Role Overview:
The Manager (Payment Systems Expert), along with the Team Lead, will spearhead the technical design and implementation of the G2P Disbursement Hub's core architecture, specifically its integration with Ethio Pay-IPS (Ethiopia's national Instant Payment System), treasury systems (IFMIS/IBEX), the Fayda digital ID system, and related systems. The expert will serve as the primary technical lead on payment architecture, API design, interoperability protocols, and reconciliation systems, working closely with EthSwitch, NBE, and the Ministry of Finance. This role requires deep technical expertise in integrated payment systems, account mapping, account bridges, and national payment switch architecture, combined with the ability to translate technical specifications into institutional and policy language for government counterparts.
Total Years of Experience:
- 8+ years of experience in payment systems architecture, digital financial infrastructure, or fintech/payment platform design, ideally in government or development sector contexts.
- Demonstrated experience with integrated payment systems, including national payment switches, instant payment systems (IPS/RTP), interoperability frameworks, account mapping or account-to-account bridges, and API-based payment orchestration layers.
- Experience working with or advising national payment infrastructure projects in Sub-Saharan Africa — with direct experience in Ethiopia (e.g., EthSwitch, IFMIS, Ethio Pay-IPS) strongly preferred.
- Track record of engaging with central banks, financial regulators, or national payment councils on technical standards, interoperability mandates, and regulatory frameworks.
- Familiarity with public financial management systems (e.g., IFMIS/IBEX or comparable treasury systems) and experience designing payment integrations that align with government fund flow and reconciliation requirements.
Qualifications:
- Master's degree or equivalent in computer science, information systems, engineering, finance, or a related technical discipline.
Key Skills:
- Integrated payment systems architecture: Deep technical knowledge of hub-and-spoke payment architectures, API gateway design, message routing protocols, and real-time payment settlement mechanisms.
- Account mapping and account bridges: Hands-on expertise in account mapping systems, proxy lookup directories (analogous to India's UPI VPA model), and account bridge mechanisms that enable PSP-agnostic payment routing.
- National payment switch integration: Direct experience with national payment switch integration projects, including connecting program MIS, treasury systems, and PSPs through a shared infrastructure layer.
- Public Financial Management integration: Understanding of government treasury architectures (IFMIS/IBEX or comparable), fund flow mechanisms, and reconciliation requirements — with experience designing payment systems that interface with government financial management systems.
- Interoperability and standards: Familiarity with international interoperability standards and frameworks (GSMA, Level One Project, Mojaloop, or comparable) as applied to G2P payment infrastructure.
- Technical communication: Ability to translate complex technical architecture into accessible language for policy makers, regulators, and non-technical government counterparts — and vice versa.
Detailed Responsibilities:
Government and Stakeholder Engagement (along with the Team Lead):
- Along with the Team Lead, cultivate and maintain trusted relationships with senior officials at MoF, NBE, EthSwitch, the Ministry of Agriculture, the PSNP team, and other relevant government counterparts.
- Support the Team Lead in managing coordination across the multi-stakeholder ecosystem, including the World Bank, BTCA, UNCDF, and FSE, to ensure complementarity and avoid duplication.
- Represent MSC at national-level forums, working groups, and policy dialogues on G2P payments, digital financial services, and social protection reform in Ethiopia.
- Navigate complex institutional dynamics, including political economy risks around PSP competition and institutional ownership of the Hub, with diplomacy and pragmatism.
- Support the government in securing policy and regulatory alignment required for PSP-agnostic G2P delivery, including interoperability mandates and beneficiary choice frameworks.
Technical Engagement (along with the Team Lead):
- Provide day-to-day embedded support to the stakeholders concerned, building institutional capability to manage and oversee Hub-based payment delivery independently.
- Along with the Team Lead, provide strategic technical oversight across all project components, such as Hub architecture design and institutional alignment; anchor use case operationalization; and ecosystem coordination and learning.
- Guide the design of the Hub's target operating model, governance framework, and integration architecture with Ethio Pay-IPS, IFMIS/IBEX, Fayda digital ID, etc.
- Oversee the PSNP pilot design, including beneficiary choice models, multi-PSP routing, last-mile delivery sequencing, and gender-intentional design features.
- Ensure that technical assistance is embedded rather than extractive, building government capacity and institutionalizing solutions rather than creating dependency.
- Direct the synthesis of implementation learnings into evidence products, including contributions to the G2P 4.0 Toolkit.
Business Development and Knowledge Leadership (along with the Team Lead):
- Document implementation learnings from the PSNP pilot on a rolling basis, capturing what works, what doesn't, and why across technical, institutional, and user dimensions.
- Represent MSC's Ethiopia work at global conferences, donor convenings, and knowledge-sharing events.
- Contribute to MSC's global thought leadership on G2P reform, hub-based payment architecture, and social protection delivery.
- Along with the Team Lead, identify and pursue opportunities to expand MSC's G2P and digital payments advisory portfolio in Ethiopia and East Africa.
