Product Owner - Integrations and Connectivity

About Unifi

Unifi is redefining credit in Africa with simple, fast personal loans delivered through online, mobile and branch channels. We make life easy for thousands of clients across Zambia, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. Unifi has conviction in the African continent and its people, and our products enable our clients to achieve even more. As one of the fastest-growing lenders in East Africa, we combine exceptional client service with the very best tech and data analytics.

Learn more about Unifi at:

www.unifi.credit/about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUrwaPmzU5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl32BzxAHfA&t=26s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gf1ZiFpfSc&t=188s

About the Role

Unifi is seeking a technically savvy and strategically minded Product Owner—Integrations and Connectivity to lead the design, development, and management of our integration services and connectivity platforms across South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya. This role is critical to ensuring seamless connectivity between Unifi’s core lending platforms and external systems, including telephony (PABX, VoIP), mobile network operators, payment gateways, banking partners, and credit bureaus.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with product ownership experience, a strong understanding of APIs, system integrations, and payment ecosystems, and a passion for building scalable, reliable connectivity solutions in emerging markets.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end product lifecycle for Unifi’s integration services and connectivity platforms—from ideation to delivery and ongoing improvement.
• Define and maintain the product vision, roadmap, and backlog for all integration-related services, ensuring alignment with Unifi’s broader business and technology strategies.
• In collaboration with the Platform team, implement and monitor telephony systems, including PABX and VoIP solutions.
• Lead integrations with mobile network operators to enable messaging, payments, USSD, and WhatsApp-based services across multiple African markets.
• Oversee banking and payment gateway integrations to support disbursements, direct debits, EFTs, and related financial transactions.
• Manage credit bureau and data provider integrations to enhance lending decisions and ensure regulatory compliance.
• Partner with engineering and operations teams to ensure secure, scalable, and high-performance integrations.
  
• Ensure integrations include real-time monitoring and metrics to track system health, diagnose issues, and drive continuous improvements.
• Act as the primary liaison with external technology partners for integration initiatives.
• Communicate integration strategy, progress, risks, and key updates to Unifi’s senior leadership team.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 10+ years of professional experience, including 5+ years in technical product management or ownership, ideally in fintech, telecom, or software integration.
• Strong technical expertise in APIs and RESTful services.
• Practical experience in at least one of the following domains: telephony, mobile network and messaging, payments and banking, or credit bureau integrations.
• Product management certification (e.g., Pragmatic Institute, AIPMM, Product School, SAFe PM/PO) is a plus.
• Proficient in Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools like Jira, Confluence, and other collaboration platforms.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to bridge technical and business perspectives.
• Strong passion for Africa and enthusiasm for contributing to a mission-driven, high-growth organisation.
• Willingness to travel across the continent as needed.