time on pricing and product launches
• Technical Communication: Routinely communicate complex technical subject matter clearly to team members and relevant stakeholders
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Work in partnership with diverse teams, fostering a supportive and collaborative atmosphere that encourages diverse viewpoints and problem-solving
• Team Management: Lead and develop Credit Analysts, prioritizing analyst time across various projects

Your Decision-Making Authority
This role comes with significant responsibility. You'll make recommendations and decisions on:

• Credit metric assumptions for pricing models
• Country-wide KYC and underwriting standards
• Prioritization of analyst time on various projects
• Bad debt provisioning and adjustments
• Interventions to improve credit performance
• Product, service, and pricing decisions

What You Bring
Essential Experience & Education:

• 6-10 years of work experience in consumer credit, asset finance, pricing, data science, behavioral research, or strategy consulting
• Proven track record managing teams, portfolios, and complex projects
• Bachelor's or Master's degree preferably in quantitative fields: Economics, Econometrics, Data Analytics, Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Credit Management, Finance, or Behavioral Psychology

Technical Mastery:

• Analytical Tools: Proficiency in SQL, R, Python, PowerBI, Excel, PowerPoint, Word
• Credit & Financial Analysis: Skills to effectively evaluate and report on key performance metrics
• Statistical Foundation: Clear understanding of statistics, quantitative methods, and best practices
• Business Concepts: Deep understanding of ROI analysis, discounted cash flow, causality, and statistical significance

Highly Valued:

• Knowledge of lending business practices and consumer credit in emerging markets
• Experience with IFRS 9 provisioning and financial modeling
• Understanding of behavioral economics and credit psychology

Key Competencies:
Core:
Adaptability | Innovation | Continuous Learning | Results-Oriented | Fostering Feedback | Attention to Detail

Leadership:
Strategic Leadership | Strategic Thinking & Planning | Building Collaborative Teams | Managing Performance & Coaching | Leading Change

Technical:
Credit Risk Management | Credit Risk Assessment | Business Environmental Analysis | Credit Analytics & Reporting | Credit Portfolio Management

Why This Role Matters
You won't just manage credit—you'll shape how millions of people access financial services. Your analyses will directly influence pricing strategies, product development, and credit policies across multiple African markets. You'll present to C-suite executives and investors, design experiments that test new approaches, and build models that forecast portfolio performance.

This is analytical work with real human impact—where your ability to identify problems, scope solutions, manage analytical workflows, and communicate actionable recommendations will directly contribute to M-KOPA's mission of financial inclusion.

Ready to Lead Credit Innovation in Africa?
If you're excited by complexity, energized by emerging markets, and ready to make decisions that impact millions of lives, we want to hear from you.

Apply now and join M-KOPA's mission to transform credit access across Africa.
Why M-KOPA?
At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together. Explore more at
m-
.

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 5 million customers, unlocking $1.5 billion in cumulative credit for the unbanked across Africa.
Important Notice
M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships.
M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for 'recruitment fees', 'processing fees', 'interview fees', or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.
Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.