Data & Innovation Manager – Youth Banking

Equity Bank Kenya Limited is a leading financial institution in Kenya, founded in 1984, offering a wide range of banking and financial services. It is committed to driving financial inclusion and innovation across various customer segments.

The Data & Innovation Manager will strategically lead the development and delivery of Equity Bank's youth-focused digital, data, and innovation initiatives. This involves transforming business priorities into distinct customer offerings, scalable digital solutions, and profitable growth opportunities. The role emphasizes customer segmentation, data-driven decision-making, and the creation of mobile-first products and journeys. Key aspects include digital acquisition, automation, and ecosystem integration to enhance youth engagement and expand access to financial services. The manager will collaborate with technology partners, fintechs, and internal teams to accelerate innovation, embedded finance, and data-driven solutions, including insights from the creator and gig economy for alternative credit assessments. The position also ensures effective management of innovation investments, successful adoption of digital solutions, realization of benefits, and adherence to enterprise risk and regulatory standards.

1. Lead youth customer segmentation, persona development, and performance dashboards, maintaining a common scorecard with age- and gender-disaggregated insights to guide business decisions and resource allocation.
2. Drive the design and continuous enhancement of mobile-first propositions and end-to-end customer journeys for various youth segments, including students, first-time earners, and gig workers, across payments, savings, credit, and investment, including the VYB platform.
3. Identify emerging fintech, API, and technology opportunities, lead design-thinking and agile-based pilots and MVPs, and scale commercially viable solutions with robust business cases.
4. Own business requirements, prioritization, adoption, and benefits realization for automation initiatives across products, customer journeys, campaigns, reporting, and workflows, ensuring alignment with enterprise technology and governance.
5. Develop creator and gig-income insights, data capabilities, and strategic partnerships to strengthen income verification and inform alternative credit scoring, supporting future income-based lending.
6. Drive collaboration with various internal and external partners to develop and scale API integrations, embedded finance, and wallet-as-a-service solutions that expand youth customer access and engagement.
7. Leverage digital platforms, embedded distribution channels, and ecosystem partnerships to accelerate youth customer acquisition, onboarding, product adoption, and active usage.
8. Manage the innovation budget, vendor relationships, and delivery portfolio, ensuring effective resource utilization, commercial viability, and measurable returns on innovation investments.
9. Drive adoption of new digital propositions, platforms, and automated processes, tracking usage, customer experience, operational efficiencies, and business benefits.
10. Ensure innovation initiatives and digital partnerships comply with data protection, information security, AML/KYC, and applicable enterprise governance requirements, managing risks throughout the solution lifecycle.

1. Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Economics, IT, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field.
2. Relevant professional qualification(s) in banking or financial services.
3. 5 to 8 years of experience in digital banking, fintech, telecoms, or digital products, with proven delivery from concept through pilot to scale.
4. Experience in youth, creator, or financial inclusion is an added advantage.
5. Strong skills in data analytics, segmentation, and performance dashboarding.
6. Expertise in digital product management and mobile-first journey design.
7. Knowledge of API, embedded finance, and fintech ecosystems.
8. Proficiency in agile delivery, design thinking, and pilot-to-scale commercialization.
9. Experience in business case development, vendor, and innovation budget management.
10. Strategic thinking and influencing abilities in cross-functional environments.
11. Understanding of regulatory requirements for digital financial services, consumer protection, and data privacy.
12. A postgraduate qualification and certification in product management, agile, design thinking, or analytics are added advantages.
13. Membership in a recognized professional body relevant to banking, insurance, or financial services is an added advantage.