Please send CV to [email protected]

A bit about Avenews:

Avenews is a digital platform for agri-SMBs in Africa, providing essential access to credit and financial products where traditional banks fall short. Our mission is to help agri-SMBs thrive by making capital accessible, addressing the $180 billion credit gap in African agriculture.

Avenews is at the forefront of Fintech innovation. We develop proprietary machine learning algorithms and data analytics to deliver personalized financial solutions to agribusiness clients across Africa. As pioneers in the African tech environment, we offer integrated payment solutions and business management tools to help our clients improve their credit profiles and achieve sustainable growth.

As a well-funded enterprise poised for growth, we are currently seeking a highly motivated Head of Data. This pivotal role will drive our data collection and modeling efforts and play a key role in shaping the future of agricultural financing in Africa.

About the role:

Financial risk assessment is the core of our business, and our essence very much relies on creative and innovative data collection and modeling. We are seeking a highly skilled Head of Data to develop and oversee our data and information strategy in support of business decisions, growth and credit risk policies. The ideal candidate will work closely with various departments to collect, prepare, organize, protect, and analyze data assets, ensuring that the company meets its data related goals while streamlining data systems and processes. The role requires a creative mindset to drive data and model based innovation, aimed at optimizing our risk policies and boosting our decision making capabilities while reducing costs and increasing profitability.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategy and Leadership:

• Develop and oversee the data and information strategy to support business goals.
• Establish strategic goals and objectives aligned with the organization's mission and vision.
• Collaborate with the executive team to identify how data can assist in achieving business and financial goals.
• Communicate goals, projects, and timelines to the data department.
• Align data projects with organizational goals.

Policy and Compliance:

• Oversee the development and implementation of organizational policies and procedures to ensure legal compliance.
• Establish and maintain data procedures and policies to meet industry best practices.

Team Management:

• Plan ways to execute goals within the data department.
• Mentor and train employees to build a strong data team.
• Set and manage team objectives.

Data Infrastructure and Innovation:

• Build and maintain the data infrastructure to support decision-making processes.
• Build analytic systems and predictive models.
• Visualize data and create reports.
• Experiment with new models and techniques.
• Manage relationships with service providers.
• Promote data-driven decision-making through insights and knowledge sharing.

Data Management and Analysis:

• Manage the company's data to maintain a competitive advantage in understanding the financial/agricultural industry.
• Oversee the mining of third-party data.
• Provide information and decision support.
• Discover insights and share knowledge.
• Provide competitive advantage through innovation and data analysis.
• Provide self-service access to insights.

Report to the VP R&D

Qualifications:

• Proven experience in senior data position
• Proven experience with Python
• Proven experience with a BI tool and SQL
• Strong leadership and organizational abilities
• 3+ years experience in Machine Learning
• Excellent communication skills
• Knowledge of current data trends and a passion for innovation
• Experience in managing budgets and timelines effectively
• Familiarity with financial and data regulatory standards and compliance
• Experience in the agricultural or fintech sector is a plus

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Opportunity to lead and shape the data vision of the company.
• A dynamic and innovative work environment.
• Opportunities for professional growth and development.