Key Account Lead

Abidjan , Côte d'Ivoire

AI overview

Drive the sales strategy for Wave's payment and business products, targeting key corporate clients as we rapidly expand our presence in Côte d’Ivoire.

Our mission

We're making Africa the first cashless continent.

In 2017, over half the population in Sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason—the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and nobody takes cards. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.

We're solving this by building financial services that just work: no account fees, instantly available, and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always work, you can still send money with Wave. In 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments. Now, we have millions of users across 9 countries and are growing fast.

Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent and that's where you come in...

How you'll help us achieve it

Wave is now the largest financial institution in Senegal, with over 7 million users. And we’re still in the early days of our product roadmap and potential impact on people’s everyday lives.

We are seeking a highly experienced salesperson who is excited by a challenge and passionate about Wave's mission; a dynamic, out-of-the-box thinker willing to do whatever it takes to achieve our mission of making Côte d’Ivoire cashless! You will be responsible for selling Wave's payment and business products to key corporate clients as we rapidly expand our business in Côte d’Ivoire.

As a Key Account Lead, you will be part of the sales team responsible for prospecting and acquiring new high-revenue business customers.

In this role, you’ll;

  • Business Development (Prospecting):
    • Actively identify and target high-potential companies and organizations (large corporations, structured SMEs, NGOs, government institutions) that can use Wave Business services.
    • Build and maintain a robust sales pipeline.
    Sales Cycle Management:
    • Conduct sales presentations and product demonstrations for decision-makers (CFOs, CEOs, HR Directors).
    • Understand client needs in-depth to propose customized solutions (e.g., salary payments, supplier payment collection, invoice collection).
    • Negotiate contract terms and ensure closing.
    Strategy and Reporting:
    • Track and report on key sales performance indicators (KPIs) using our CRM tool.
    • Provide structured field feedback to the Product and Marketing teams to improve our Business offerings.
    • Conduct competitive intelligence on the Business offerings of other players (banks, telcos).

Key details

  • Location: You'll work from our office in Abidjan and may travel to upcountry locations.
  • Work authorization in Côte d'Ivoire is required.
  • This is a permanent position.
  • Our salaries are competitive and calculated using a transparent formula. 
  • We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.
  • We support working parents by offering 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidized childcare when they return to work.
  • Airtime reimbursement.
  • Free food and a beautiful office space.

Requirements

  • At least 5 years of experience in a similar position (ideally in an international company, a bank, a mobile money company, or similar)
  • A degree in sales, project management, finance, international relations, business management, or a comparable field.
  • Good command of:
    • French: Fluent (spoken and written) - Primary working language. 
    • English: Professional proficiency required to communicate with regional teams and management.

You might be a good fit if you

  • Have complete mastery of the B2B sales cycle, from prospecting to negotiating complex contracts.
  • You have an existing and relevant professional network in Abidjan (particularly with CFOs, HR Directors, and CEOs of large companies). 
  • Have excellent communication, active listening skills, and persuasive ability. You know how to adapt your discourse for high-level stakeholders. 
  • You are "mission-driven," have an appetite for challenge, and a demonstrated culture of performance (a track record of exceeding targets). 
  • Have the ability to work proactively and organized in a very dynamic and fast-paced start-up environment.

Our team

  • We have a rapidly growing in-country team in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon plus remote team members spread across the world.
  • We're deeply passionate about our mission of bringing radically affordable financial services to the people who need them most.
  • We foster autonomy for our employees. You'll own your projects at every stage, from understanding the problem to monitoring your solution in production.
  • We raised the largest Series A in Africa in 2021. Our world-class investors, include Founders Fund, Sequoia Heritage, Stripe, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, and Partech Africa.
  • We are on Y Combinator's top companies by revenue.

How to apply

Fill out the form below, and upload a resume in English and a cover letter describing your interest in Wave and the role.

We review applications frequently and recommend that you apply to the role that most closely aligns with your skills, experience and career goals.

Wave is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Perks & Benefits Extracted with AI

  • Free Meals & Snacks: Free food and a beautiful office space.
  • Health Insurance: We offer generous health insurance for yourself and your dependents.
  • Other Benefit: Airtime reimbursement.
  • Paid Parental Leave: We support working parents by offering 26 weeks of parental leave for mothers and 4 weeks for fathers, in addition to subsidized childcare when they return to work.

Our mission Since 2014, our Sendwave app has allowed Africans in the US, the UK, and Canada to send money instantly to mobile money wallets in Kenya, Uganda, & Tanzania, saving our users over 70% relative to Western Union and MoneyGram. In 2016, we expanded our scope and began building Wave, a mobile money product for domestic markets in Africa.  The problem: Nearly 60% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa had no bank account. That's for good reason — the fees are too high, the closest branch can be miles away, and most merchants only accept cash. Without access to financial institutions, people are forced to keep their savings under the mattress. Small business owners rely on lenders who charge extortionate rates. Parents spend hours waiting in line to pay school fees in cash.How we're solving it: We're building financial services to work as they should: no account fees, instantly available and accepted everywhere. In places where electricity, water and roads don't always function, we're creating financial infrastructure that "just works." At the end of 2017, we launched a mobile app in Senegal for cash deposit, withdrawal, and peer-to-peer and business payments; in 2019, wwe launched in Cote d'Ivoire. Our goal is to make Africa the first cashless continent. That's where you come in... Who are we? We're a distributed HQ team of ~60 people who are deeply passionate about our mission of bringing great financial services to the people who need them most. We have a Country Office in Senegal with about 70 people and have recently opened another Country Office in Cote d’Ivoire. We’re backed by world-class investors including Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, and the cofounders of PayPal. Our values We’re egolessly mission driven We focus ruthlessly on the most important thing We’re embarrassingly honest to stay aligned and move quickly We don’t wait – we live our fullest lives now We maximize our rate of learning We're growing quickly, see our job openings below. If you are interested in roles with our international remittance team (SendWave), see here. 

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