People Lead - Africa

Job description

LemFi (Series B) is building the go-to financial app for the Global South. Moving to a new country shouldn’t mean starting from zero. That's why our team of 400+ spanning 20+ countries is building a financial ecosystem that helps immigrants stay connected to home, build stability, and create wealth regardless of where they are from or where they live. What began as fast, affordable remittances is now evolving into a complete platform for multi-currency accounts, payments, credit, and long-term financial growth. With millions of users across the globe, we process over $1B in monthly transactions to 30+ countries, proving that borders shouldn't limit financial opportunity. THE ROLE As People Lead for Africa, you’ll own the end-to-end people agenda across our African markets – including Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and South Africa, and growing as we do. You’ll split your time between hands-on partnering with senior local leaders and the operational people work that keeps the region running well day to day. You’ll manage our People Advisor in Nigeria, and you’ll also flex into global people ops projects alongside our Senior People Ops Manager when the region needs less of your time. This role reports directly to the VP People and is based in South Africa on a remote basis. HOW YOU'LL CONTRIBUTE - Partnering: Act as the trusted advisor for leaders across our African markets, giving commercially grounded guidance on team dynamics, performance, and org design. - Employee relations: Own complex or escalated ER cases across the region and provide hands-on support to the Nigeria People Advisor on their caseload. - Team leadership: Manage and coach the People Advisor, Nigeria, setting clear standards and supporting their development. - Local compliance: Own South African statutory and employment law compliance, and oversee compliance across other African markets as we grow, working with local expertise where needed. - Operational delivery: Run the core people operations for the region – onboarding, offboarding, data accuracy, and the recurring HR processes that keep things running. - Data-driven insights: Consolidate people data across Africa to give the VP People a clear view of retention, engagement, and overall health. - Change management: Localise and roll out global people initiatives across African markets, adapting delivery to resonate locally while staying consistent with global standards. - Global projects: Support the Senior People Ops Manager on global people ops projects as capacity allows. - Capability building: Coach and upskill people managers across the region on LemFi’s management standards. WHO YOU ARE - Credible advisor: You build trust quickly with senior stakeholders across different markets and are comfortable challenging the status quo to drive better people outcomes. - Generalist with range: You move easily between strategic partnering and hands-on operational or admin work – this role needs both. - People manager: You have experience managing and developing a direct report, and genuinely enjoy it. - Owner: You take full responsibility for the Africa people agenda, spotting gaps and fixing them without waiting to be asked. WHAT YOU'LL BRING - 6–9 years’ experience as an HR generalist, with strong exposure to African markets (Nigeria is a big plus) - Proven experience managing complex employee relations cases end to end. - Experience managing or mentoring a direct report. - Strong working knowledge of South African labour law (including the BCEA, LRA and Employment Equity Act) and statutory requirements. - Experience working within a global or distributed business, comfortable moving between local and international stakeholders. - Proficiency with modern HRIS platforms; experience with Rippling is a plus. - Excellent communication and relationship-building skills across cultures and seniority levels. WHY JOIN LEMFI? Love shouldn’t be expensive, yet those working hardest for their families often face predatory fees and banking exclusion. We're changing this. At LemFi, you won’t be just a cog in a machine. Whether designing products, scaling operations, or telling our story, you’ll tackle complex challenges with real, immediate impact. Your work goes beyond metrics - it puts money back in families’ pockets and offers access to the previously excluded. Join us to make a meaningful difference, where high performance is a lifeline for millions. You can connect with us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lemfi/ and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uselemfi/ and if you haven't already, download the app on the App Store https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/lemfi/id1533066809 or Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en&id=com.lemonadeFinance.android.