We’re accepting applications for the position of In-Market Delivery Lead in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The In-Market Delivery Manager will act as the single point of contact (SPOC) in the local market, representing programme priorities and ensuring that objectives are met effectively. This role serves as the on-site representative, managing new market requests, handling escalations, and maintaining relationships across various levels within the market. This position combines responsibilities typically associated with a Technical Project Manager, Scrum Master, Technical Account Manager, and Relationship Manager. The programme is highly reliant on the timely, specification-aligned, and quality-assured execution of local market activities to meet its roadmap and key project commitments.
The In-Market Delivery Manager’s primary responsibility is to drive the delivery and prioritisation of work within the local market, ensuring the successful execution of centrally funded initiatives. This includes tasks such as service configuration, network integration, application integration, integration testing, market-specific functional and non-functional testing, acceptance, and the production release of new features, services, and systems. The role also involves supporting Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and project teams by coordinating market demands and managing dependencies across the local value chain and functional departments to ensure timely and successful delivery.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Driving delivery and prioritisation of work in the local market to support the successful delivery of centrally funded resources to projects and deliverables including service configuration, network integration, application integration, integration testing, and both functional and non-functional market testing and acceptance, as well as production release of new features, services and systems
- Supporting Agile Release Trains and project teams by co-ordinating demands and dependencies across the local market value chain and functional departments to ensure timely delivery
- Maintaining the local market Jira board and aligning planning and execution with the Agile operating model by participating in programme increment planning and regular stand-up events, managing tickets assigned to the local market, assigning ownership and driving execution and delivery
- Supporting on-site management and co-ordination for key projects such as system upgrades, hardware deployments and new platform implementations including cloud-based solutions
- Setting up and co-ordinating monthly market service delivery governance forums, preparing and circulating meeting materials, tracking critical actions, risks and escalations
- Meeting key delivery metrics including project milestones, local market Net Promoter Score, operational service level agreements such as availability and incident management, and Agile performance indicators such as planning confidence, predictability and yield
- Acting as the local single point of contact to advocate for local priorities in new service delivery initiatives
- Clarifying actions and dependencies each week for local resources related to new service launches including functional, non-functional and operational aspects, and updating the Jira board accordingly
- Facilitating weekly prioritisation sessions with delivery squads to support the flow of business requirements into functional and technical activities, and tracking local market delivery progress
- Co-ordinating weekly local market activities to support Agile Release Train execution including user acceptance testing, functional clarifications and preparation of technical documentation
- Supporting operations change management with release planning and co-ordination to enable successful delivery to production
- Engaging relevant local regulatory, compliance, fraud, risk, security and business stakeholders in a timely manner to reduce delivery delays and minimise friction in the service lifecycle
- Defining service acceptance criteria including clear definitions of ‘done’ across all project stages, programme outputs and deliverables to ensure local acceptance meets functional, non-functional, operational, security and regulatory standards
- Delivering and aligning work package estimates, quotations and plans to ensure resource and skill requirements from the local market are clearly communicated and managed effectively
- Providing market representation, support and guidance within gated delivery frameworks, Agile processes, operational support models and change request workflows
- Escalating market-based risks weekly to programme management to enable mitigation and ensure cross-market alignment
- Strengthening market communication plans including feedback loops, scheduled reporting and issue escalation across engineering, commercial and operations teams to track market-level change and enhance support for core delivery programmes
- Informing stakeholders of changes in local market dynamics, business strategy and competitive activity to support proactive planning and delivery
- Co-ordinating and attending regular governance meetings between programme and market stakeholders
- Driving a service-oriented and collaborative approach between programme teams and the local market
- Managing and tracking local market change requests to ensure clear ownership and effective delivery
- Identifying and leading improvements in local processes, products or services to maximise delivery capability
- Recognising synergies to reduce fragmentation and delivery friction between centrally funded teams and local market teams
- Influencing existing standards, processes and procedures within the market while promoting idea generation from team members
- Developing and managing communications plans for key stakeholders to mitigate upstream risks and delays related to dependency and resource constraints
- Escalating issues and risks to delivery squads, Scrum Masters and Programme Managers to enable timely resolution and minimise project impact
Minimum Requirements:
- Minimum of 3 years’ project management experience, including working with international suppliers or markets
- Project management qualification such as PRINCE2, APMP, or equivalent
- Agile certification, preferably SAFe
- At least 3 years of experience in communication and relationship management at executive level
- Strong problem analysis and resolution skills for both reactive and proactive environments
- 3–5 years of experience managing complex projects
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience managing remote teams
- At least 2 years of experience in mobile payments, fintech projects, or financial services
- ITIL certification in service delivery
- ICA Certificate in Anti-Money Laundering Awareness
- Programme management qualification such as MSP
- Formal Agile certification as a Scrum Master or equivalent
- Practical experience as a Scrum Master or in a similar Agile delivery role
- Hands-on experience using Agile tools, such as JIRA