Africa Business Development & Operations Lead

👋 About us

Caliza is building the infrastructure to power stable finance for everyone. Currency volatility and lack of access to developed market financial products make saving and building wealth challenging in emerging markets. We envision a world where anyone can save and transact in a stable ecosystem regardless of where they live. Our software allows fintechs around the world to open digital dollar accounts, enabling their customers to access the digital dollar economy.

Our mission is backed by top-tier VCs including Better Tomorrow Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and QED Investors as well as the founders of Rappi, Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, Compound, and many more.

We are a global team with a global product and a global mission. As a distributed team that comes from a variety of backgrounds, we’re building a culture where everyone is treated equally, we challenge others respectfully, and we respect cultural differences.

🎭 About the role

We’re looking for our Africa Business Development & Operations Lead. This is a leadership role with a high level of autonomy and responsibility. You will work closely with our CEO and leadership team to grow our presence in the region through both customer outreach and ownership of region-specific operational, legal, and product concerns. As the day-to-day face of Caliza in the region, you will be on the front lines of our relationships with customers, local governments, vendors, legal counsel, and more.

🚀 Your impact at Caliza

You will:

• Define, track, and own improvement of our business development pipeline in the region.
• Be the first point of contact for our customers in the region — helping them solve problems and sharing insights with the rest of the team to inform our product strategy and priorities.
• Work closely with our leadership team and external counsel to ensure legal and regulatory compliance and facilitate our continued growth in both product features and geographic coverage.
• Foster Caliza’s relationship with local governments and regulatory agencies.
• Be our eyes and ears in the region, ensuring that Caliza has the latest and most accurate understanding of market trends, competitive developments, and regulatory changes.

Requirements

• Highly networked in the fintech, payments, and/or crypto industries across Africa.
• 5+ years in business or operations roles at high-growth startups, VC, investment banking, and/or management consulting, including 2+ years in fintech, payments, and/or crypto.
• Comfort working cross-functionally to deliver on key organizational objectives, meet customer needs, and exceed customer expectations.
• Excellent communicator who can effectively deliver a message to internal and external stakeholders, including everyone from start ups, to major financial institutions, to local regulatory agencies.
• Able to thrive at a startup, i.e., in a fast-paced environment with high levels of ambiguity.
• We are a team of sixth persons — we're looking for teammates who can play any position on the court!
• Strong preference for fluency in at least one of Arabic or French, in addition to English.
• Note: We are a flexible, remote team, but candidates for this role must live and be authorized to work in either Africa or Europe to maximize relevant time zone availability.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity compensation at a well-funded early-stage startup
• We care about your health & wellness — we offer medical, dental, vision, & life insurance, plus a monthly wellness stipend [Note: details vary by market]
• 401k plus matching [Note: details vary by market]
• Team offsites (when the public health situation allows)
• We care about your goals — growth opportunities at the company and flexible budget for professional development
• We love to learn — unlimited book budget
• Work-from-home stipend to optimize your setup
• Generous vacation policy and paid holidays