Risk & Compliance Officer

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

As Risk and Compliance Officer, you’ll play a key role in maintaining operational integrity in a growing and dynamic environment. You will lead our field audit efforts in Sierra Leone while supporting compliance, internal control, and, on occasion, fraud operations.

You’ll be the go-to person on the ground to coordinate local execution of our global risk and compliance standards.

In this role, you’ll;

Field Audit & Controls

• Supervise and coordinate field audit activities (agent audits, spot checks, reconciliations).
• Work with the field audit and agent ops teams to escalate and address deficiencies identified during audits.
• Monitor implementation of control measures and escalate any breaches or gaps.
• Support the rollout of internal control frameworks across business functions.

Risk & Compliance Support

• Monitor implementation of basic compliance requirements (e.g., KYC, agent onboarding controls).
• Participate in incident reviews and follow up on remediation actions.
• Support documentation and reporting on internal risk or compliance issues.
• Support AML and CFT Investigations in Sierra Leone, including submission of Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA).
• Contribute to the implementation of the compliance program.
• Provide guidance, advice, and/or training and educational programs to improve business understanding of related laws and regulatory requirements.
• Conduct and respond to due diligence requests from & to our partners.
• Prepare periodic and ad hoc compliance reports with regulatory agencies.
• Assist with identifying and evaluating operational risks in coordination with functional teams.

Fraud Support

• Help coordinate fraud investigations or awareness efforts as needed.
• Escalate fraud signals or trends to regional and global teams.

Key details

• Location: You'll work from our office in Sierra Leone and may travel to field locations.
• Work authorization in Sierra Leone is required.
• 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 child care 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

• At least 4 years of experience in compliance, risk management, or audit.
• Master’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Risk Management, Business & Economics, or a related field.
• Experience in mobile money operations or the financial services sector is an added advantage.
• Proven experience in team management.
• Experience in AML.

You might be a good fit if you

• Are passionate about protecting customers, staff, and the company from risk.
• Are dependable, humble, and eager to grow with the role.
• Have a strong understanding of risk management and compliance principles, methodologies, and best practices.
• Are skilled at proposing practical, effective solutions to mitigate risks and address emerging issues.
• Have a proven track record of collaborating and partnering with cross-functional teams.
• Communicate and present effectively, with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Are intellectually curious, creative in tackling problems, and see failure as an opportunity to innovate and improve.
• Take full ownership of projects; you work autonomously but know when to escalate.
• Default to clear, proactive communication and coordination.
• Possess excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Uphold the highest ethical standards and exercise discretion in handling sensitive information.

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.