Head of Data, Technology & AI

The role

You will own Jackfruit Finance's data, systems and AI as one connected system. You will run the core banking platform, automate the lending process end to end, and manage a small technology team that reports to the CEO.

What you will do

• Set how the company uses AI and run the platform it sits on.
• Enable staff across the company to build tools with AI, with standards, data access and review.
• Lead end-to-end automation of the lending process, from lead qualification to collections and reporting.
• Own customer-facing AI agents for loan applications and customer support.
• Own data accuracy and one source of truth for key metrics.
• Own the Musoni core banking platform and its integrations.
• Own the School Support Lead (SSL) app roadmap and its link to Musoni.
• Drive delivery, quarterly planning and ruthless prioritization.
• Safeguard access control, backups, audit logs, data protection and IT audits.
• Manage a small team covering engineering, data and IT support, including the help desk.

Required qualifications

• AI fluency with production results: built and shipped AI agents and automations that real teams use.
• Experience owning a system of record and keeping it accurate and well-functioning.
• Experience governing a stack many people build on, with access controls and review processes.
• Five or more years in lending, microfinance or other relevant financial services.
• Understanding of origination, credit assessment, disbursement, repayments, collections and portfolio metrics such as PAR and outstanding.
• Ability to write SQL independently to pull and reconcile numbers.
• Experience owning access, audit and data protection in a regulated or audited environment.
• Experience operating in an emerging markets context.

Nice to have

• Experience with a core banking platform such as Musoni.

Benefits

• 100% medical insurance coverage for employees.
• 50% medical coverage for eligible dependents (spouses under 65 and children up to 18, or up to 25 if in school).
• 3 calendar months of fully paid maternity leave.
• 14 days of fully paid paternity leave.
• 21 days of paid annual leave per year.
• Access to learning and development, with potential sponsorship based on development needs.
• Flexible and remote working.
• Fair and equitable pay benchmarked against market standards.

Before you apply

• Open to candidates anywhere in the world who can work East African hours.

About the company

Jackfruit Finance provides working capital, project and asset finance to low-fee private schools in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It has financed 1,022 schools and 72 SMEs.