Recon & FinOps Manager

Job description

**Who we are:** [Mama Money](https://www.mamamoney.co.za/) is a growth-stage fintech on a mission to improve the financial lives of migrants and underserved communities across Africa and beyond. What started in 2015 as a cross-border payments service has grown into a multi-product financial platform. We give people the tools to send, save, and manage money — on their own terms, at a socially fair price. Mama HQ is in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. We're 158 people strong (and counting), representing 19 countries across Africa, Asia, the UK, and Europe. From remittances to a growing range of financial products, everything we build is in service of people who deserve better. Our culture reflects that same commitment. We look after our team the way we want them to look after our customers. "Just be lekker!" means we trust our talented, diverse people to do what's right and make it happen — simply and with heart. We've earned a few accolades, built lasting partnerships, and grown our reach in ways we're proud of. We've had good times and tough times, but our focus has never shifted. People over profit, always. As our Financial Operations Specialist, you'll be the engine room behind how money actually moves through Mama Money. You'll own the daily reconciliation of payments and aggregator flows across multiple corridors and currencies, make sure funds are settled accurately and on time, and be the first to spot when something looks off. This is a hands-on, detail-driven role at the intersection of payments, operations, and data — you'll work closely with our Treasury team, Tech Ops, and our FX Trader to keep the money moving smoothly, day in and day out. You'll bring a data-driven mindset to everything you touch: building smarter reconciliation and monitoring workflows, spotting anomalies through analysis rather than manual review alone, and helping the finance operations function scale through automation rather than headcount. ### As our Financial Ops Specialist you will: - **Payments & Reconciliations:** Reconcile bank accounts, payment gateways, and aggregator statements across multiple corridors and currencies daily. - Investigate and resolve discrepancies between internal records and external payment/aggregator data quickly and accurately. - Assist with payment run approvals, and manage the accurate, timeous processing of outgoing and incoming payments. - Monitor transaction flows in real time to identify failed, delayed, or duplicate payments before they become customer-facing issues. - **Aggregator & Partner Relationships:** Act as a key point of contact for payment aggregators and banking partners on operational and reconciliation queries. - Track aggregator fees, settlement timelines, and performance to ensure we're getting accurate and fair value. - Escalate and follow through on aggregator-side discrepancies until fully resolved. - **Automation, Data & AI.** Design and build automated reconciliation and monitoring workflows that reduce manual review and turnaround time — using tools like SQL or AI assistants (e.g. Claude) to do the heavy lifting. - Use AI tools to build automated assessments and alerting systems that flag anomalies, discrepancies, and irregularities in payment or reconciliation data before they become issues. - Identify recurring, manual payment operations processes and actively replace them with automated, repeatable solutions. - Build and maintain dashboards or structured reporting views, ideally automated or templated, that give stakeholders real-time visibility into payment flows, settlement status, and reconciliation trends. - **Cross-Functional Collaboration:** Partner with Tech Ops to improve the accuracy, speed, and automation of payment and reconciliation data flows between systems. - Collaborate closely with the Treasury team and our FX Trader to make sure operational needs, currency exposure, and settlement timing are well-aligned across corridors. - Champion the use of automation and AI across the finance operations team — making sure new workflows and tools are properly implemented and consistently followed. - **Compliance & Reporting:** Support audit requirements with clear, well-maintained reconciliation records and supporting schedules. - Get pulled into various finance-related projects and initiatives, including data analysis, process automation, and reporting improvements — giving you exposure across the business. ### Qualifications & Experience: - Completed Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related field. - 4+ years of relevant experience in payment operations, reconciliations, or financial operations — ideally in fintech, payments, or financial services. - Demonstrable, hands-on experience using AI tools (e.g. Claude, or similar) to build automated assessments, workflows, or alerting systems — non-negotiable for this role. - Strong Excel skills: comfortable with large data sets, schedules, and building automated or templated reporting. - Exposure to data analysis, dashboarding, or process automation tools (e.g. Power Query, Power BI, SQL, or similar) is a strong advantage. - Exposure to a multi-entity or multi-currency environment, ideally in fintech or financial services. - Experience working with payment aggregators, gateways, or banking partners is a strong advantage. - High attention to detail with the ability to manage competing deadlines in a fast-paced environment. ### In your first 90 days at Mama Money you will: - Be responsible for the accuracy of daily reconciliations across key payment corridors. - Take ownership of first-level anomaly review, using data analysis to identify discrepancies and take initiative to correct them. - Build strong working relationships with Treasury, Tech Ops, and our FX Trader, assisting with ad hoc requirements as they arise.