Senior Project Manager

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. The role We are introducing a single, disciplined way of running cross-functional projects: clear ownership, one source of truth, and reliable visibility. This is the role that makes it work. You will own the delivery system across the business — intake, coordination, visibility, prioritisation support and escalation — while the teams who do the work retain ownership of their own projects. This is deliberately a standalone senior role reporting to the COO. It is not the head of a Project Management Office and it is not the first hire of a growing PMO. There is no team to build and no governance bureaucracy to stand up. We are looking for a strong operator who runs a system and drives discipline, not an empire-builder. The core delivery workspace is in the process of being launched in ClickUp and an MVP will be in initial use when you join; your job is to run it, refine it, and make it indispensable — not to build it from a blank page. What you are accountable for; You are accountable for the integrity of the delivery system and for ensuring that no delivery risk reaches leadership without warning. In practice, the principle is simple: no surprises, not no slips. Projects will slip — often for external reasons we do not control. If a project slips and leadership saw it coming and made a conscious call, you have done your job. If a project slips and it blindsides us, that is a failure of the role, whatever the underlying cause. You surface risk early and clearly; the authority to act on it sits with line managers and the executive. You are not accountable for the delivery outcome of any individual project. Accountability for delivery is held at task level by the person who owns each task, and overall project ownership stays with the intake owner (Sales Executive, Account Manager or Functional Lead). You are the framework and the safety net, not a substitute driver. What you own day to day * Intake. The integrity of the intake process — ensuring every project enters with a clear, complete brief and a named owner before work begins, and that the AI-assisted intake tooling is used and kept useful. * Single source of truth. Keeping a single, trusted, centralised view of every project in ClickUp, so that business owners and leadership never need to request an ad hoc status update and no team needs its own shadow tracker. * Prioritisation support. Supporting leadership dialogue on prioritisation and bottleneck management — preparing the portfolio view, helping facilitate the session, and ensuring it produces a force-ranked list with an explicit de-prioritised column that is logged and communicated.  * Escalation. Spotting blockers and stalling tasks early, flagging them to the responsible line manager within the agreed window, and escalating to the COO where they are not resolved. * Cross functional bridge. Maintaining a clean interface with different departments within the organisation, ensuring fast alignment, clarity on project deliverables and timelines, and efficient delivery across the organisation at large. Build fantastic relationships with all collaborators in the organisation, encouraging their collaboration and buy in on project management activities.  * Active coordination. Actively coordinating the highest-priority projects hands-on, while ensuring the rest run correctly through the framework via their owners. * Reporting and AI. Stewarding the AI-assisted intake and reporting capability, and turning the maintained ClickUp data into the business reports and dashboards as necessitated by business owners. Adopting an AI first mindset as we optimise and improve the way in which we run cross functional projects.  * Improvement. Refining the delivery framework and ClickUp workspace as real use exposes what needs to change — continuous, pragmatic improvement, never process for its own sake. What you do not own To keep the role sharp, it is as important to be clear on what sits outside it: * Delivery outcomes of individual projects — these sit with task owners and intake owners. * Line management of delivery teams — tool discipline and performance are enforced by each person’s own line manager, not by you. * Product and Engineering roadmaps, workflows or daily task management. * Building a PMO, hiring a team, or introducing governance gates. Possible growth on our project management team is a future decision for the COO, contingent on evidence — not an expectation of this role. How the role is measured You will be measured on the health of the delivery system and on early warning, not on outcomes you do not control. The primary measures are: * Early risk surfacing. Surprise rate — missed commitments that reach leadership with no prior formal flag (target: zero). * Trusted visibility. Shadow trackers retired and ad hoc status requests to teams eliminated. * Escalation working. Blocker age and share of escalations actioned within the agreed window. * Prioritisation calls are clear. We have a clear view on priority decisions made and a known understanding of what we are de-prioritising when prioritising new initiatives.  * Intake quality. Projects entering with a complete brief and named owner; low rate of major scope rework after kickoff. These measures tighten over the first months as flow builds and a baseline is established. Internal cycle time — time spent in the stages PawaPay controls, measured separately from external wait — is the initiative’s longer-term north star that this role stewards, reviewed at six months. Alongside the metrics, success means the teams who do the work experience you as someone who makes their projects easier, not as overhead who chases them. What we are looking for * Experience. Significant experience delivering and coordinating complex, cross-functional projects — ideally in fintech, payments, or another regulated, partner-dependent environment. * Operator, not administrator. A track record of bringing order to ambiguity: standing up ways of working, driving adoption, and holding discipline without formal authority over the people involved. * Tooling and AI. Fluency with ClickUp (or a comparable platform) and Slack, plus confidence with Google Workspace. AI-native in how you work — you use tools like Claude to reduce manual effort, not to replace judgement. * Domain. Experience delivering merchant integrations, client onboarding or API implementation projects is highly desirable; experience across multiple African markets is a plus. * Method. Relevant certification (PMP, PRINCE2, AgilePM, Scrum) is welcome but secondary to demonstrated ability to make delivery work in a fast-moving, dependency-heavy business. Key competencies * Exceptional stakeholder management and influence without authority.  * Strong cross-functional coordination.  * Sharp risk anticipation and problem-solving.  * Clear, credible communication with everyone from specialists to the executive team.  * Comfort operating with high autonomy in a fast-paced, ambiguous, high-growth environment.  * A genuine bias toward ownership and toward keeping processes proportionate. 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.

WHO WE ARE WPP Enterprise Solutions designs, builds, and operates the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. In a world where Al is reshaping how companies drive growth, we lead clients in business transformation and marketing modernization, connecting strategy directly to execution. Our 12,000 experts in engineering and platforms, commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, and CX work within a unified global operating unit across 40+ markets. WPP Enterprise Solutions works alongside best-in-class partners including Adobe, AWS, Braze, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Shopify, as well as innovators in AI, to deliver growth solutions tailored to the needs of our clients’ businesses. Step into the forefront of marketing brilliance as our next Senior Project Manager, where your delivery expertise and structured approach will shape the execution of global brand experiences. In this role, you’ll unlock the power of cutting-edge CRM systems and high-impact campaigns, managing the end-to-end delivery for some of the world’s most recognizable global brands. If you thrive on managing complex, large-scale projects, have a passion for data-driven customer journeys, and possess a deep understanding of premium brand ecosystems, your execution-focused mindset is the missing ingredient in our recipe for success.  WHAT WILL YOUR DAY LOOK LIKE? You will be the key delivery partner for major global clients, guiding the execution of sophisticated CRM initiatives that optimize customer engagement, loyalty, and lifetime value.  In this role, you must be a master of project governance, possess a deep understanding of CRM best practices, and excel at managing day-to-day communication with stakeholders on a global scale. You will focus on keeping projects on track, on budget, and delivered to the highest standards.  More specifically, your tasks include:  * Leading the delivery and implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) and loyalty initiatives for major global brands.  * Focusing on executing sophisticated, personalized client communication campaigns from inception to deployment.  * Managing global client relationships from a delivery perspective, acting as a trusted operational partner to ensure project success.  * Developing detailed project scopes, complex timelines, and budgets, ensuring all deliverables are met efficiently and profitably.  * Producing high-quality project status reports and presentations for client meetings.  WHO ARE YOU GOING TO WORK WITH? You will be the linchpin in a network of closely coordinated project managers, developers, data scientists, and experienced designers. You will work alongside competent teammates from all around the world who always go the extra mile to help one another.  WHAT DO YOU BRING TO THE TABLE? We are on the lookout for an organized, delivery-minded individual with a proven track record of managing projects for large-scale global accounts. You are proactive in driving projects forward, ensuring campaigns not only meet but surpass client expectations regularly. You are an easy-going person with a proactive, positive mindset and the resilience to navigate the complexities of global matrix organizations. As you will be overseeing several workstreams simultaneously, you are highly organized and can keep the big picture in focus while showing great attention to detail.  In addition, you have:  * 5+ years of experience in Project Management within CRM, digital marketing, or a related agency environment.  * Proven experience working with large global brands (experience in the luxury and/or automotive sectors is highly advantageous).  * Strong experience managing stakeholders across complex, global departments.  * Deep knowledge of what working with data, technical projects, and enterprise marketing automation platforms entails.  * Hands-on experience with the execution and implementation of projects within CRM, web, and/or marketing automation.  * Strong familiarity with enterprise platforms, ideally Salesforce Marketing Cloud or Adobe Marketing Cloud.  * The competence, confidence, and self-discipline to manage deadlines, estimates, and budgets excellently.  * Exceptional communication and presentation skills in English.  A LEADER IN PERSONALIZED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES VML MAP is a world-leading Centre of Excellence that helps businesses humanize the relationship between the brand and the customer through hyper personalization at scale, marketing automation and CRM. With the brain of a consultancy, the heart of an agency and the power of technology and data, we work with some of the world's most admired brands to help them on their transformation journey to becoming truly customer-centric. Together, we are 1000 + technology specialists, data scientists, strategic thinkers, consultants, operations experts, and creative minds from 55+ nationalities. A GLOBAL NETWORK We are part of the global VML network that encompasses more than 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 60+ markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences.  #LI-EMEA About WPP WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity and deliver transformational growth. For more information, visit WPP.com. WPP (MAP/VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. 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