About the Role
Robert Walters, a global specialist professional recruitment consultancy, is seeking a strategic and driven Head of Consumer Credit Products to spearhead our credit programmes across key African markets. In this executive leadership role, you will own the consumer credit lifecycle from licensing strategy and product design to risk management and commercial performance.
Key Responsibilities- Own the consumer credit programme end-to-end, covering licensing strategy, product design, credit policy, regulatory engagement, and commercial performance.
- Lead licence applications across multiple African markets by collaborating closely with regulators and external legal counsel.
- Design innovative financial products tailored for underserved consumers, ensuring pricing architecture fully complies with local regulations.
- Build robust underwriting models utilizing alternative repayment data alongside traditional credit bureau history.
- Define comprehensive collections operations, portfolio targets, and rigorous risk management frameworks encompassing NPLs, provisioning, and recovery.
- Engage development finance institutions and capital partners to successfully fund and scale the credit book.
- Build, mentor, and manage a high-performing credit operations team as the programme expands.
- 3 to 7 years of hands-on experience building or scaling consumer credit products from scratch in Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, or emerging Asian markets.
- Direct, practical experience leading licence applications in at least one African or Asian market.
- First-hand expertise in designing credit policy and actively managing an own-book consumer loan portfolio.
- Proven track record managing complex, multi-country regulatory workstreams simultaneously.
- Demonstrated experience building consumer pricing models and leveraging alternative repayment data.
- Strong regulatory familiarity with West African financial services or Francophone WAEMU regional frameworks, plus East African markets such as Kenya and Uganda.
- Existing professional relationships with development finance institutions within the digital credit and asset-financing sectors.
- Competitive salary package with performance-based incentives.
- Opportunity to shape the future of consumer credit and financial inclusion across emerging markets.
- Collaborative global work environment with extensive leadership exposure.