Head of Marketing

Our mission

We're making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason-the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across 9 countries and are growing fast.

Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in...

How you'll help us achieve it

We’re looking for a Head of Marketing who is both strategic and execution-oriented, capable of building and leading a high-performing marketing function while driving sustainable growth as we scale in Mali.

In this role, you'll; 

• Own the local marketing strategy, aligned with business growth targets, market expansion priorities, and brand ambition.
• Serve as the strategic marketing partner to the General Manager and functional leads (Operations, Sales, Support, Product…).
• Lead marketing planning, including budget, resource allocation, and ROI accountability.
• Work closely with the group marketing team to align growth, product, and brand strategies for your market with global direction.
• Lead and supervise full-funnel campaigns for Mali across ATL, BTL, and Social Media.
• Create clear and actionable processes and documentation that can guide cross-functional teams in successful project delivery, from ideation to deployment.
• Lead market intelligence efforts (consumer insights, market analysis, brand health, channel performance).

Key details

• Location: Bamako with travel upcountry (about once per month). 
• Work authorization in Mali is required. 
• This is a permanent position.
• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. 
• We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents. 
• We support working parents - we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized childcare when you return to work.
• We help you live your fullest life now! We subsidize gym memberships and fitness classes.
• Airtime reimbursement.
• Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

• Degree in relevant fields (marketing, communication, sales, business development, management…). 
• At least 12 years of marketing experience, including at least 5 years in leadership roles with team management and budget ownership.
• Proven experience leading large-scale, multi-channel marketing strategies with measurable commercial impact.
• Experience managing significant marketing budgets and demonstrating strong ROI discipline.
• Fluent in French, English.

You might be a good fit if you

• Have owned and delivered against aggressive business growth targets (users, revenue, market share, brand health).
• Make decisions based on business metrics and financial impact, not only marketing indicators.
• Have strong negotiation skills and can secure high-impact partnerships. 
• Can operate at both strategic and tactical levels without losing clarity.
• Influence cross-functional stakeholders at senior levels and align diverse teams behind a shared vision.
• Demonstrate strong strategic thinking and the ability to anticipate market shifts and adjust quickly to changing priorities.
• Are intellectually curious, creative in the way you go about tackling problems, and embrace failure as a means to spark innovation and growth.
• Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.

Our team

• We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon plus remote team members spread across the world.
• We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
• We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
• We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
• We are on  Y Combinator's top companies by revenue.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.

We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.

Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.