Data & Innovation Manager – Youth Banking

About the role

The Data & Innovation Manager leads Equity Bank's youth digital, data and innovation agenda in Nairobi. The role turns business priorities into scalable digital solutions and customer propositions, deepening youth engagement and expanding access to financial services. It works with technology partners, fintechs, aggregators and internal teams to drive embedded finance, data-driven solutions and innovation investments, while keeping to enterprise risk and regulatory standards.

Key responsibilities

• Lead youth customer segmentation, persona development and performance dashboards with age- and gender-disaggregated insights
• Drive mobile-first propositions and end-to-end customer journeys for students, first-time earners, youth in business, creators and gig workers across payments, savings, credit and investment, including the VYB platform
• Identify fintech, API and technology opportunities, run design-thinking and agile pilots and MVPs, and scale viable solutions with business cases
• Own business requirements, prioritisation, adoption and benefits realisation for automation across products, journeys, campaigns, reporting and workflows
• Develop creator and gig-income insights to strengthen income verification and support alternative credit scoring, with income-based lending planned from 2027
• Drive API, embedded finance and wallet-as-a-service solutions with fintechs, aggregators and telcos
• Accelerate youth customer acquisition, onboarding and product adoption through digital platforms and embedded channels
• Manage the innovation budget, vendor relationships and delivery portfolio
• Ensure compliance with data protection, information security, AML/KYC and enterprise governance requirements

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Finance, Economics, IT, Computer Science, Data Science or a related field
• Relevant professional qualification in banking or financial services
• 5 to 8 years in digital banking, fintech, telecoms or digital products, with delivery from concept through pilot to scale
• Nice to have: postgraduate qualification in product management, agile, design thinking or analytics; membership of a recognised professional body

Required skills

• Data analytics, segmentation and performance dashboarding
• Digital product management and mobile-first journey design
• APIs, embedded finance and fintech ecosystems
• Process automation and agile delivery
• Business case development and vendor and innovation budget management

The position is full time in Nairobi; salary is open. Applications are made through the recruiter's online application form.