Risk & Compliance Lead at Wave in Niamey

Job description

Our mission We're making Africa the first cashless continent. In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash. We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across 9 countries and are growing fast. Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in... How you'll help us achieve it As a Risk and Compliance Lead, you’ll play a key role in maintaining operational integrity in a growing and dynamic environment. You will lead our field audit efforts in Niger while supporting internal control, compliance, and, on occasion, fraud operations. You’ll be the go-to person on the ground to coordinate local execution of our global risk and compliance standards. In this role, you'll; Risk & Compliance Support Own and maintain all compliance and risk-related policies, procedures, and controls. Serve as the risk & compliance point person in the country, advising leadership and and reporting to the board through one of its specialized committees. Assist with identifying and evaluating operational risks in coordination with functional teams. Monitor implementation of basic compliance requirements (e.g., KYC, agent & merchant onboarding controls). Participate in incident reviews and follow-up on remediation actions. Support documentation and reporting on internal risk or compliance issues. Support AML and CFT Investigations in Niger, including submission of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to the CENTIF through our partner banks. Contribute to the implementation of the compliance program. Provide guidance and/or training and educational programs, to improve business understanding of related laws and regulatory requirements. Conduct and respond to due diligence requests from & to our partners. Manage the relationship with our partner banks, the Central Bank (BCEAO) and other stakeholders. Prepare periodic and ad hoc compliance reports with regulatory agencies. Field Audit & Controls Supervise and coordinate field audit activities (agent audits, spot checks, reconciliations). Work with the field audit and agent ops teams to escalate and address deficiencies identified during audits. Monitor implementation of control measures and escalate any breaches or gaps. Support rollout of internal control frameworks across business functions. Fraud Support Help coordinate local aspects of fraud investigations or awareness efforts as needed. Escalate fraud signals or trends to regional and global teams. Key details Location: You'll work from our office in Niger and may travel to field locations. Work authorization in Niger is required. This is a permanent position. Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents. We support working parents - we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized child care when you return to work. We help you live your fullest life now! We subsidize gym memberships and fitness classes. Airtime reimbursement. Free food and a beautiful office space. Requirements 5+ years of experience in risk management, compliance, or audit. Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Risk Management, Business & Economics, or a related field. Fluency in French and working knowledge o