Job Description

Reporting to the CoE Lead, Legal Services the Senior Manager Financial Services – Legal & Regulatory will serve as the lead Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Affairs Business Partner for the Financial Services Cluster and Public Sector Digital Transformation CoE, delivering strategic legal guidance and regulatory advocacy that drives business growth while ensuring compliance and mitigating risk. This role will act as the primary liaison with financial services and fintech policy and regulatory authorities, leading advocacy initiatives and securing favourable regulatory outcomes. It will provide specialized legal expertise, including contractual drafting, negotiation, review, legal research, and legislative monitoring, to enable the objectives of the Financial Services and Public Sector Digital Transformation teams.

The Senior Manager Financial Services – Legal & Regulatory will proactively deliver timely policy and regulatory support to ensure full compliance, manage regulatory risks, and anticipate emerging financial services and fintech developments. Additionally, the role will serve as custodian of critical compliance records, such as registers of financial/fintech licenses, regulatory fines and sanctions, and calendars of regulatory inspections, while offering expert legal, regulatory, and policy support to other business units as required.

Responsibilities

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions.

Regulatory Engagement and Advocacy

• Lead proactive engagement with financial services and fintech regulators to influence policy and legislative frameworks in favor of business objectives.
• Represent Safaricom in regulatory forums, consultations, and policy formulation processes, ensuring Safaricom’s positions are clearly articulated and adopted.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with regulatory authorities to mitigate adverse actions and secure favorable outcomes.
• Legal Advisory, Risk Management & Dispute Resolution
• Provide strategic legal counsel on complex commercial, financial services, and public sector digital transformation matters. 
• Embed privacy-by-design and compliance-by-design principles into product development and lifecycle management. 
• Identify, assess, and mitigate regulatory and legal risks across financial services operations, ensuring full compliance with applicable laws and standards.
• Manage and resolve disputes arising from financial services operations, ensuring minimal operational and financial impact. 
• Oversee litigation processes and provide timely updates to leadership on contentious and potentially contentious matters.
• Contractual Management & Negotiation
• Draft, review, and negotiate high-value partnership agreements and complex commercial contracts for financial services and public sector initiatives. 
• Ensure all agreements safeguard organizational interests while remaining commercially viable and aligned with evolving product features and regulatory requirements. 
• Maintain and update customer-facing templates (e.g., consumer T&Cs, agent agreements, B2C/C2B contracts) to reflect regulatory and business changes. 

Policy and Legislative Monitoring & Compliance

• Conduct continuous legislative and regulatory watch to anticipate emerging trends impacting financial services and fintech. 
• Prepare concise briefs and strategic recommendations for leadership on regulatory developments and their implications. 
• Actively contribute to internal and external stakeholder sessions on key legislative issues such as AML, electronic financial services, and digital public infrastructure.
• Serve as custodian of critical compliance records, including registers of licenses, regulatory fines/sanctions, and inspection calendars. 
• Ensure timely and accurate reporting to internal stakeholders and regulators, including monthly and ad hoc compliance reports. 
• Drive adherence to internal governance frameworks and external regulatory obligations.

Stakeholder & Team Management

• Partner with cross-functional teams (Finance, Risk, Public Sector Digital Transformation, Vodafone/Vodacom counterparts) to align legal and regulatory strategies with business objectives. 
• Support joint initiatives and maintain strong collaboration on global compliance matters, trademarks, managed service agreements, and international money transfer agreements.
• Provide clear strategic direction to legal and regulatory support teams aligned with organizational priorities for Financial Services and Public Sector Digital Transformation. 
• Set performance expectations and ensure accountability for delivery of high-quality legal and compliance outcomes.
• Mentor and coach junior legal professionals to build expertise in financial services law, fintech regulation, and policy advocacy.
• Foster a culture of collaboration within the Legal Services CoE and across business units.

Core competencies, knowledge and experience

Customer Obsession

• Deepen team connection to our customers and communities.
• Foster authentic relationships with customers and partners that build trust.
• Explicitly take customer-centric decisions and take personal ownership to achieve results.
• Simplify processes through digitalisation and promote a digital mindset and digital first customer experience.
• Stay focused on the big priorities, know when to make meaningful trade-offs and demonstrate brilliant execution.

Purpose

• Create an inspiring vision for your team to drive strategy and performance.
• Show ambition and courage, empowering others to go beyond the plan.
• Bold and challenge teams to reimagine how things are done.
• Prompt new thinking and ideas by asking “what if” questions.
• Use knowledge of the external environment (customers, partners, competition, external bodies) to identify and act on opportunities for growth at pace.

Innovation

• Create psychological safety so everyone can have an impact.
• Fuel innovative ideas from others and test them to enable growth.
• Explore successes and failures with curiosity and resilience; fearlessly recognizing lessons learned.
• Share your ongoing learning and personal purpose with others.
• Learn fast from digital adoption, using learnings to drive simplicity, scale and efficiency.

Collaboration

• Articulate your team’s role in making our strategy happen, prioritizing and aligning resources with current and future needs.
• Actively collaborate to break silos and hold your team accountable to do the same.
• Develop others to make the most of their talents and coach them to take ownership to get things done.
• Create an inclusive environment ensuring the safety and wellbeing of others.
• Live our Purpose and demonstrate the highest standard of integrity.

Qualifications

• At least ten (10) years’ knowledge and progressive experience in commercial law within Financial Services, Telecommunications sectors of which three (3) should have been in a senior leadership role. 
• Proven track record in regulatory engagement and advocacy with financial services regulators, drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements & managing litigation and dispute resolution for financial services matters. 
• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from a reputable Commonwealth University.
• Completion of the Kenya School of Law Diploma and admission as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
• Member in good standing of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and compliant with all professional requirements.
• Relevant professional certification (e.g., Arbitration/Mediation & Negotiation Skills; Fintech and Financial Services Regulation; Anti-Money Laundering (AML); Intellectual Property (IP); Legislative Processes/Drafting)
• Master’s Degree in Law (LL.M) from a recognized institution is an added advantage. 
• Possess high professional and ethical standards. 
• Be a strategic thinker with an analytical mind.