Head of Product

Head of Product Location: Ozow, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa Meet Ozow. Ozow is a leading fintech company that’s redefining digital payments in South Africa and beyond. We’re dedicated to making payments more accessible, secure, and convenient for both businesses and consumers. As a fast‑growing player in the financial technology sector, Ozow fosters a culture of innovation, diversity, and inclusivity. We believe in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and are committed to making a positive impact on the world through our payment solutions. About the role We are looking for a visionary, boundary‑pushing Head of Product to lead the charge in shaping the future of payments in South Africa and beyond. As a senior leader, you will own the product strategy, roadmap, and go‑to‑market execution across our evolving product lines. You will drive customer‑centric innovation, working across teams to deliver solutions that delight – from startups to enterprise giants. You will also lead product launches, shape positioning, build adoption programs, and empower sales, marketing, and partnerships with the tools they need to win. Team and Leadership Build, develop and lead a high‑performance and learning culture that focuses on building capacity to deliver more and better in the future. A multiplier who harnesses and develops others to ensure the team works productively and is developed professionally with clear career paths. Being part of a high‑performance team, it is essential that goals are well defined, communicated with the required buy‑in from the team so that they deliver on commitments. Product Strategy and Vision Develop product and solution requirements, working backwards from the customer with primary focus on cross‑product experiences. Build core content and compelling assets to articulate buyer value, industry use cases, competitive differentiation, and benchmarking (customer case studies, videos, whitepapers, sales plays, presentations, how‑to guides, comparison tools, and more). Define and drive the short, medium and long‑term product vision for Ozow in alignment with the overall business strategy. Set a clear long‑term direction for our product suite and translate that vision into strategy, roadmap, and execution. Customer and Market Fit Identify target market segments, segment sizing and ideal B2B customer targets, and design forward‑thinking positioning approaches for each segment. Monitor the results of product launches and marketing campaigns to reach target audiences effectively. Establish customer and sales feedback loops to synthesize feedback and consolidate feature requests, providing category/industry/workload specific requirements to engineering and driving follow‑up actions and communications. Revenue and Growth Lead key partnerships. Own the commercial and technical relationships with card schemes, processors, banks and fintechs. Influence partner roadmaps and negotiate terms that strengthen our position. Execute and track experiments to build community and grow consumption of services, including innovative pricing/packaging approaches, special offers, promotions, and customer adoption programs. Work effectively across Ozow with groups such as Commercial, Client Success and Solutions Architects to achieve business goals. Communicate the company’s product strategy to investors, management, staff, partners and customers through multiple channels. Platform Scalability and Resilience Scale and harden the platform. Work with Engineering to make payments more resilient, extensible and efficient. Design for real‑world complexity – market launches, system load, scheme changes and edge cases. Optimise core flows. Redesign acquiring, authorisation, settlement and reconciliation to reduce operational cost, improve merchant experience and increase margin. Your qualifications 10+ years of relevant work experience in product management for B2B solutions plus at least 3 years in related fields such as product marketing, technical marketing, technical pre‑sales, consulting or training. Proven leadership of strong product teams. You build clarity, develop talent and set high standards for execution and impact. A bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, business or a relevant field of study. Experience delivering payment solutions. A career path that demonstrates increasing levels of management responsibility and a knack for driving and/or being associated with benchmark industry products/services. Ability to easily transition from high‑level strategic thinking to creative and detailed execution. Superior written and verbal communication skills. You should also be a strong leader and negotiator who can drive consensus and articulate program recommendations and trade‑offs to senior executives. Experience owning and scaling infrastructure in a high‑growth environment. You have delivered platforms that evolve over years, not just quarters. Strategic and operational range. You connect long‑term direction to short‑term focus, and move seamlessly between platform‑level thinking and team‑level execution. Skills and competencies You eagerly embrace change, absorb cross‑functional skills, and connect ideas across disciplines to drive fresh thinking and innovation. Ability to initiate, develop, maintain and leverage outstanding relationships to influence a wide network, both inside and outside the company. A trailblazer who steps up, takes charge and creates meaningful impact – those driven by performance and purpose to lead from the front and make a real difference every day. You thrive in collaboration, embrace inclusion, and bring a genuine curiosity for global cultures – valuing collective success over individual credit. Demonstrate strategic foresight, sound judgement and the ability to make confident decisions under uncertainty, always working toward the best possible outcomes. You challenge norms, champion innovation and constantly seek growth – for yourself, your team and the solutions you build. You are a decisive doer – those who take initiative, follow through with confidence and ensure results through courageous, hands‑on leadership. We value optimism, agility and the strength to persevere under pressure – balancing performance with positivity, even in challenging environments. You are driven, proactive individuals who take ownership, face challenges with grit and consistently push for excellence – not just as participants, but as catalysts for success. Interview process During the interview process you will meet with the People team, the hiring manager and relevant CSuite. Be prepared to complete a technical assessment that showcases your skills. In‑office perks Healthy breakfast, lunches and snacks Monthly team connects On‑site Barista Birthday leave Perks for South African based employees Medical aid subsidy Group Risk Insurance Generous paid annual leave Birthday leave Learning and Development opportunities Mentorship programme Quarterly team building Community initiatives Access to cutting‑edge technology – Ozow Tech Stack Our Employee Value Proposition Join Ozow and become part of an elite force that challenges the ordinary and achieves the extraordinary. If you’re driven to make an impact, embrace challenges and seek unparalleled opportunities for growth, your journey starts here. Compliance As a fintech company, we prioritise data security, confidentiality, regulatory and compliance. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, we require individuals with a high level of integrity and trustworthiness to ensure adherence to financial regulations and industry standards. All employees are expected to demonstrate professionalism, accountability and a commitment to ethical conduct in line with financial regulations and industry standards. Ready to be exceptional? Apply now Interested in joining our rocket ship? To find out more about life at Ozow, head over to our Careers Page here #J-18808-Ljbffr