Country Product Manager at Kyosk Digital Services

Role Profile:

The Country Product Manager (PM) is based in one of the countries or regions where Kyosk has operations and is a member of the Kyosk country management team. The Country PM plays a vital role in bridging the gap between the Global Product Management team and all aspects of the country’s operations.

A Country PM needs to innovate on behalf of his/her colleagues and external customers, based on a deep understanding of user pain points as well as business needs and priorities. They will also develop metrics to measure and effectively manage the deployment of solutions that optimize internal business processes.

To be successful in this role they will need to be a great communicator, innovator, influencer, and an analytical problem solver. They will need to think and act fast, deal with ambiguity and constraints, and be able to develop ideas into scalable products that work on a Pan-African scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Vision: Embrace and embody Kyosk’s vision and strategy as represented by the Kyosk product portfolio, while contributing to the evolution of the products as needed by the market.
• Country expertise: Be a Country Expert relating to the requirements and opportunities for Kyosk products to achieve the desired business outcomes.
• Product Adoption: Responsible for overall product adoption, knowledge sharing and success within a country
• Country Representation: Represent the country across the product portfolio
• Product Representation: Represent the product portfolio within the country
• Product Discovery: Collect, organize, and prioritize product enhancements for maximum business/user impact. By working closely with the Global Product Managers, define what needs to be built in line with the company’s objectives and product strategy. Facilitate local country access for product innovation & testing
• User Acceptance Testing: Coordinate and conduct regular in-country user acceptance testing and analyses of products and services to ensure they are meeting user needs.
• Knowledge transfer: Cascade Product knowledge throughout the country teams and bring local country knowledge into the Product organization.
• Customer Experience: Ensure adequate product knowledge exists within the Country customer experience (CX) team to support internal and external customers. Occasionally create FAQs, support and training documents for internal users.
• Metrics & Reporting: Own Weekly/Monthly product reports and metrics related to product performance in the country. Report on these metrics in weekly Product team meetings, as well as weekly Country management meetings.
• Oversee and manage in-country 3rd party SLAs (Telcos, Aggregators, etc.) that may be needed for product delivery.

Minimum Requirements & Key Skills:

• Collaboration: Cross-functional collaboration spanning Leadership, Product, Tech, Finance, Operations, Commercial and 3^rd party suppliers. Be diplomatic and equally assertive when necessary.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills to describe, educate and/or persuade both tech and business stakeholders, while also considering the many moving parts across a team, product, or organization.
• Focus: ability to focus on the key problem to be solved, and to recommend building only the right thing at the right time.
• Time management: distinguish between urgent, and important, and know how to prioritize and plan your time.
• Analysis: Strong research, analysis, and quantitative skills, combining an analytical mind with business acumen. 
• Innovation: Innovative and creative problem-solving outlook and ability to collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Documentation: The ability to document and articulate business requirements and product capabilities as and when needed.
• User understanding: empathize, listen, and co-create with the end customer and solve an existing pain point or identify new pain points.
• Technical understanding: Adequate technical understanding of Kyosk’s products and how they deliver on the intended business model to perform analysis, define and interpret dashboards and key insights, and understand metrics and financial goals.
• Problem-solving: Break down an ambiguous product/customer need and go about experimenting or iterating to find an appropriate solution.

Professional Background and Experience

• For at least three years, you have managed the life cycles of one or more commercial products or internal business systems
• You have a business background e.g. MBA, ex-consultant, or have upskilled in some other way and can prove it
• You’ve worked with 3rd parties to integrate and scale products and services for continued organizational growth
• You have user research and product discovery skills to quickly identify and advocate for the needs of core customers and internal stakeholders
• You have rolled out and monitored the success of multiple digital products at the same time
• You have experience in handling the pressure of fast-paced environments typical of a tech startup environment where you wear multiple hats and have access to limited resources
• Desirable: Experience overseeing areas such as customer experience, internal data and analytics, digital payments, or machine learning is a plus
• Desirable: Experience in e-commerce and/or distribution of FMCG products is a plus

Behavioural competencies

• You have a genuine knack for numbers and how they are represented.
• You have a strong desire for continuous improvement
• You have the ability to work under pressure and with tight timelines.

You have a passion for products:

• It is essential to stay motivated through difficult challenges, and occasional long hours
• Passion is contagious, so you will need it to inspire the rest of the team
• You have equal empathy for both internal users and the target market of informal retailers
• You have a strong work ethic and exhibit genuine care for the product and willingness to go to any necessary length to ensure its success
• Integrity: You do what you say you will do and make no excuses.
• You develop a deep understanding and respect for what each team member is responsible for and trust them to do their job
• Your confidence and experience make you trust your instinct and communicate persuasively. You know when to make decisions (even when others might disagree) vs when to build consensus, and you can articulate the strategy and business rationale behind your decisions.
• You take full responsibility for the product's success, with no excuses. You are comfortable taking the blame if something goes wrong, and equally quick to give credit to the rest of the team when it goes well
• You are detail-oriented, process-driven, and organized, and can stay two steps ahead of the work your team is doing
• You have an eye for good design and user experience