Senior Manager: Product Owner – Agent Segment

About

Fintech is entering a new phase where operational and commercial excellence has become critical for success. We at MTN believe this is a game changer in terms of our business strategy. We are looking at an incumbent to join us as we build a successful business together.

Role Overview

The Senior Manager: Product Owner – Agent Segment is responsible for driving the end-to-end product ownership, delivery, and continuous optimization of agent-facing digital experiences across MTN Fintech’s multi-market ecosystem. The role translates agent segment strategy into scalable digital solutions, ensuring seamless, intuitive, and high-performing experiences across channels including Mobile Apps, USSD, POS, Web Portals, and APIs. The incumbent is accountable for maximizing agent productivity, liquidity efficiency, transaction volumes, and revenue contribution, while ensuring consistent execution across markets. Operating at the intersection of business, technology, and operations, the role enables delivery through strong stakeholder alignment, agile methodologies, and data-driven decision-making.

Core Responsibilities

Product Strategy and Ownership

• Own and drive the Agent Segment product roadmap across all digital channels (App, USSD, POS, Web, APIs).
• Translate business strategy into clear product requirements, user journeys, and value propositions for different agent archetypes.
• Align product initiatives with key commercial outcomes including agent productivity, transaction growth, liquidity optimization, and revenue generation.
• Ensure product features are scalable, intuitive, secure, and aligned to MTN Group platform standards.
• Drive continuous evolution of the agent platform towards digital-first, API-enabled, and ecosystem-integrated capabilities.

Product Delivery and Business Validation

• Oversee business validation and quality assurance of features prior to release to Opcos.
• Ensure alignment of product delivery with defined user experience standards, business requirements, and operational readiness criteria.
• Prioritise defects, enhancements, and backlog items in collaboration with technology teams.
• Support continuous improvement of product quality, stability, and performance across releases.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Agile Delivery

• Act as the primary business interface between OpCo stakeholders, Group IT delivery teams, and product management teams.
• Participate in agile ceremonies including sprint planning, demos, backlog grooming, and release planning.
• Ensure effective coordination of product delivery across multiple markets and stakeholders.
• Consolidate and prioritise feedback from Opcos to inform product enhancements and roadmap evolution.

Stakeholder and Business Owner Engagement

• Engage with Group Business Owners and senior stakeholders to align product delivery with strategic priorities.
• Provide regular updates on product performance, release readiness, risks, and market feedback.
• Align delivery timelines, priorities, and outcomes with business expectations across markets.
• Support post-release reviews and impact assessments to drive continuous improvement.

Release Management and Market Readiness

• Track and manage OpCo readiness for product releases, including testing progress, defect resolution, and operational preparedness.
• Ensure timely communication of release notes, test packs, and readiness materials.
• Support governance of release processes to ensure consistent and scalable rollout across markets.
• Facilitate post-release retrospectives and contribute to improving deployment processes.

Agent Experience and Channel Optimization

• Champion a consistent and high-quality agent experience across all digital touchpoints.
• Drive enhancements to agent onboarding, transaction journeys, liquidity management, commissions, and support tools.
• Support development of business process documentation, training materials, and rollout frameworks.
• Ensure continuous improvement of agent journeys through data insights, feedback loops, and usability improvements.

Data, Insights and Continuous Improvement

• Leverage product analytics, user behavior data, and performance metrics to inform product decisions.
• Monitor KPIs such as agent activity rates, transaction volumes, liquidity utilization, and user engagement.
• Drive a culture of data-driven product management and continuous optimization.
• Identify opportunities for automation, digitization, and efficiency improvements across agent journeys.

Governance

• Operational, Tactical and Strategic Governance
• Participate in product, delivery, and governance forums across Group Fintech.
• Ensure adherence to product governance frameworks, delivery standards, and quality benchmarks.
• Contribute to risk mitigation strategies related to product delivery and market rollout.

Escalations

• Escalate issues impacting delivery timelines, product quality, or market readiness.
• Provide solutions to resolve cross-functional dependencies and delivery bottlenecks.

Functional Execution

• Support execution of product initiatives, enhancements, and transformation programmes.
• Identify risks, dependencies, and constraints impacting product delivery and define mitigation plans.

Performance

• Ensure delivery of product roadmap aligned to commercial, operational, and customer experience KPIs.
• Drive continuous improvement in product performance, delivery efficiency, and user satisfaction.
• Monitor and report on product success metrics and adoption across markets.

Reporting

• Provide periodic updates on product roadmap execution, release readiness, and market performance.
• Develop dashboards and reports highlighting product KPIs, adoption trends, and delivery outcomes.
• Support ad hoc reporting for strategic and operational decision-making.

Requirements

Education

• Minimum of 4 year tertiary degree (Information Technology, Management, Marketing, or related field)
• MBA or Masters (advantageous)
• Formal certification in Digital Product Management / Product Owner, Agile Delivery, User Experience or other relevant fields would be beneficial

Experience

• Minimum 8 years’ experience in digital product management, product ownership, or business-side product delivery.
• Manager track record of 4 years or more; with at least 3 years’ experience in financial Services, corporate sales or relevant sector
• Experience in multi-market or regional product environments.
• Experience in telecommunications, financial services, fintech, or platform-based ecosystems.
• Experience working in agile delivery environments and cross-functional teams.
• Pan-African experience advantageous.
• Abreast of global mind-set and best practice
• Willing and flexible to travel within Africa and Middle East
• English speaker. French, Portuguese, Zulu, Swahili, and other African languages a plus

Ready to make and drive the change with us? Apply now!

Closing date: 01 April 2026. Late applications will not be accepted.

Should you not hear from us within 2 weeks of applying, please consider your application unsuccessful.