Marketing Operations Manager
We are looking for a Marketing Operations Manager to join our Marketing and Communications team; as we scale up and drive digital and financial inclusion across our markets.
The Role in Brief
We're looking for a dynamic Marketing Operations Manager who understands through-the-line marketing and excels at trade marketing execution. This role combines strategic brand leadership with hands-on BTL campaign implementation; someone who can partner with our Global Marketing team on brand strategy while designing and executing the promotional mechanics, dealer incentives, and market activations that drive sales through retail channels and DSR networks. You'll lead Nigeria's marketing function, manage a local team, and spend significant time in market ensuring execution quality. This isn't just planning or just doing - it's both, at scale, for a fintech that's already serving 7 million customers and building toward 10 million.
About Us
We're not just another fintech talking about financial inclusion - we're actually doing it. 7 million customers across Africa. $2 billion in credit unlocked. 86% report improved quality of life. We've moved from 5 million to 7 million customers, building toward 10 million.
Here's what matters: 55% of our customers are accessing products and services for the first time. 70% use what we finance to generate income. Nigeria is central to that next chapter.
This is a hybrid role, you would be working from our offices in Nigeria, partnering with a diverse group of employees from our different markets and locations across the UK, Europe and Africa. You will be reporting to the Head of Business Management.
Why This Role Is Different
Your current role: Executing campaigns within established frameworks, optimizing what already works, fighting for budget.
This role: Building Nigeria's marketing engine from scratch, owning both strategic vision and BTL execution that drives sales.
Most marketing roles split strategic and execution. Here, you do both. You're partnering with Global Marketing on brand strategy while designing market activations, dealer incentives, and field campaigns that convert awareness into customers. You're equally comfortable presenting strategy to Nigeria leadership and spending days in market watching promotions perform.
Your strategic decisions get tested immediately and you have the authority to pivot when the data tells you to.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
Strategic brand building: Translate M-KOPA's evolution into campaigns that build trust and drive consideration. Localize brand campaigns while being the voice explaining why brand equity converts to sales. Use customer insights and market data to guide positioning.
Trade marketing and BTL: Design promotional mechanics, dealer incentives, market activations, and field campaigns driving sales through retail and DSR networks. Manage BTL agencies. Conduct market visits. Build sales enablement tools. Deploy the full BTL toolkit with precision.
Digital and performance: Manage social media, develop content calendars balancing storytelling with performance, analyze and optimize. Drive paid social with clear attribution, build referral programs.
You'll manage a team, partner across functions, spend 30-40% of time in market.
What You'll Need
5-7 years of progressive marketing experience in through-the-line marketing with particular strength in BTL and trade marketing execution, ideally from FMCG, telecommunications (MNOs), consumer electronics, or BTL agencies handling major brand accounts.
Demonstrable experience managing integrated marketing campaigns from strategy through execution, with proven ability to translate brand objectives into promotional mechanics that drive measurable sales results.
2-3 years of team management experience leading marketing teams, managing agency relationships, and influencing senior stakeholders - with the data-driven approach and commercial acumen to demonstrate clear ROI on marketing investments.
The Reality
This role is demanding. You're building marketing capability while executing campaigns, managing a team while spending significant time in market. You'll navigate ambiguity, make decisions with incomplete information, adapt when reality challenges your plan. You'll have autonomy to make meaningful decisions and the accountability that comes with it.
If you're energized by building marketing infrastructure that enables financial inclusion at scale, you're ready for this.
Why M-KOPA?
At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.
Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together. Explore more at m-kopa.com.
Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 6 million customers, unlocking $1.5 billion in cumulative credit for the unbanked across Africa.
Important Notice
M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships.
M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.
Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.
If your application is successful M-KOPA undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.