Product Manager - Grant Management, Programs Management & Partners Management Systems at Mastercard Foundation

Mastercard Foundation is a global foundation based across four hubs in Kigali, Rwanda, Nairobi, Kenya, Accra, Ghana and Toronto, Canada. Our programs promote financial inclusion and advance education and learning in Africa, primarily for young people, and in Canada for Indigenous youth. The Foundation was established in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company. From inception, the Foundation was designed to be a separate entity and independent from Mastercard. Our policies, operations, and funding decisions are made by our President and Board of Directors.

The Foundation believes that youth employment is key to unlocking prosperity, both for youth and their societies. Enabling young women and men from disadvantaged communities to secure dignified and fulfilling work will ensure inclusive development and economic growth in Africa.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Product Manager - Grant Management, Programs Management & Partners Management Systems

Location: Lagos
Job type: Full time

The Work at the Foundation

• We have entered a very exciting time at the Foundation as we scale up our operations across Africa to realize our Young Africa Works strategy.
• Our role at the Mastercard Foundation is to be a catalyst.
• Our Young Africa Works strategy focuses on working with others to spur systemic change so young people have the opportunity to find work that is dignified and fulfilling.
• The Foundation has opened offices in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda, building a broader leadership presence in Africa to develop specific strategies that support youth employment.  
• Within a country, we work with governments, the private sector, educators, young people, and other funders to improve the quality of education and vocational training, prepare young people for the work force, expand access to financial services for entrepreneurs and small businesses, and connect job seekers to dignified and fulfilling work.
• We are ambitious and driven. Our values transcend and rise above everything else as our guide.
• We encourage you to bring your bold ideas, curiosity, and expertise to your work.
• We laugh at ourselves and with each other. We are a team. Our journey together makes our impact even more meaningful. 

Understanding Canada Programs at the Foundation

• The Foundation has begun working within Canada in partnership with Indigenous communities and post-secondary institutions to listen, learn, and best understand how we can act in meaningful ways.
• The EleV strategy was co-created with Indigenous communities, young people, and partners to enable 30,000 Indigenous youth to complete their education and transition to dignified work aligned with their values and aspirations.
• As reflected in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, education is a key driver of improved socio-economic well-being. Through building partnerships with Indigenous communities, we look to expand our initiative ultimately helping to support a generation of transformative Indigenous young leaders who will be change agents within their communities.
• We believe that by setting a bold target, we will encourage engagement across sectors and create momentum that will elevate the strengths and opportunities of Indigenous youth. In keeping with our approach, Indigenous communities and young people will be the drivers of this transformation.
• The program will promote innovations to address longer-term systemic change to achieve economic prosperity and social well-being within Indigenous communities.
• The EleV team oversees current and emerging partnerships related to Indigenous education. Consistent with our overall vision and Youth Africa Works strategy, we will share learnings and opportunities to connect across the work of the Foundation.
• While operating in distinct contexts, the centrality of youth voice and vision, affirmation of culture and identity, and priority to enhance community capacity for self-determination are common threads upon which our work is strengthened and reinforced.
• If you are an experienced Product Manager looking to increase your impact, read on!

The Opportunity

• Reporting to the Head of Enterprise Applications, the Enterprise Applications Product Manager plays a critical role as an IT resource responsible for coordinating with business and financial stakeholders to set priorities and managing the development and operations of a portfolio of technical projects by understanding business requirements, removing roadblocks, and communicating broadly.
• The successful candidate will be based in any of our listed offices in Africa; -Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria

Ways You Can Contribute

• Developing the product strategy and roadmap.
• Works with the Product Owner to understand and manage the Product vision.
• Responsible for creating the product roadmap and sharing this with the cross-functional team.
• Monitor business, market, and technology trends to inform product strategy and proactively propose enhancements and new features.
• Maintain up-to-date application knowledge and understanding of how the business uses applications in their workflows through partnering with users.
• Facilitate end-user support and training.
• Analyzing product performance and redesigning as required.
• Designing, developing and managing activities from product definition & planning to production and release.
• Managing prioritization and trade-offs between customer experience, business impact, performance, and post-launch support.
• Establish release plans that satisfy requirements and achieve business outcomes.
• Managing a product’s development life cycle from start to end.
• Overseeing the whole product’s cycle and defining the steps required to make a project a success.
• Serve as product manager for multiple, related products – when required.
• Business stakeholder engagements to understand and elicit all relevant business requirements and goals to drive optimal solutions.
• Regular communication and continuous collaboration with all the stakeholders and the cross-functional team.
• Establish and maintain productive working relationships with business partners and project teams.
• Working cross-functionally with design and technology teams to ensure timely and quality release of product/ enhancements.

Who You Are

• Assessing end-to-end business processes, procedures, and business rules in conjunction with business partners, designing new and mapping existing business processes through research, interviews, and facilitation sessions.
• Strong experience in understanding business partner and client needs.
• Compilation of functional and non-functional business requirements documentation together with the business sponsor and management of the elicitation.
• Strong understanding of the business process- definition and re-engineering requirements.
• Responsible for milestone management and logging of documents while adhering to the appropriate SDLC.
• Strong comfort with, and experience in, eliciting, analyzing, and translating requirements.
• Familiarity with most common modes of preparing and presenting (e.g., PPT, Word, e-mail, SharePoint)
• Experience driving adoption of new applications, processes, and revised functionality.
• Serve as product manager for multiple, related products.
• Proven ability to synthesize complex information and communicate key issues using presentation software (e.g., PowerPoint) and visual techniques into highly enjoyable and easy to consume formats.
• Intellectually curious and flexible, is comfortable with ambiguity, receptive to new ideas and open to change, when presented with best options.
• Detail-oriented with excellent analytical and creative problem-solving skills, including the ability to deal with situations where information is difficult to obtain, complex or ambiguous
• Is known to ‘think outside the box’ and generate original solutions that lead to creative and resourceful ways to deal with different business problems and opportunities.
• Are results-driven and motivated by a sense of performance excellence and a sense of urgency; possesses a proactive and ‘self-starter’ mentality.
• Excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• Ability to operate autonomously and with limited supervision.
• Flexible, adaptable, and able to execute a range of job duties and changing priorities.
• Possess excellent verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to articulate information to a variety of constituents across cultures.
• Possess professional maturity, sensitivity with different cultures, and impeccable integrity that exemplify the Foundation’s values.
• Demonstrate a commitment to Mastercard Foundation’s values and vision.

Application Closing Date
26th June, 2022.