CT/Joburg-Based | Scale-Up | Full-time Role | Enablement Machine | Hiring Manager: Caroline van der Merwe
Jem is hiring a Head of Jem Mobile to own and scale one of our fastest-growing business units.
Jem is a fast-growing HR tech scale-up building tools for frontline teams, now supporting close to 200,000 frontline employees across South Africa.
Jem Mobile is our device and connectivity business, helping frontline workers access smartphones and data through simple, responsible products. It’s grown fast, and now needs a senior leader to take full ownership and run it as a standalone business unit within Jem.
This is not a product manager role. It’s a full business leadership role. You’ll own the full P&L, operations, partnerships, product direction and growth of Jem Mobile. You’ll start hands-on with an existing team of five, then design the structure, systems and strategy to scale it into a high-performing machine.
⭐️ Your Mission
- Build and run Jem Mobile as a high-performing, profitable and human-centred business.
- You own outcomes across growth, margin, operations, customer experience and team performance.
⭐️ What Success Looks Like
- Jem Mobile is operationally strong, commercially healthy and scaling responsibly
- Unit economics are clear, tracked and improving
- Partners perform, fulfilment runs smoothly and customers have a great experience
- The team is aligned, supported and executing well
- Jem Mobile is unlocking real value for frontline workers and meaningful revenue for Jem
⭐️ What You’ll Do
- Own end-to-end performance of Jem Mobile (commercial, product, operations and CX)
- Run Jem Mobile as a business unit with full P&L ownership
- Lead and mentor the existing team across ops, credit risk, support and partnerships
- Set goals, operating rhythms and performance metrics
- Manage key partnerships (device suppliers, networks, couriers, MDM providers)
- Oversee stock, fulfilment, returns and operational processes
- Work closely with the founders on pricing, margin, risk appetite and strategy
- Build and maintain catalogues, sales collateral and product positioning
- Improve customer experience, reduce cancellations and manage churn drivers
- Identify and execute opportunities to grow the product, improve efficiency and expand impact
⭐️ You’ll Thrive Here If You
- Enjoy running complex businesses with many moving parts
- Are commercially strong and comfortable owning numbers and outcomes
- Like building teams, systems and structure from a fast-moving base
- Care deeply about real-world impact, not just slides and strategy
- Are hands-on, decisive and comfortable in ambiguity
⭐️ Requirements
Minimum
- 8–12+ years’ experience leading a commercial or operational function
- Background in e-commerce, fintech, telco, marketplace, retail credit or similar
- Proven experience running complex operations or high-volume transactional products
- Strong commercial instinct and comfort with margins, pricing and unit economics
- Experience managing suppliers, logistics or multi-partner ecosystems
- Clear leadership capability with a people-first mindset
- Strong process design and problem-solving ability
Nice to Have
- Experience with device financing or rent-to-own models
- Exposure to credit risk, affordability modelling or portfolio performance
- Experience in high-churn or frontline customer segments
- Experience scaling early-stage or fast-growth business units
⭐️ What You Can Expect from Us
- Hybrid work environment with a 3-day office policy in the Cape Town or Johannesburg ofice.
- A rare opportunity to run a full business unit inside a fast-growing tech company
- High ownership, real influence and direct access to founders
- Competitive salary (R100,000 - R125,000 monthly base salary, with incentives on top of that).
- Great Benefits (lunch 4 times a week, medical aid contribution, retirement annuity contribution, etc.) and 22 days of annual leave.
- We respond to all applications. You can expect feedback on your application, even if we decide not to move forward.
