Group Head of Compliance & MLRO

About Cellulant:

Cellulant is Africa’s leading payments company, providing seamless, secure and innovative solutions that empower businesses, banks, and global brands to thrive in a fast-changing global economy. 

With a presence in over 24 countries and 200+ payment methods, including cards, bank transfers, and mobile money, our single API payment platform, Tingg, simplifies collections, disbursements, and reconciliations. It processes over 4.5 million transactions daily for market leaders across sectors such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail, and Remittances. 

By simplifying how people pay and get paid, we drive trust, commerce and scale – and connect companies to their ambitions.
 

Our Story:

Across Africa, payments are more than transactions. They are gateways to prosperity, connecting people, businesses and communities to opportunities and growth.

From enabling a logistics company in Lusaka to pay suppliers across borders, to enabling a hospitality brand in Lagos to scale effortlessly, to supporting an airline in Nairobi to reconcile payments from multiple platforms, Cellulant is the bridge that makes it all possible. 

Through trusted technology and customer-centric innovation, we build connections that inspire progress, strengthen economies and transform payments into a tool for progress.

Since our founding in 2003, we've continuously adapted and grown, leveraging our experiences to simplify payments for businesses. We are driven by an unshakable belief that seamless people-centred payments are the key to unlocking prosperity. 

Today, Cellulant powers online and offline payment processing, allowing businesses to collect payments, send payouts, and accelerate business growth.

Our Mission: 

To deliver seamless, secure and innovative payment solutions for businesses. 

Our Vision: 

To create a connected world where businesses move money as easily as they share ideas.

Role Overview: 

Function: Compliance

Reports:Chief Risk Officer or as Appropriate 

Scope: All operating markets, pipeline markets, and Group-level compliance governance.

The Opportunity: Leading Group Compliance at Cellulant

Cellulant is seeking a seasoned and decisive compliance leader to become the Group Head of Compliance. This is the organisation's most senior internal authority on compliance, responsible for building, leading, and continuously strengthening our Group compliance function.

You will be the person the Chief Risk Officer (CRO), Executive Committee (ExCo), and the business turn to for a clear, honest, and actionable view of the organisation's compliance posture, obligations, and risks.

Your primary mandate is to own and govern the Group compliance framework, ensuring consistent, evidence-based, and risk-proportionate application of Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), data protection, safeguarding, and operational compliance standards across all markets. We require a leader who can embed compliance into the culture, processes, and commercial decisions of the business, rather than bolt it on after the fact.

What You'll do:

As Group Head of Compliance, you will lead the global compliance strategy and execution, focusing on the following critical areas:

• Group Compliance Framework Ownership: Design, own, and maintain the Group compliance framework, encompassing AML/CFT policy, customer due diligence (CDD/EDD/SDD) standards, transaction monitoring parameters, sanctions screening protocols, data protection obligations, and outsourcing compliance. You will establish and maintain a compliance policy register and ensure minimum compliance standards are deployed consistently across all markets.
• AML/CFT Programme Leadership: Own and govern the Group's AML/CFT programme across all markets, ensuring adherence to FATF standards and local central bank requirements. This includes overseeing the transaction monitoring framework, leading the sanctions screening programme, and serving as the Group’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) or ensuring appropriate coverage.
• Compliance Monitoring and Assurance: Design and execute a structured, risk-based compliance monitoring and testing programme across all markets. You will coordinate assurance activities with Internal Audit and external providers, track remediation of findings, and maintain compliance management information for the CRO, ExCo, and Board.
• Data Protection & Privacy: Own the Group’s data protection compliance programme, meeting obligations under applicable laws including Kenya DPA, Nigeria NDPR, South Africa POPIA, and GDPR where applicable. This involves managing Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) and overseeing data breach response and notification obligations.
• Product and Business Advisory: Serve as the compliance authority in product design, launch, and change processes. You will embed Compliance-by-Design principles into the product development lifecycle and provide guidance to business units (Product, Technology, Commercial) to ensure decisions are both commercially sound and compliance-safe.
• Team Leadership and Culture: Manage and develop the Group compliance team (currently four direct reports, expected to grow to six). You will provide functional direction to in-country shared resources (70% of their time on compliance) and design and own the Group's mandatory compliance training programme and whistleblowing framework.

What we are looking for:

Required Experience:

• Senior Compliance Ownership: Established senior compliance professional with a demonstrable track record of owning and managing a compliance programme, not just executing within one, in a regulated fintech, payments, remittance, or financial services organisation.
• African Market Expertise: Proven experience managing compliance across multiple African markets simultaneously. Authoritative knowledge of AML/CFT requirements in African financial services, covering local laws across key markets (Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, etc.) and the implications of FATF mutual evaluations.
• Technical Compliance Depth: Command of CDD/EDD/SDD methodology, transaction monitoring design and calibration, SAR/STR filing requirements, and sanctions screening obligations in a payments context.
• Regulatory Engagement: Experience developing compliance policies, risk assessments, and monitoring frameworks from the ground up. Track record of engaging directly with Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), regulators on substantive compliance matters, and external auditors.
• MLRO Experience: Experience as a named MLRO or deputy MLRO in a regulated payments or financial services firm, with direct responsibility for Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)/Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) decisions and FIU relationships.
• Technology & Growth: Experience implementing or optimising AML/CFT technology (transaction monitoring platforms, KYC/KYB tools), ideally during a period of rapid growth or regulatory maturation.

Education & Certifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Law, Finance, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Professional compliance qualification is mandatory: ICA Diploma in Compliance or AML, CAMS (Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist), CFCS (Certified Financial Crime Specialist), or equivalent.
• A data protection qualification (CIPM, CIPP/E, or equivalent) is a material differentiator.

Core Capabilities & Personal Attributes

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Commercial Calibration: The ability to assess compliance risk in a business context and distinguish between risk that must be mitigated and risk that is within appetite, providing workable alternatives rather than simply blocking commercial activity.
• Programme Design: The capability to build a coherent, risk-proportionate compliance programme from the CRO's risk appetite down to individual market controls.
• Leadership and Influence: Strong team leadership, constructive challenge, and cross-functional influence to work effectively with Product, Technology, Finance, and Commercial teams without relying solely on positional authority.
• Integrity and Honesty: Uncompromising personal integrity, intellectually honest (willing to report the actual compliance picture), and calm under regulatory and commercial pressure.
• Multilingualism: English proficiency is required; French proficiency is a material advantage given Cellulant's Francophone market presence.

Why Work for Us?

At Cellulant, we are more than a payments company: we are bridge-builders. We believe that by simplifying the way people pay and get paid, we are connecting companies to their ambitions, people to opportunities, and Africa to the global economy. Our work goes beyond payments—it’s about what people, businesses, and communities can do when the movement of money becomes more dependable, seamless, and secure. 

Some exciting things about us...

• We have an extensive footprint: We have an office presence in 10 countries, and our products serve 24 countries across Africa, with a global workforce of about 300 employees. 
• We believe innovation is at the heart of Fintech: Thousands of market leaders and top enterprises trust our technology to power their payments. Our customers are in various sectors, including financial services, travel and hospitality, telecom, e-commerce, remittance companies, SaaS, and the gig economy. 
• We support a diverse and inclusive workforce: We focus on the growth and development of our employees through well-developed, individualised career paths, ensuring you reach your full potential in a supportive and delivery-oriented environment. 
• We put our employees first: At Cellulant, your contribution is rewarded competitively. We use clear career levels and role titles, and benchmark our base pay against data and a well-established internal process. Your actual salary will reflect your experience, skills, impact and the scope of the role, as well as our business needs and prevailing market conditions. We also offer generous personal time off, and medical and life insurance benefits (markets permitting).
• We seek collaborative builders: At Cellulant, we believe that great ideas happen when we come together. Therefore, we nurture a collaborative work environment that challenges, engages, and empowers each person to contribute to the growth and success of the business. 
• We solve Africa's digital economy: We’re solving payment challenges on the continent to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.