Senior Country Manager at Western Union Company

Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, in 2015 celebrated its 20th anniversary in Africa. With over 34,000 locations and connections to millions of bank accounts and mobile wallets in more than 50 countries and territories across Africa, the Western Union network serves millions of senders and receivers with a choice of 120 currencies.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Country Manager 

Location: Lagos

The Job

• As a Senior Country Manager you will be responsible to develop and implement the regional Business plan to achieve the annual target and goals in terms of revenue, transactions locations and new products and services, through the development, implementation & follow-up of action plans with the agents.
• You will identify business opportunities and negotiate contracts with potential and existing Western Union agents, as well as analyze growth trends and macroeconomic factors of each country to establish and pursue the financial goals and objectives for both agents and the Company.
• You will develop, implement and evaluate strategic plans for the designated countries, and this in close consultation with the regional  Director and the Regional Headquarter  in order to meet these goals and objectives for each market segment.
• Next to this you will develop programs to assist WU Agents in the development of the subagent network, manage business building efforts between agents in the region, and other regions, on the development of country pair initiatives.
• You will bring together the agents in a cooperative manner to work towards a common goal of growing the business by overcoming operational issues and inter country differences.
• The duties will include effective priority sales target settings and control, budgeting and forecasting, management reports to the Regional Head, effective cooperation and coordination with the marketing, operation and compliance teams in country to ensure joint efforts and common development.
• You will identify and prioritize service quality issues and manage process of improvement as well as provide competition assessment and recommendations for management evaluation and actions.
• You will build a positive working relationship with all levels of the field teams and at all levels within the agents’ organizations,.
• You will also be responsible to develop expansion plans, to review/analyze performance and to collect and report competitive data as well as develop new product and pricing proposals.
• This position will also require you to travel extensively based on the business needs.

About You

• You possess a university degree in business administration, international business or similar. A Master’s degree is highly preferred.
• You have at least 10 years of proven work experience in sales, business development and Key Account/Agent management of large networks, preferably in the finance/banking industry.
• Good knowledge, understanding and business relationships within the banks and financial institutions is a plus.
• You showcase excellent communication and presentation skills and are able to negotiate with all levels of business.
• You feel comfortable in a fast-paced, challenging and competitive international environment and are able to work under pressure.
• You are comfortable working autonomously, taking initiatives but reporting to a remote manager and organization. You are fluent in English and willing to travel upon business needs.  

We Offer

• Ongoing learning and career development opportunities with the ability to be involved in process improvements, initiatives and project work.
• An interesting multicultural working environment with the ability to collaborate and link across borders with sector and technical experts in all parts of our business supported by cutting edge technology and systems.
• An attractive base salary is on offer depending on skills and experience, along with a comprehensive benefits package.