Product Operations Manager

Product Operations Manager

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.

As Product Operations Manager, your job is to help Ozow run Product with more clarity, better visibility, and stronger launch discipline.

You will work with the Head of Product and Product leaders to improve how Product plans, reviews, communicates, and launches across the company. You will help establish clearer portfolio visibility, better dependency tracking, more consistent product artifacts, and a more reliable operating cadence.

You will not own product strategy or make roadmap decisions on behalf of Product Managers. Your role is to create the scaffolding that helps the right decisions happen with more clarity, consistency, and confidence. That distinction is central to the Product Ops model you have already defined.

Your Role And Responsibilities

Leadership & Operating Enablement

• Act as a high-agency operating partner to the Head of Product, helping establish and maintain a strong product operating rhythm
• Enable Product Managers to focus on judgment and outcomes by reducing operational friction and ambiguity
• Influence without authority, working cross-functionally with Engineering, Design, Commercial, Risk, Compliance, Client Success, and Operations

Planning & Portfolio Visibility

• Support quarterly and 6–8 week product planning cycles across multiple product domains
• Maintain a clear and trusted view of portfolio status, priorities, dependencies, risks, and key trade-offs
• Improve the quality, structure, and decision-usefulness of product reviews and operating forums

Execution & Launch Readiness

• Coordinate launch readiness across Product, Engineering, Commercial, Risk, Compliance, and Operations
• Ensure launches are well-prepared, documented, and aligned with risk, regulatory, and operational requirements
• Improve dependency tracking, escalation pathways, and cross-team communication

Systems & Standard Governance

• Improve consistency and quality of product artifacts including PRDs, strategy docs, review packs, and launch briefs
• Define, maintain, and evolve product workflows across tools such as Jira, Linear, Notion, Confluence, or equivalent
• Maintain KPI definitions, reporting views, and decision logs used by Product and leadership
• Improve meeting hygiene, documentation standards, and operating discipline across the product organisation

Tool Utilisation & Change Management

• Design and implement lightweight systems, templates, and processes that improve clarity without adding bureaucracy
• Identify recurring points of friction in how Product operates and solve them through better tooling, workflows, or cadence
• Support change adoption by aligning teams around new operating standards and practices

In this role, success means:

• Product has a clearer and more trusted operating rhythm
• Portfolio visibility is stronger across teams and domains
• Product reviews are more structured and decision-useful
• Cross-team dependencies and risks are easier to see and manage
• Launch coordination is more disciplined and less ad hoc
• Product Managers spend less time stitching together status and more time on product work
• The wider business experiences Product as clearer, better aligned, and easier to work with

You are an ideal candidate if you have:

• Experience in Product Operations, Product Management, Business Operations, Program Management, or a similar operating role
• Exposure to fintech, payments, SaaS, platforms, marketplaces, or other complex product environments
• Experience supporting planning cycles, launch readiness, or portfolio visibility across multiple teams
• Experience working in regulated, operationally sensitive, or high-reliability environments
• Appreciation for risk, compliance, readiness, and delivery discipline in payments or financial services
• Familiarity with product and workflow tools such as Jira, Linear, Notion, Confluence, Airtable, or similar

Your 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 themselves, their team, and the solutions they 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 will showcase 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

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 prioritize 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. Given the sensitive nature of our work, all employees are expected to demonstrate professionalism, accountability, and a commitment to ethical conduct in line with financial regulations and industry standards.