Head of Design (Marketing)

Who we are: Mama Money  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 150 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. Mama Money is evolving from a remittance service into a full-service financial ecosystem where customers can send, manage, and grow their money with confidence. As part of this evolution, we’re looking for a strategic, operationally strong, and creatively driven Head of Design (Marketing) to build and elevate our design function. Your mission is to ensure that design becomes a key driver of customer trust, brand consistency, and commercial impact across the business. Reporting to the Head of Digital & Marketing, you will lead a growing team of designers, manage agencies and production partners, and work closely with marketing, product, and operations to ensure design excellence across all customer touch-points. As our Head of Design, you will:

Set the strategic direction for design at Mama Money, ensuring that creative output aligns with brand positioning and customer needs.

Lead, mentor, and grow our design team across motion, brand, and visual design, fostering a creative, collaborative, and high-performing environment.

Own and optimise end-to-end design operations, establishing processes, tools, and workflows that improve efficiency, predictability, and quality across the business.

Manage creative agencies and production partners, ensuring work is delivered on time, on brand, and within budget.

Drive the evolution of Mama Money’s visual identity, ensuring consistency across the App, Website, marketing campaigns, agent materials, and customer communications.

Partner with cross-functional teams to translate complex requirements into clear creative briefs and high-impact design solutions.

Oversee major campaigns and brand moments, providing creative direction while empowering the team to execute beautifully.

Steward large design and brand production budgets, ensuring cost-effective delivery.

Champion customer insights and cultural relevance, working closely with regional teams to ensure all design feels local, authentic, and reflective of our diverse customer base.

Advocate for design as a business driver, presenting work clearly, measuring impact, and ensuring design plays a meaningful role in acquisition, engagement, and trust-building.

Bring energy, creativity, rigour, and fun while making a real impact! 🚀

About you:

You have 7+ years of experience in design, with at least 6 years leading creative teams or design operations.

You’ve managed agencies, external partners, and sizeable design/production budgets.

You bring experience in shaping and elevating visual identity, not just producing assets.

You understand brand, product, and marketing design, and how to tie creativity to commercial outcomes.

You’re a confident leader who sets clear expectations, gives constructive feedback, and creates an environment where designers can grow.

You’re organised, calm, and operationally strong.

You love building processes that make teams faster and more effective.

You collaborate naturally with product, marketing, operations, and senior leadership, and can present work and rationale clearly.

You are motivated by purpose-driven work and committed to creating design that respects, represents and delights our communities.

You’re excited to help build something bigger than yourself.

In your first 90 days at Mama Money, you will:

Align stakeholders around a clear vision for design and how it supports Mama Money’s brand evolution and growth strategy.

Audit the current design ecosystem: customer touchpoints, campaign materials, workflows, agency relationships, and identify immediate opportunities to elevate quality and consistency.

Build strong relationships with your team and cross-functional partners, establishing rituals and ways of working that scale.

Map out design operations needs (tools, processes, systems) and start implementing improvements to unlock higher output and clarity.

Establish performance measures for design (quality, delivery, impact), and present a roadmap for the next 6–12 months.

Take ownership of large-scale creative initiatives and help steer Mama Money’s next phase of brand visibility, perception and customer trust.