Opportunity at
WiseCountry Manager
Wise seeks a Country Manager based in Johannesburg to scale its financial offerings across South Africa and the wider Southern African region. This position focuses on…
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About This Role
Wise seeks a Country Manager based in Johannesburg to scale its financial offerings across South Africa and the wider Southern African region. This position focuses on driving local market expansion, managing regulatory frameworks, and establishing partnerships with financial institutions. The person in this role will serve as the primary local representative, collaborating with internal product, engineering, finance, legal, and compliance groups. Core duties involve overseeing the regulatory landscape from start…
Job Description
Wise seeks a Country Manager based in Johannesburg to scale its financial offerings across South Africa and the wider Southern African region. This position focuses on driving local market expansion, managing regulatory frameworks, and establishing partnerships with financial institutions.
The person in this role will serve as the primary local representative, collaborating with internal product, engineering, finance, legal, and compliance groups. Core duties involve overseeing the regulatory landscape from start to finish, building payment infrastructure networks, negotiating commercial agreements with banks and processors, and refining product economics to improve speed, lower costs, and increase transparency for consumers.
Ideal candidates possess a strong commercial acumen, familiarity with foreign exchange and anti-money laundering frameworks, and the ability to operate autonomously in a fast-paced setting. Proficiency in English is mandatory. This opportunity suits entrepreneurial professionals eager to transform the financial services industry and navigate complex regulatory environments.
Responsibilities
- Manage the end-to-end regulatory and licensing process in South Africa
- Establish and nurture relationships with local regulators and public sector bodies
- Collaborate with internal compliance teams to translate regulatory mandates into product implementations
- Partner with product managers and engineers to align product vision with local infrastructure and constraints
- Identify, pitch, and forge new alliances with banks, payment processors, card issuers, and other financial partners
- Lead commercial negotiations and monitor financial metrics to ensure sustainable and competitive service offerings
- Enhance existing transactional banking relationships to boost transaction speed, reliability, and local payment rail access
Requirements
- Demonstrated ability to independently negotiate commercial terms with a clear product vision
- Familiarity with financial, payments, and foreign exchange regulatory environments
- Understanding of compliance topics including AML, KYC, sanctions, and exchange control
- Knowledge of South African financial licensing frameworks, banking partnerships, and payment ecosystems
- Familiarity with corporate banking operations and key decision makers
- Fluency in English
- Capacity to work independently and flexibly in a dynamic environment
Qualifications
- Established relationships and experience with South African regulators and payment ecosystem stakeholders
- Prior success in securing licenses, authorisations, or regulatory approvals in South Africa or comparable markets
- Expertise in local payments infrastructure, foreign exchange, remittance, and cross-border payment markets
- Familiarity with financial regulations across the broader Southern African region
- Experience working with the National Payment System, BankservAfrica, local EFT rails, card payments, or regional settlement infrastructure
Core Skills
Frequently Asked Questions
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Where is this job located?
This position is based in Johannesburg.
What is the employment type?
The posting specifies full-time employment.
What salary is offered for this role?
The salary is not stated in the job posting.
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