Oversee dLocal's strategy and partnerships operations in the EMEA region; in order to enable local payments processing for international merchants.
Preferably based in Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; Nairobi, Kenya.
What will I be doing?
- Strategic Leadership & Business Development:
- Collaborate with senior leadership to develop and implement country strategies aligned with organizational goals.
- Drive business development by identifying new merchant opportunities, optimizing pricing and costs, integrating local payment methods, and closing strategic deals with partners.
- Represent the company in public affairs, regulatory discussions, chambers of commerce, business associations, and industry events to strengthen market presence.
- Maintain personal networks, participate in professional organizations, and attend conferences and industry events.
- Promote relationships with members of the media and key influencers to consolidate dLocal’s reputation in the market.
- Partnerships & Commercial Execution:
- Negotiate and execute commercial partnerships and agreements to improve operational capabilities for various payment alternatives.
- Work with internal teams (Operations, Product, Technology) to build and implement roadmaps for partnership integration and analyze performance results to optimize operations.
- Work closely with merchants and the commercial team, focusing on the development of key products.
- Regulatory & Compliance Oversight:
- Stay informed about local regulations and compliance requirements, providing effective advice to internal teams and identifying potential risks for new products.
- Liaise with regulatory and statutory bodies to ensure adherence to legal requirements and obligations, including AML/KYC policies and licensing.
- Stay on top of local regulatory/licensing requirements and how they impact our business.
- Stay on top of local regulations and engage with regulators when necessary.
- Contact local lawyers, accountants, and tax experts to ensure the operation complies with all legal and financial requirements.
- Operational Excellence & P&L Management:
- Oversee daily operations across all products, ensuring smooth execution of global and local initiatives.
- Support Country Managers and stakeholders across the organization to ensure the delivery of regional corporate targets, such as revenue, volume, costs, compliance, etc.
- Closely lead and manage the operations team for overall operational excellence.
- Improve operational capabilities for different payment methods.
- Manage operational costs, improve conversion rates, and enhance processing efficiency.
- Take ownership of the country’s P&L, seeking improvements, ensuring forecast accuracy, and driving initiatives with measurable impact.
- Analyzing performance results and optimizing accordingly.
- Develop emergency response plans for system outages, compliance challenges, or banking disruptions.
- Stakeholder & Relationship Management:
- Build and maintain relationships with stakeholders in the payment ecosystem, including acquirers, processors, banks, and regulators.
- Provide local knowledge and expertise on financial, payments, and fintech regulations, and support Treasury in analyzing performance results and optimizing accordingly.
What skills do I need?
- Strong Cross-Cultural Leadership skillsProven experience in cross- border payments payments or other financial systems all over EMEA
- Proven success partnering and working cross-functionally to make things happen.
- Significant experience negotiating and executing contracts and agreements.
- Someone open to constant change in an ambiguous, fast-paced environment, a self-starter, open to working across time zones with teams all over the world.
- Established relevant business network.
- Someone willing and able to take smart risks based on solid strategy and deep partnership understanding.
- People manager with strong skills to develop teams.
- Curious profile, strategic thinker, effective decision making skills and positive attitude.
- Adaptability and growth mindset
- Thorough knowledge of the whole EMEA region
- Technical knowledge will be considered a plus.
- Commitment to compliance and understanding of the regulatory environment in EMEA.