M-Pesa Africa: Senior Supply Chain Manager

M-Pesa is a pioneering fintech business and global market leader in mobile money. Starting from 2007 as a convenient means by which the unbanked and underbanked could make digital payments, M-Pesa has now grown to offer over 60 million active customers Financial Services, Enterprise, Merchant and Retail solutions. We are proud of our work in enabling the digital economy in our markets, and in driving financial inclusion.

M-Pesa Africa is the largest FinTech providing services to more than 60 million customers and 5 million businesses solutions across Financial Services, Enterprise, Merchant and Retail. We are now well on our way to becoming the preferred digital payment method across the markets that we serve, for both in-store, remote and online payments. With headquarters in both Nairobi and Johannesburg, we serve markets that include Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Lesotho, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.

We are a united, energetic and passionate team. A place where leaders coach, teams connect, and everyone is empowered to go further, faster. A place where heroes become superheroes; through growth, opportunity, and the chance to work with the best minds in FinTech.

Role Purpose

The Senior Supply Chain Manager is accountable for shaping and executing M-Pesa Africa’s procurement and supplier management strategy to deliver secure, high-quality, and cost-competitive supply. The role establishes transparent procurement processes, builds strong supplier partnerships, drives effective contract and performance management, manages cost efficiency, and develops team capability to maximize value from the company’s total procurement spend.

Your responsibilities will include:

Procurement Strategy & Governance

• Maintain transparent sourcing processes that enable early risk identification, objective evaluation of supplier proposals, and selection of best-value solutions;
• Develop and maintain procurement policies, standards, and procedures that support business objectives, promote competitiveness and fairness, and uphold strong corporate governance;
• Define and execute category strategies that optimize value, improve supply efficiency, reduce process cost, and manage supply risk across all spend categories.

Supplier Strategy & Performance Management

• Establish and maintain a supplier relationship management framework that enables performance measurement, continuous improvement, and joint cost and quality initiatives;
• Build long-term, win-win supplier partnerships that encourage innovation, resilience, and ethical business practices;
• Manage supplier performance for both local and imported orders to ensure quality, delivery, and service standards are consistently met.

Contract Management & Commercial Excellence

• Develop and maintain systems, policies, and processes for the efficient development, negotiation, administration, and closure of contracts;
• Ensure contracts deliver quality outcomes, protect commercial interests, and effectively manage risk.

Supply Chain Operations & Logistics

• Develop and maintain systems and processes covering order fulfillment and third-party logistics operations;
• Establish freight mode guidelines aligned to service and cost objectives;
• Manage third-party logistics providers to meet service levels and continuously improve delivery performance.

Cost Optimization & Value Creation

• Lead ongoing identification and implementation of cost-saving and value-creation initiatives across the supply base;
• Drive spend optimization to improve overall business competitiveness.

Risk Management & Business Continuity

• Develop and maintain formal contingency sourcing plans as part of the business continuity framework;
• Embed proactive supply risk management within sourcing and supplier management processes.

People Leadership & Capability Building

• Build, develop, and lead a high-performing, engaged supply chain team.
• Coach and guide team members to achieve strong performance and progress toward their career goals.

Group & Market Alignment

• Align with market SCM heads on M-Pesa in-market spend to maximize group purchasing power and leverage scale benefits.

Financial Responsibility

• Monitoring and providing support for user spend through tendering – USD 50Million per annum.
• Support services costs – monitoring and controlling – USD 13Million Per annum.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

Education & Professional Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Commerce, Marketing, Finance, or a related field. An MBA is highly desirable;
• Graduate Diploma in Supply chain management or similar qualification;
• At least 10 years of relevant direct experience in procurement and vendor management
• Experience leveraging ERP capabilities for procurement-related functions and processes.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:

Excellent strategic Sourcing & Category Leadership

Ability to develop and execute category strategies that align to business objectives, optimize total cost of ownership, manage supply risk, and drive long-term value creation.

Astute commercial & Financial Acumen

• Strong capability to structure, negotiate, and manage complex commercial agreements, evaluate cost drivers, and deliver measurable cost optimization while balancing quality and service.

Excellent supplier Relationship & Ecosystem Management

• Expertise in building strategic supplier partnerships, establishing performance management frameworks, and driving continuous improvement, innovation, and mutual value creation.

Supply Chain Operations & Execution Excellence

• Ability to design and run efficient, scalable procurement, logistics, and order fulfillment processes that ensure reliability, transparency, and service excellence.

Exceptional Risk, Governance & Compliance Leadership

• Proven capability to embed governance, ethical sourcing, contract controls, and business continuity planning into all procurement and supply chain activities.

Strategic People Leadership & Talent Development

• Proven ability to build high-performing teams, coach and develop talent, create engagement, and establish clear performance expectations and career pathways.
  

Excellent Communication & Presentation Skills

• Articulate, confident, and able to convey complex ideas clearly to diverse audiences.
  

Leadership & Mentorship:

• Natural ability to coach, guide, and empower others.

High Level of Integrity and Professionalism:

• Operates with the highest ethical standards.
  

Agile & Adaptable: 

• Thrives in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

Closing date for Applications: 04 March 2026.

The base location for this role is, Vodacom Midrand Campus.  

The Company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates and values diversity & inclusion.