Head of Crypto (Digital Assets)

Who is PawaPay

PawaPay is a pan-African fintech enabling local payment channels used by the mass market to both local and international merchants. We operate in a highly regulated, partner-driven environment and are in scale-up mode, with ambitious growth plans across multiple African markets.

Our vision is to simplify business for companies and consumers in Africa and we do that by ensuring that payments simply work, at scale, despite fragmentation and complexity that exists on the Continent.

Through our payments API we already facilitate over 4 million transactions a day across 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.  We are the largest PSP on the Continent for the processing of mobile money payments, and have positioned ourselves well to lead the payment space as it grows over the next decade.

At PawaPay, there is an entrepreneurial spirit coupled with a modern and professional working culture. The fast-paced, ever-changing environment will suit someone who can adapt and think on their feet. In return, you will have the opportunity to work alongside a group of dedicated and smart individuals working towards the same mission. We work as a remote team and have team members in Europe, Africa and Asia.

What is the role?

As we enter our next phase of growth, we are expanding our payment rails to include stablecoins as a tier‑1 channel, alongside mobile money and banking. We are moving beyond experimentation to building live, production‑grade stablecoin rails processing real payments through our APIs.

This role owns the design and delivery of PawaPay’s stablecoin payment rails — including merchant collections, payouts, and merchant settlement through our APIs. The Head of Crypto will define the product architecture, partner ecosystem, and payment flows that enable stablecoins to function as a tier-1 payment method on the PawaPay platform. The role works closely with Product, Compliance, Treasury, and Operations teams, who retain ownership of regulatory oversight, liquidity management, and operational processes, while ensuring the stablecoin rails integrate cleanly into PawaPay’s broader payments infrastructure.

As the Head of Crypto, you will establish crypto and stablecoins as a tier‑1 payment channel at PawaPay via our API‑first platform, including:

• Stablecoin product strategy and roadmap
• Partner selection and ecosystem design
• Delivery of live rails and payment flows
• Definition of operating models and SOPs
• Prioritisation of crypto initiatives across the business

You will be the internal and external authority on how crypto works at PawaPay, with a particular focus on how exchanges, stablecoin issuers, and other vendors integrate with our rails so merchants can build great consumer experiences on top of us.

This role is for a B2B product: your goal is to enable merchants to collect (C2B) and pay (B2C) their customers and vendors using stablecoins through our APIs and other payment products with the best customer experience.

Your main duties will include:

As we enter our next phase of growth, we are expanding our payment rails to include stablecoins as a tier-1 channel alongside mobile money and banking.

We are moving beyond experimentation to building production-grade stablecoin rails processing real payments through our APIs.

This role owns the end-to-end design, delivery, and scaling of pawaPay’s stablecoin payment rails — including merchant collections, payouts, and settlement.

The Head of Crypto will define:

• The product architecture and payment flows
• The partner ecosystem (issuers, exchanges, on/off-ramps)
• How stablecoins are exposed to merchants via our API

You will work closely with Product, Compliance, Treasury, and Operations, who retain ownership of regulatory oversight, liquidity management, and operations, while you ensure crypto integrates cleanly into pawaPay’s broader payments infrastructure.

This is a hands-on ownership role, responsible not only for building the rails, but for driving adoption, transaction volume, and commercial success of stablecoins as a payment method.

Core Responsibilities

Product & Strategy

• Define and own pawaPay’s stablecoin product strategy across collections, payouts, and merchant settlement
• Translate crypto capabilities into simple, safe, and scalable B2B payment products that merchants can embed
• Ensure seamless integration with existing mobile money and banking rails, enabling multi-rail orchestration via a single API
• Use insights from exchanges, issuers, and on/off-ramps (pricing, liquidity, UX, risk) to shape product decisions
  
  

Partnerships & Ecosystem

• Select and manage partners across stablecoin issuers, blockchains, on/off-ramps, and compliance providers
• Build senior relationships with exchanges, issuers, and global infrastructure partners
• Structure partnerships balancing liquidity, pricing, and regulatory requirements
• Design a modular ecosystem that can scale across markets and adapt to regulatory change
  
  

Delivery & Execution

• Work directly with Product and Engineering to design and deliver live stablecoin rails and API endpoints
• Own execution from concept to production — this is not a coordination role
• Ensure production readiness, operational clarity, and real transaction throughput
• Define operating models, SOPs, and internal controls for crypto flows
• Engage with merchants and partners to continuously improve how our rails are used in real products
  
  

Adoption & Growth

• Drive merchant adoption and transaction volume of stablecoin payment rails
• Partner with commercial teams to position and scale stablecoin offerings
• Ensure strong product-market fit across different African markets and use cases
  
  

You’ll be particularly well suited if you:

• Have led product or strategy for a customer-facing crypto or stablecoin product with real users and transaction volume
• Have built or owned API-first crypto products used by other businesses (not just retail users)
• Have launched or operated stablecoin or crypto payment flows for merchants, platforms, or marketplaces
• Have worked in regulated environments alongside compliance and legal teams
• Understand fund flows, liquidity, and risk in crypto payment systems
• Have strong intuition for on-chain vs off-chain trade-offs and their impact on UX and scalability
• Bring a strong foundation in payments or fintech (beyond purely Web3 environments)

This role is focused on customer-facing payment infrastructure. Candidates with purely trading, research, or back-office settlement experience without product ownership are unlikely to be a fit.

What will set you apart

• You are pragmatic and commercially minded — you prioritise what works for merchants over crypto-native purity
• You can simplify complex systems into scalable, developer-friendly products
• You move quickly while maintaining strong risk and compliance alignment
• You take full ownership from idea to live volume
• You communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• You bring credibility with partners, regulators, and internal teams
  
  

Why this role exists

 Stablecoins are strategic to PawaPay’s future. This role exists to turn that opportunity into a regulated, reliable, and commercially viable payment rail.

Without this role:

• Crypto remains fragmented and under-owned
• Time-to-market slows due to unclear ownership
• Teams lack a single expert driving execution

With this role:

• Stablecoins become a core, trusted payment rail
• pawaPay leads the African market in stablecoin payments
• We build defensible infrastructure, partnerships, and regulatory positioning
  
  

What success looks like

After 6 months

• Clear strategy, roadmap, and prioritisation
• Key partners selected and engaged
• First stablecoin rails in advanced delivery or early production
• Strong alignment across Product, Compliance, Treasury, and Engineering
  
  

After 12 months

• Stablecoins operating as a core payment rail
• Live collection, payout, and settlement flows
• Measurable transaction volume and merchant adoption
• Scalable operating and compliance models in place
• Clear plan to build and scale a digital assets team

Compensation & Growth

• Competitive compensation aligned with senior scarcity of crypto talent
• Opportunity to grow into Head of Digital Assets and build a dedicated team
• Significant strategic influence on pawaPay’s future rails and market position

Why PawaPay?

• Help improve financial access in Africa
• Being part of an amazing team that shapes company’s culture as a great place to be
• An ambitious, talented, and diverse team who always has your back
• We grow fast, and you will grow fast with us
• Competitive remuneration
• 35 days of paid leave per year (inclusive of public holidays) and more.