Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia
M-Pesa Africa: Senior Solutions Architect (Digital Platforms)
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Kenya
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Contract
- Experience
- 3+ years
- Category
- Architecture
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience in solutions/platform architecture, mobile or digital engineering, or closely related technical disciplines, with at least 3 years in a senior or lead capacity.
- Proven track record designing enterprise-scale digital or Super App platforms in financial services, fintech, or telecommunications.
- Demonstrated ownership of a super app / mini-app platform architecture, including SDK design and third-party mini-app governance, at scale.
- Track record owning SDK strategy for external developers or partners, versioning, backward compatibility, and deprecation at enterprise scale.
- Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and mobile/web application architecture.
- Proficiency in integration patterns: event streaming, API gateway design, and BFF/composable architecture.
- Strong understanding of app platform security and governance frameworks (OWASP MASVS, app store/marketplace policies, or equivalent).
- Experience with high-availability architecture and performance optimisation for high-traffic consumer-facing platforms.
Nice to have
- Experience in mobile money, payment systems, or digital financial services platforms in emerging markets.
- Familiarity with mini-app engine technologies (e.g., WeChat Mini Programs, Alipay GMP, or equivalent hybrid mini-app runtimes).
- Exposure to AI/ML-driven personalisation, in-app recommendation engines, or conversational/agentic interfaces.
- Experience operating across multi-country regulatory environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Professional certifications: TOGAF, AWS/Azure Solutions Architect, or equivalent.
- Familiarity with developer ecosystem programmes, including partner onboarding, certification, and marketplace monetisation models.
Full description
M-PESA Africa is looking for a Senior Solutions Architect to design, govern, and evolve the architecture of our digital platforms and digital payment channels across our markets. Operating at the intersection of the M-PESA Super App, mini-app ecosystem, QR/hosted payment pages/NFC channels, and partner integrations, you will set the architectural standards and strategic direction for how digital experiences and digital payment acceptance are built, scaled, and secured across M-PESA's platforms.
This is a senior individual contributor role with broad influence across engineering, product, compliance, and group-level stakeholders. You will be expected to lead with vision, mentor others, and translate complex digital platform challenges into scalable architectural solutions.
Key Responsibilities
- Super App & Digital Platform Architecture
- Own the end-to-end architecture of the M-PESA Super App, including its mini-app platform, SDK, and marketplace ecosystem, across all six markets.
- Own the design, versioning, and lifecycle governance of M-PESA's SDKs (mini-app SDK, payment SDKs, and partner/developer-facing SDKs), ensuring consistency, backward compatibility, and developer experience across platforms.
- Define and govern the technical standards for mini-app onboarding, integration, security review, and lifecycle management.
- Architect the Super App's core and service layer to support scalable, secure, and performant digital experience delivery.
- Drive the transition to modern digital platform architectures: composable UI patterns, micro-frontends, headless/BFF (backend-for-frontend) design, and cloud-native deployment aligned to M-PESA's infrastructure strategy.
- Digital Platform Governance & Standards
- Establish and champion architecture governance frameworks, design review standards, and reference architectures for digital and mobile platforms across all six markets.
- Define UX-to-architecture standards, mini-app certification criteria, and release governance, ensuring traceability from partner/developer submission through to production release.
- Partner with Compliance, Legal, Risk, and Market teams to ensure digital platform architectures meet local regulatory obligations, data protection, and app store/marketplace requirements.
- Digital Payment Channels
- Own the architecture of M-PESA's digital payment channels, including QR payments, hosted payment pages, and NFC/Tap-to-Pay, ensuring consistent design standards across the Super App and other consumer touchpoints.
- Define channel-level security, tokenisation, and merchant integration standards for QR, hosted payment page, and NFC acceptance flows.
- Architect the technical roadmap for emerging and converging payment channels, ensuring interoperability with core wallet, switching, and settlement systems.