Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at a Leading and Foremost Switching Company - Ascenix Consulting Limited

Ascenix Consulting Limited - Our client, a leading and foremost switching company in Nigeria licensed by the CBN and renowned for delivering seamless, secure and scal-able electronic payments and digital commerce solutions is recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Location: Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time
Department: Fintech

Job Description

• The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for the overall strategic, commercial, operational, and regulatory leadership of the company.
• The CEO ensures secure, compliant, highly available, and scalable switching and processing services while delivering sustainable growth, profitability, and stakeholder confidence.

Responsibilities
Strategy, Business Growth & Market Leadership:

• Define and execute the company’s long-term strategy aligned with CBN regulations and Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.
• Drive revenue growth across switching, processing, APIs, digital payment rails, and value-added services.
• Lead partnerships with banks, fintechs, merchants, telcos, and payment ecosystem participants.
• Oversee product strategy, pricing, and go-to-market execution.

Regulatory & Stakeholder Management:

• Act as primary liaison with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and industry stakeholders.
• Ensure full compliance with licensing requirements, regulatory returns, audits, and governance standards.
• Maintain strong relationships with regulators, auditors, and industry bodies.

Technology, Operations & Resilience:

• Ensure high availability, scalability, and security of all switching and processing platforms.
• Oversee technology architecture, infrastructure, vendor management, and platform modernization.
• Ensure robust business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities.

Financial Management & Performance:

• Lead budgeting, financial planning, profitability, and cost optimization.
• Ensure strong cash flow management and financial discipline.
• Present accurate and timely performance reports to the Board.

Governance, Risk & Controls:

• Implement effective enterprise risk management and internal controls.
• Ensure timely closure of audit findings and regulatory observations.
• Oversee fraud management, cybersecurity, and operational risk.

People Leadership & Culture:

• Build and lead a high-performing executive and management team.
• Drive performance management, succession planning, and talent development.
• Promote a culture of integrity, accountability, and operational excellence.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Platform Reliability & Operations:

• Platform uptime ≥ 99.95%
• Transaction success rate ≥ agreed threshold
• Mean Time to Restore (MTTR) within agreed SLA
• Zero capacity-related outages during peak periods.

Regulatory & Compliance:

• 100% on-time regulatory filings
• Zero material regulatory breaches
• Timely closure of audit findings.

Security & Risk:

• Fraud losses within approved thresholds
• Zero material cybersecurity incidents
• Successful disaster recovery tests conducted bi-annually.

Commercial & Financial Performance:

• Year-on-year revenue growth
• Achievement of EBITDA and profitability targets
• Customer retention and expansion targets met.

People & Culture:

• High performer retention rate
• Leadership succession coverage for critical roles
• 100% completion of compliance and ethics training.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Finance, Business, or related field. Master’s Degree or MBA is an advantage.
• 12 – 18+ years experience in payments, switching, processing, banking technology, or fintech.
• At least 5 – 8+ years in senior executive leadership.
• Expertise: Strong knowledge of CBN regulations and Nigeria’s payments ecosystem.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.