---
title: 'Head of Workplace IT at M-KOPA'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-workplace-it-m-kopa-johannesburg-96w8c64vbqy0'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Head of Workplace IT at M-KOPA

- **Company:** [M-KOPA](https://feeny.ai/companies/m-kopa)
- **Location:** Johannesburg, South Africa
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-09-03
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/m-kopa/fffe4725-86ca-4014-9a2d-e3004a9ce21e

## Job description

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/5ac97b31-49cd-4012-8bb0-5caf15e33c69/B25.png]

We're actively recruiting a Head of Workplace IT as we continue to scale our internal operations at M-KOPA. You'll own the technology, services, and vendors that keep over 2,500 employees productive across 5 offices, 4 warehouses, 100+ retail sites, and 10 call centres in six countries.

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/98cde4bc-fa0a-4874-a12e-0db70c8c4abf/image.png]

The Impact

Your leadership will directly enable the people and infrastructure behind a business that's unlocked over $2 billion in credit for more than 10 million customers across Africa. Every reliable network, every well-run service desk ticket, and every secure endpoint you manage supports the 2,500+ employees and 35,000+ agents working to bring financial inclusion to Every Day Earners. It's your chance to be the backbone of something that's genuinely transforming lives across a continent 🌍

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/98cde4bc-fa0a-4874-a12e-0db70c8c4abf/image.png]

The Opportunity

🎯 Mission-driven infrastructure: Your day-to-day work — from network uptime to identity management — directly enables a distributed workforce delivering financial inclusion at scale 🏆 Global recognition: Join a company recognised by CNBC's World Top 300 Fintechs and named among the Financial Times' Africa's Fastest Growing Companies for 5 consecutive years (2022–2026) 🚀 Scale challenges: Run wired and wireless networks, telephony, and end-user compute across 5 offices, 4 warehouses, 100+ retail sites, and 10 call centres — much of it in variable-connectivity markets 🌱 Purpose-built growth: Stand up Workplace IT capabilities for new sites and market launches as M-KOPA continues to expand across Africa

## What You'll Do

At M-KOPA, you'll own the Workplace IT roadmap end-to-end — from networks and telephony to end-user compute, identity, productivity tooling, and service management. You'll lead and grow a multi-country Workplace IT team, own the opex and capex budget, and drive cost discipline across hardware, connectivity, telephony, and software. Join us in combining strong technical infrastructure with a genuinely user-focused mindset that keeps a fast-growing, multi-country fintech productive and secure.

## Your Environment 💼

- Networks & telephony: Wired and wireless networks across all offices, warehouses, and retail sites; contact-centre telephony across ~10 call-centre sites
- On-site infrastructure: On-prem hardware and physical environments — server rooms, power, cooling, physical security, CCTV
- End-user compute & mobility: Full lifecycle management of laptops, desktops, and phones for 2,500+ employees, plus endpoint and mobile device management (MDM)
- Identity & access: Identity platform (directory, SSO, MFA), joiner/mover/leaver processes, and recertification for internal and external applications
- Productivity & collaboration: Core software suite selection and management (collaboration, back-office, AI tools), vendor/contract management, licensing/SaaS spend, meeting-room and AV systems
- Security & resilience: IT-side security hygiene (patching, vulnerability remediation, endpoint protection, hardening), business continuity and disaster recovery

Our Workplace IT Approach 🚀

- We balance cost, performance, security, and resilience — especially in variable-connectivity markets
- We partner closely with the Security function on IT-side security hygiene, with clear ownership boundaries between the two functions
- We keep access controls operationally excellent, low-friction for users, and audit-ready
- We set and drive the norms and adoption practices that make tools actually succeed, not just get deployed
- We measure ourselves against SLAs and service performance metrics that show IT is delivering

## What You Need

We care more about your skills than where you got them from — relevant degrees or certifications (e.g. ITIL, CISSP, cloud/network certs) are desirable but not required.

Required Experience:

- Proven leadership of a multi-site IT function at scale, ideally across multiple countries
- Strong commercial and vendor-management skills — negotiating and managing ISPs, telco, hardware suppliers, and SaaS/MSP contracts
- Strong security mindset and understanding of identity, endpoint, and network security
- Solid network monitoring and performance fundamentals, and enough infrastructure depth (including physical/server-room engineering) to hold their own with specialists
- Comfort operating in high-growth, emerging-market environments
- User-focused mindset and experience collecting and responding to internal feedback on team performance
- Experience leading a workplace IT team, or strong IC/manager experience in a related domain with demonstrable readiness to take the next step

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/86f7fe83-cdac-44e5-95f4-5cfc1d36c035/image.png]

Location & Benefits

- Based in one of M-KOPA's operating markets — Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, or Uganda — or in the UK, with regular travel across M-KOPA's operating markets (current and future)
- Significant travel expected — potentially up to 25% at times, especially in the early phases of the role
- Work with diverse teams across UK, Europe, and Africa
- Professional development programs and coaching partnerships
- Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements
- Well-being support and career growth opportunities

## Our Mission 🌍

We create financial inclusion for the traditionally excluded through a fair, flexible, customer-centric financing model. We strive to drive greater inclusion of women, youth, and low-income communities.

Our Impact 💚

Our technology has created measurable change:

- Connected 📱: 2.5 million first-time smartphone users connected since 2020
- Prosperous 💰: 70% of customers use their M-KOPA product for income generation, with 35,000 livelihoods created for agents
- Green 🌱: 2.155 million tonnes of CO₂ avoided through solar since 2010, with 127,700 total circular economy products provided

Ready to build the infrastructure that keeps a continent-wide mission running, while advancing your career in Workplace IT? Apply Now!

WHY M-KOPA?

At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together. Explore more at m-kopa.com http://m-kopa.com.

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/369018b8-cf9c-49c7-95f1-1d414482ba57/B13.png]

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), named on CNBC's World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 & 2026 and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 10 million customers, unlocking $2 billion in cumulative credit for the everyday earners across Africa, in addition to over 10,000 e-bikes financed in Kenya.

[https://app.ashbyhq.com/api/images/user-content/1d985516-2a99-43c0-b591-957f5adaceb9/481f6724-8375-4f39-b514-fbe00b8fc3b5/B13.png]

Important Notice

M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships.

M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.

If your application is successful M-KOPA undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.

## About M-KOPA

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: M-KOPA is a leading African fintech platform that provides affordable financial and digital products to cash-based earners, enabling them to finance everyday essentials through daily micropayments.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Growth Stage)
- **Headquarters**: Nairobi, Kenya (Global HQ with additional offices in London, UK)
- **Founded**: 2010
- **Founders**: Jesse Moore (CEO & Co-Founder) and Nick Hughes

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Fintech / Financial Services
- **Target Customers**: B2C focused on "Every Day Earners" — underserved, cash-based entrepreneurs and individuals across Sub-Saharan Africa who lack formal collateral, credit history, or a monthly salary.
- **Mission/Purpose**: "To make financing for everyday essentials accessible to everyone." Their core mission is to "finance progress" for millions of unbanked and underbanked people.

## Products & Services
- **Smartphone Financing**: The core entry product. Customers pay a small deposit (e.g., ~$35) followed by daily micro-instalments (~$0.50/day) via mobile money (like M-Pesa) to own a smartphone. This is the primary gateway to the digital economy.
- **Digital Loans**: After building a repayment credit history, customers can access small, flexible digital loans on an instalment basis.
- **Hospital Coverage (Insurance)**: Affordable health insurance packages offered via the same daily micropayment model.
- **Device Protection**: Insurance for the financed smartphone.
- **Affordable Data Bundles**: Digital subscriptions and data packages available on a similar instalment basis.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed. However, M-KOPA has raised substantial growth capital from top-tier global investors.
- **Key Metric**: Over **$1.5 billion in cumulative credit deployed** to more than **5 million customers** across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. [m-kopa.com](https://www.m-kopa.com/about)
- **Notable Investors**: Includes **Generation Investment Management** (co-founded by Al Gore), **Sumitomo Corporation**, and other leading impact and growth investors. Board members often come from these firms. [m-kopa.com](https://www.m-kopa.com/about)
- **Growth Signals**: M-KOPA now employs over **3,000 staff members** and has a direct sales force of over **30,000 agents**. The company operates one of the largest smartphone assembly factories in the region, producing over 1 million phones locally. [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Kopa)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Proprietary Tech & Data Stack**: Processes over **1 million payments daily**, using AI-driven analytics to create credit records for individuals with no formal financial history. This is a deep, defensible data moat.
- **Asset-Light Distribution**: A massive, managed direct sales force of 30,000 agents provides a powerful on-the-ground distribution network that is hard to replicate.
- **Customer-Centric Lending**: Offers "Inclusive, Fair, and Flexible" terms. No collateral or proof of income required. Customers can return a product, get their deposit back, and be released from obligations if they cannot pay. This builds immense trust. [m-kopa.com](https://www.m-kopa.com/about)
- **Vertical Integration**: From smartphone assembly to fintech lending to digital services, M-KOPA controls the entire value chain, creating a sticky ecosystem.

## Strategic Focus
- **Deepening Financial Services**: Expanding beyond smartphone financing into digital loans, insurance, and health coverage to become a comprehensive financial partner.
- **Geographic Expansion**: Already in 5 African countries (Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa) with potential for further market entry.
- **Leveraging AI for Credit Scoring**: Constantly improving their proprietary data models to offer more products and better manage risk for a traditionally "unscoreable" population.
- **M-KOPA Labs**: A research arm that deploys grants to test new technologies and extensions of their platform. [wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Kopa)

## Why Work Here
- **Purpose-Driven Mission**: The work directly impacts financial inclusion and poverty alleviation for millions across Africa. A deeply motivating "why."
- **Rapid Growth & Scale**: Operating in a high-growth environment with a team of 3,000+, providing significant opportunities for career advancement and tackling complex, real-world problems.
- **Global, Pan-African Team**: A diverse team with a "proudly Pan-African footprint" and offices in London, offering a unique cultural experience.
- **Flexible Work**: Offers hybrid and remote working options that suit the demands of the role. [m-kopa.com](https://www.m-kopa.com/careers)
- **Strong Benefits Package**: Includes comprehensive health plans, learning & development resources, and recognition & rewards. They emphasize a culture of "Progress, Excellence, and Humility." [m-kopa.com](https://www.m-kopa.com/careers)
- **Engineering Culture**: Known for building a world-class tech stack from scratch for a unique market.

## Sources
1. [m-kopa.com/about](https://www.m-kopa.com/about)
2. [m-kopa.com/careers](https://www.m-kopa.com/careers)
3. [wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Kopa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-Kopa)
4. [uk.linkedin.com/company/m-kopa](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/m-kopa)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/m-kopa](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/m-kopa)

## Other roles at M-KOPA

- [Stock Controller - Wa](https://feeny.ai/job/stock-controller-wa-m-kopa-wa-ffn6xr433nz2) — Wa
- [Finance Transformation Manager — M-KOPA](https://feeny.ai/job/finance-transformation-manager-m-kopa-m-kopa-south-africa-8h4c93kfdnk0) — South Africa
- [Product Technician - Mobility](https://feeny.ai/job/product-technician-mobility-m-kopa-nairobi-2haw8zjx0h47) — Nairobi, Kenya
- [Senior People Partner – Product & Functions](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-people-partner-product-functions-m-kopa-london-8x83npx3gfrp) — London, United Kingdom
- [Senior People Partner – Product & Functions](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-people-partner-product-functions-m-kopa-lagos-g1kk4kpjq11m) — Lagos, Nigeria
- [Lead People Partner - Technology](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-people-partner-technology-m-kopa-lagos-jjtpyxy6qx3a) — Lagos, Nigeria
- [Lead People Partner - Technology](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-people-partner-technology-m-kopa-london-4hwgnm2kxejh) — London, United Kingdom
- [Head of Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-operations-m-kopa-uganda-4msjc2gat4e4) — Uganda
- [Telesales Representative – Inbound](https://feeny.ai/job/telesales-representative-inbound-m-kopa-accra-p0bjmyhqp0vr) — Accra, Ghana
- [Senior Sales Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-sales-manager-m-kopa-ghana-byem536jrj1v) — Ghana