Senior Legal Counsel (New Markets)

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

As a Senior Legal Counsel, you will serve as the primary legal advisor supporting Wave's growth into new markets, including Cameroon & DRC, and facilitate expansion in alignment with business requirements following regulatory approvals in other regions.

You will partner closely with the business to achieve its objectives through robust contracting, effective legal risk management, and the delivery of clear, practical strategies and solutions.

In this role, you'll be responsible for:

• Contracting:

• Drafting and negotiating contracts for all Wave core products and services (agents, payments, procurement) to protect the commercial and legal interests of the business and maximize value.

• Engaging in complex/high-value contract negotiations.

• Managing and improving the contracting process, i.e., implementing the contracts policy, contract management software, electronic signature software, physical archiving, and other processes, across countries.

• Legal operations:

• Implementing group legal team policies and proposing periodic modifications to the same based upon practical experience, legal developments, and industry best practice, e.g., contracts policy, data privacy policy, etc.

• Provide cross-functional legal administrative support by ensuring the administrative follow-up of legal documentation for new markets, including the centralisation, traceability, and ongoing updating of legal information.

• Litigation: Implementing procedures to manage claims and disputes, including pre-action case management, mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

• People support: Legal support for employment contracts, disciplinary matters, and terminations.

• Company secretarial: Managing company secretarial matters across legal entities.

• Risk management: Working with the Risk and Controls teams to implement mitigations and related controls in respect of legal risks.

• Data privacy and consumer protection:

• Developing the data privacy compliance strategy in collaboration with other functions.

• Building relations with data privacy regulators across the region.

• Regulatory support: providing legal support on licensing and regulatory matters, and on applications for mobile money licenses in other Francophone countries, in support of lead lawyers responsible for regulatory affairs, and in collaboration with external counsel, if required.

• Building and managing relationships with our external law firms.

• Engaging in other aspects of the legal function and other special projects as topics arise.

Key details

• Location: Can work from Wave's offices in Cameroon or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

• Travel: Plan to travel 20% of the time to operating markets.

• Reports to the Head of Legal, responsible for Francophone expansion and new markets.

• Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula based on your level of experience and location.

• We pay your health insurance premium for you and your dependents.

• We support working parents - we offer generous parental leave policies (26 weeks for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized child care when you return to work.

• We help you live your most whole life now - we subsidize gym memberships and fitness classes.

• Airtime reimbursement.

Requirements

• A law degree from an accredited and leading law school and be a qualified lawyer in a Francophone African jurisdiction (OHADA, Cameroon, DRC regulation).

• 8+ years of experience as an in-house lawyer in technology, finance, fintech, or mobile money in a leading regional or global organization.

• Fluent in French and English.

• Strong communication skills (both written and oral) and the ability to communicate knowledge of the law in a manner that is easily understood and applied.

• Excellent legal drafting.

• Strong planning, organizational, and management skills, and the ability to meet deadlines.

You might be a good fit if you:

• Are excessively detail-oriented and strive for excellence in everything you undertake.

• I am a self-starter and proactive about achieving ambitious targets.

• Take the initiative and be proactive about achieving ambitious goals.

• Excel at troubleshooting and resolving issues, even under pressure.

• Are willing to go the extra mile to ensure tasks are completed successfully.

• Adjust quickly to shifting priorities and dynamic conditions.

• Foster strong relationships and inspire the best in others.

• Have strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to make complex legal concepts clear and practical.

• Demonstrate exceptional planning, organizational, and management abilities, consistently meeting deadlines.

• Effectively manage legal risks with foresight and precision.

• Approach legal matters with strategic insight and a focus on long-term impact.

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.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.

We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.

Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.