Operations Strategy Lead

Numida uses proprietary credit models and tech-enabled underwriting processes to provide unsecured working capital loans to African micro and small businesses. Instead of borrowing from informal lenders or family, business owners download the Numida app, apply in minutes, and receive capital within a day. There’s 20 million of these businesses in Africa representing a $5 billion market opportunity and traditional microfinance is failing them. We have figured out how to score and disburse unsecured loans to cash-based businesses that have no digital transaction history, with excellent collection rates. Since 2021 we've provided more than $36 million in working capital to 42,000 businesses in East Africa.

We are Uganda’s first YC-backed startup and are also backed by world class investors such as Serena Ventures, MFS Africa, Breega, and 4Di Capital. Find out more at https://numida.com.

Our Vision:

Traditionally overlooked and underserved MSBs in emerging markets deserve to have great tech built to serve their needs. Numida is the first and largest mobile platform in Africa focused on offering convenient, accessible, and appropriate financial services specifically to African MSBs. With the wealth of data collected through our platform, we are well positioned to connect business owners to the financial and non-financial services they need in order to grow their business, whether it be credit, savings, insurance, payments, logistics, customer acquisition, or financial & HR management. Due to our deep knowledge of our customers, Numida is becoming renowned for building technology that MSBs love. Within 10 years, we anticipate enabling at least 1 million small business owners on the continent to achieve their dreams.

The Role:

The Operations Strategy Lead is an internal consultant role that is ultimately responsible for developing and coordinating the implementation of the Operations Strategy that will continuously improve the effectiveness and efficiency of all positions in our Credit team. The Operations Strategy Lead will use both quantitative and qualitative data to critically assess Numida’s current Credit Operations in order to identify, prioritize and address bottlenecks in our underwriting and collections processes. This is a high-leverage role within our Global team that will collaborate closely with Credit Operations leaders and other functions (Product, Growth, and Credit Risk) to design and coordinate the implementation of process improvements that will enable the scaling of our credit operations while ensuring a great client experience. It is an ambitious role that requires strategic acumen and a passion for operational excellence, and the successful candidate will have the opportunity to significantly impact Numida’s trajectory and accelerate the team’s progress towards our company vision.

Your Responsibilities:

Building our core operations strategy

Own the development and execution of the operational strategy of the credit department (responsible for underwriting and collections), with the goal of improving the efficiency of the credit operations by at least 30% in 2023 while improving customer experience and repayment performance
Build the credit analytics and business intelligence capacity to support the development and execution of the operational strategy
Take a data-driven approach to identify innovations or improvements within our credit operations (for example in task prioritization, customer segmentation, role definition, incentive structures, or due diligence practices)
Support the design, development, execution and evaluation of innovative strategies & processes to improve overall customer service efficiency, function and quality

Innovation and learning

Build start-to-finish credit-related experiments within and outside the department by engaging all stakeholders (Growth, Product, Risk, Finance) for successful implementation and accountability
Build our credit team’s ability to learn and retain insights, through dashboards, reports, documentation, discussion, and presentations to Numida’s management teams

Team building and leadership

Help foster and encourage a culture of “systems-thinking” where individuals can take a step back and identify root cause issues to deliver on the Numida strategy, understand mutual dependency and work better together across teams
Build our management capacity via upskilling and mentorship, and co-develop change management strategies to ensure that new policies and insights are adopted and incorporated into our standard operations and processes

Skills & Qualifications:

University degree in Business Management/Administration or a quantitative program like Mathematics/Statistics, Finance, or Engineering. MBA designation is an asset.
4 to 6 years of experience with increasing responsibility, including at least 2 years of strategy and management experience
Experience leading operational strategy in a fast-growth tech company and conducting strategic planning processes, resource allocation and prioritization
Professional experience with business process optimization with concrete examples of measurable improvements (automations, clever simplifications of processes, reduced task completion times, reduced costs)
Advanced Excel skills (proficiency using pivot tables, filtering, conditional formatting, and data validation, as well as using intermediate formulas like VLOOKUP, index-match, and query to solve real-world problems)
Intermediate or advanced SQL and data visualization knowledge, and autonomy to dive into the data to generate insights are a strong asset
Experience in Credit is desirable and experience with scalable credit operations outside of traditional financial institutions is a strong asset
Lived experience in East Africa is a strong asset

Who You Are:

A self-driven, results-oriented high achiever ready to take on a lot of responsibility and ownership to drive Numida’s performance
A perpetual efficiency seeker who proactively identifies new opportunities for improving processes and generates creative solutions
A highly disciplined multi-tasker with the ability to balance a consistent heavy workload while implementing process improvements
A highly organized but adaptable planner who excels at goal setting, devising and executing action plans, and performing data-driven evaluations of both processes and results
A curious, intelligent, analytical and structured problem solver who efficiently gathers information and assesses situations with a systemic view to identify the best course of action in a scrappy environment
A great communicator who speaks and writes in a clear, thorough and timely manner using effective communication tools and techniques
A team player who is not afraid to ask for help when needed and relies on feedback to rapidly iterate on your work

How We’ll Reward You:

This is a full-time, high-growth role in a fast-growing East African technology start-up. We are an unconventional business, and our workplace is inspiring with a lot of opportunities for personal growth and fun. You will receive a competitive salary and benefits commensurate with experience, and have the opportunity to work with a dynamic and diverse team based in Kampala, Nairobi, Montreal/Toronto/Vancouver, and San Francisco. Employee share options are also available for this position, giving you ownership in Numida’s overall success.