People Operations Associate job at Wave

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

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal, with over 7 million users. And we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

You will be the go-to person in keeping our Kampala and upcountry offices humming - managing people operations, events, administration and everything in between. We are looking for someone who is fast paced, data driven, energized by building systems and making things happen.

In this role, you'll;

People Operations

• Implement and maintain HR policies, procedures, and administrative systems across Wave Uganda.
• Onboard new staff and integrate them into Wave's culture.
• Manage employee records including compensation, benefits, insurance, promotions, transfers, performance reviews, and terminations.
• Process work permits for employees as needed.
• Serve as the primary contact and Business Partner for all people-related matters.

Office Management

• Oversee day-to-day office operations, ensuring quality working conditions and health and safety compliance.
• Manage the office front desk, utilities, security, supplies, equipment, and inventory levels.
• Coordinate acquisition of new office spaces and related logistics.
• Handle people and service correspondence, complaints, and queries.

Team Leadership & Administration

• Supervise, mentor, and train office staff while delegating work to maximize productivity.
• Manage office budgets and procurements.
• Arrange domestic and international travel (flights, hotels, car rentals).
• Plan corporate events including happy hours, retreats, and conferences.
• Create presentations and management-level reports.

Key details

Location: You'll work from our office in Kampala, Uganda and travel to upcountry field locations from time to time.

Work authorization in Uganda 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 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidized child care when they return to work.

Airtime reimbursement.

Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or professional training in business administration, HR, or any other related field.
• At least 5 years experience in a similar role, ideally at a fast paced international company.
• Knowledge of HRIS systems, preferably Bamboo HR or Workday.
• Experience using Google Suite (Doc, Sheets) or Microsoft Office.
• Strong organizational and prioritisation skills.

You might be a good fit if you

• Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Are thoughtful about how physical spaces and environments support team culture.
• Can function autonomously with minimal guidance.
• Possess strong collaboration, communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
• Display strong work ethics and respect internal policies.
• Are a good people manager and help team members grow.
• Have managed successful teams to achieve ambitious goals.
• Are comfortable defaulting to over-communication and overreaching when it comes to coordination.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions and cope effectively with complexity and change.
• Are analytical in your approach to problems.
• Have developed processes with minimal guidance and have implemented them.
• Are solution-driven and detail-oriented with strong task follow-through.
• Can understand and follow established priorities.
• Are flexible to work irregular hours.

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.

• Implement and maintain HR policies, procedures, and administrative systems across Wave Uganda.
• Onboard new staff and integrate them into Wave's culture.
• Manage employee records including compensation, benefits, insurance, promotions, transfers, performance reviews, and terminations.
• Process work permits for employees as needed.
• Serve as the primary contact and Business Partner for all people-related matters.
• Oversee day-to-day office operations, ensuring quality working conditions and health and safety compliance.
• Manage the office front desk, utilities, security, supplies, equipment, and inventory levels.
• Coordinate acquisition of new office spaces and related logistics.
• Handle people and service correspondence, complaints, and queries.
• Supervise, mentor, and train office staff while delegating work to maximize productivity.
• Manage office budgets and procurements.
• Arrange domestic and international travel (flights, hotels, car rentals).
• Plan corporate events including happy hours, retreats, and conferences.
• Create presentations and management-level reports.

• Knowledge of HRIS systems, preferably Bamboo HR or Workday.
• Experience using Google Suite (Doc, Sheets) or Microsoft Office.
• Strong organizational and prioritisation skills.
• Demonstrate tenacity and a willingness to go the distance to get something done.
• Are thoughtful about how physical spaces and environments support team culture.
• Can function autonomously with minimal guidance.
• Possess strong collaboration, communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
• Display strong work ethics and respect internal policies.
• Are a good people manager and help team members grow.
• Have managed successful teams to achieve ambitious goals.
• Are comfortable defaulting to over-communication and overreaching when it comes to coordination.
• Adjust quickly to changing priorities and conditions and cope effectively with complexity and change.
• Are analytical in your approach to problems.
• Have developed processes with minimal guidance and have implemented them.
• Are solution-driven and detail-oriented with strong task follow-through.
• Can understand and follow established priorities.
• Are flexible to work irregular hours.

• Bachelor's degree or professional training in business administration, HR, or any other related field.
• At least 5 years experience in a similar role, ideally at a fast paced international company.