Country Manager, South Africa

You will translate the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) strategy into a country-level plan, then execute it with an owner-operator mindset. This means combining sharp strategic thinking with deep operational execution across low-cost mobility, airports and events, marketplace health, regulatory& compliance, and regional/small city growth.

You will partner closely with the SSA General Manager and cross-functional leaders to deliver sustainable growth, excellent marketplace health and strong stakeholder relationships.

You will own core country-level business outcomes and lead high-impact, cross-functional initiatives that unlock durable, profitable growth.

You will be part of the SSA Mobility leadership team and work in close partnership with:

• Regional Operations, Strategy & Planning, and Marketplace teams
• Public Policy, Legal, Communications, Safety, and Risk
• Global and regional product, marketing, and support teams

You will also interface directly with external partners including regulators, airports and venue operators, fleet and vehicle partners, and other ecosystem players critical to the success of Uber in South Africa.

What You'll Do

As the Country Manager, you will maintain primary ownership over the following critical pillars:

• Own key country-level performance metrics (for example: trips, gross bookings, contribution margin, ETAs, cancellations, supply hours, active drivers, and compliance metrics) and regularly review performance with SSA leadership.
• Lead the country operating cadence: monthly and quarterly business reviews, KPI deep-dives, risk/issue tracking, and alignment of cross-functional workstreams.
• Partner with Strategy & Planning and Finance on annual planning, forecasting, and resource allocation for South Africa, including trade-offs across growth, profitability, and quality of service.

• Lead the growth and customer acquisition strategy for emerging and affordable mobility options in South Africa.
• Develop and execute the geographic expansion roadmap across provinces and cities, prioritising markets and corridors where low-cost options can unlock step-change growth.
• Design and implement supply-sharing and utilisation models (for example, vehicle/fleet sharing arrangements, product-mix strategies) to maximise asset productivity.
• Negotiate and manage external partnerships that enable expansion (for example, OEMs, financial institutions, fleet operators, local aggregators, and other ecosystem partners).
• Track and continuously improve unit economics for low-cost products, including subsidies, incentive ROI, and contribution margin.

• Own the end-to-end rider and earner experience at primary South African travel hubs (for example, OR Tambo, Cape Town, King Shaka) and major event venues.
• Secure and maintain premium pickup and drop-off access, signage, and wayfinding in partnership with airport authorities, city officials, and venue operators.
• Design and deliver operational playbooks for major events (for example, concerts, sports events, conferences), including demand forecasting, staging, traffic flows, and on-the-ground support models.
• Define and track performance metrics such as wait times, conversion, NPS/CSAT, and compliance at airports and event locations; drive continuous improvement based on data and feedback.

• Own the health of the South African marketplace, ensuring a balanced, efficient, and reliable marketplace across rider and driver segments.
• Set and execute country-level strategies for pricing, incentives, and product configuration in partnership with regional Marketplace, Product, and Finance teams.
• Use advanced analytics and experimentation to identify performance gaps (for example, reliability pockets, long ETAs, low conversion) and launch targeted interventions.
• Build repeatable processes and playbooks to scale proven solutions across multiple cities and segments, with clear inputs, outputs, and ownership.

• Lead operational readiness and implementation for new or changing regulations, ensuring that product, operations, and partners adapt on time and in full.
• Ensure that compliance requirements are embedded into day-to-day operations, processes, and partner contracts; monitor key compliance metrics and remediate quickly where needed.

• Define and own the growth playbook for South Africa’s regional and smaller cities, including entry criteria, sequencing, and city typologies.
• Tailor pricing, incentives, and product mix to the economics and competitive dynamics of smaller and emerging cities.
• Ensure adequate driver and vehicle coverage in priority corridors, working with local partners to resolve structural supply constraints (for example, licensing, vehicle availability).
• Build and maintain a view of the competitive and regulatory landscape across cities and use it to inform strategy, lobbying priorities, and resource allocation.

• Co-lead annual and long-range planning for South Africa with the SSA General Manager and regional Strategy & Planning and Finance teams, including scenario planning and risk/mitigation strategies.
• Optimise central and regional support structures (for example, shared services, centralised operations) to minimise country operational overhead while protecting quality and compliance.
• Partner with Business Development and Strategic Partnerships to identify, evaluate, negotiate, and implement local growth opportunities (for example, enterprise deals, mobility-as-a-service integrations, joint programs with large partners).
• Build and maintain a pipeline of high-impact business development initiatives, with clear business cases, expected impact, and implementation plans.

• Provide clear country-level leadership to cross-functional partners (for example, Policy, Communications, Marketing, Product, Community Operations, Safety) to ensure alignment and execution against shared South Africa priorities.
• Serve as a visible, credible deputy to the SSA General Manager in South Africa, representing the region in key internal forums and external engagements when needed.
• Build a culture of ownership, speed, and data-driven decision-making across all teams working on South Africa, regardless of reporting line.
• Develop and maintain a robust stakeholder map (internal and external) and ensure strong communication rhythms and feedback loops with each stakeholder group.

While the exact targets will evolve over time, success in this role will be measured by:

• Growth and financial performance (for example, trips, active riders and earners, gross bookings, contribution margin, incentive efficiency, unit economics of low-cost products)
• Marketplace quality and reliability (for example, ETAs, cancellations, conversion, fulfilment rates, airport/event performance metrics)
• Regulatory and compliance outcomes (for example, licensing coverage, successful implementation of regulatory changes, absence of major compliance incidents)
• Geographic and product expansion (for example, number of new cities or corridors launched, low-cost product penetration, depth of presence at airports and key venues)
• Quality of stakeholder relationships and cross-functional execution (for example, internal partner feedback, success of joint initiatives, strength of key external relationships)

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in operations, strategy, or other data-driven roles in high-performance environments (for example, technology, e-commerce, management consulting, investment banking, or FMCG).
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Mathematics, Finance, Economics, or a related quantitative field.
• Demonstrated fluency with data and analytics, including:
• Advanced Excel/Sheets capabilities (for example, complex formulas, dashboards, scenario modeling).
• Experience working with large datasets to derive insights and convert them into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Strong data-driven decision-making and commercial judgment; able to connect analysis to real business and operational outcomes.
• Proven problem-solving track record, including breaking down ambiguous problems, structuring hypotheses, prioritising initiatives, and partnering with regional teams to remove growth blockers.
• Experience leading complex, cross-functional projects end-to-end, from problem definition and business casing to implementation and scaling.
• Experience in financial modeling, forecasting and P&L management
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, including experience working with senior leaders and cross-functional partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Extensive experience in operations or strategy roles within high-growth, matrixed organizations with P&L ownership or management
• Experience working across multiple product verticals
• Strong executive communication skills - able to synthesize complex insights into concise, action-oriented recommendations.
• Familiarity with marketplace dynamics (supply/demand, incentives, unit economics) and with 2-wheel or low-cost transportation models is a plus.