We're hiring our first Lead Engineer - AI Agents to lead a team that designs, ships, and scales automations and AI agents across M-KOPA.
This is a brand-new team within the business - the tech foundation is already proven, and now we need someone to lead it, scale it, and define what it becomes.
The Impact
Your production-grade automations and agents will directly improve how 2,300+ employees work across our global operations.
We've already helped over 10 million customers access over $2 billion in credit - and the tools you build will help that mission scale further and faster.
It's your chance to be part of something that's literally transforming lives across an entire continent.
The Opportunity
Mission-driven engineering: Every automation you build helps internal teams and customer-facing staff deliver financial inclusion to Africa's Every Day Earners
Global recognition: Join a company named by TIME 100 as one of the world's most influential and by the Financial Times as Africa's fastest-growing for 5 consecutive years (2022 - 2026)
Scale challenges: 2,500+ employees across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, the UK, and Europe - internal teams that can't scale by hiring forever need intelligent tooling that actually works
Environmental impact: We're carbon-negative, having displaced over 2 million tonnes of emissions
What You'll Do
At M-KOPA, you'll lead the AI Ops Agents team from day one - owning delivery, growing the function, and proving the value.
You'll work daily with Claude, Claude Code, MCP, and LangChain to build production-grade agents and automations that internal teams actually use.
Your team builds automations and agents for internal use and serves as internal consultants, helping Software Engineering teams integrate AI into customer-facing products.
Your key responsibilities:
Lead three AI Ops Engineers own their delivery, development, and day-to-day work
Prioritise efficiently manage competing requests from multiple teams by applying a clear prioritisation framework you'll help develop and improve
Design and ship multi-agent systems and production-grade automations that measurably improve how internal teams and customer-facing staff work
Build RAG pipelines for internal knowledge retrieval that ground agents in real organisational context
Keep the AI tooling stack healthy as usage scales across 2,500+ employees
Stay current on emerging AI tools and technologies - know what's hype and what's actually useful
Help refine AI training for the wider organisation, including Software Engineering teams.
Technical Environment:
AI & Agentic Frameworks: Claude, Claude Code, Anthropic tooling, LangChain, LangGraph, MCP, multi-agent orchestration, Google ADK (or similar agentic tooling)
Existing Foundation: Twelve months of Claude, Claude Code, Notion, HiBob, and Entra automations already running in production you're building on proven foundations, not starting from zero.
Our Approach:
Build, don't just advise this is a hands-on team that ships working automations and agents
Prove the value, then expand start with three engineers, demonstrate impact, grow from there
Product-focused mindset treat internal teams as customers and build tooling that works
Cut through the hype evaluate emerging AI tools on practical value, not marketing buzz.
What You Need
We're looking for someone with a strong technical background and product-focused mindset.
You won't be building models - we have Data Science teams for that.
You'll be building multi-agent systems, shipping production-grade automations, and leading a team that makes M-KOPA's internal operations smarter and faster.
Required Experience:
Hands-on experience building production-grade automations and AI agents scripting, workflow tools, or AI-assisted development
Hands-on experience building multi-agent systems using agentic frameworks LangChain, LangGraph, MCP, Google ADK or similar
Experience with RAG pipelines retrieval-augmented generation for internal knowledge and workflow automation
Background in enterprise tooling rapid prototyping tools (Vercel/Railway), identity automation (Entra), or internal platforms
People leadership experience you've led or mentored engineers and can own a team's delivery and development.
Why This Role?
This is a brand new team within the business, reporting to the Director of Security.
The tech stack is proven - twelve months of Claude, Claude Code, Notion, HiBob, and Entra automations already running. The team structure is what's new.
That's yours to shape.
You'll start with three engineers.
Prove the value.
Expand from there.
The problems are complex. 2,500+ employees across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, the UK, and Europe. Internal teams that can't scale by hiring forever. Customer-facing staff who need tools that actually work.
M-KOPA provides affordable financial and digital products to underserved communities across Africa - unlocking access to smartphones, credit, and insurance for millions of people. The automations and agents you build don't just save time internally - they help that mission reach more people.
If you want to decide how AI actually gets used at scale across a growing fintech - this is the opportunity.
Location & Benefits
Fully remote role within UTC -1 to UTC +3 time zones
Work with diverse teams across UK, Europe, and Africa
Professional development programmes and coaching partnerships
Family-friendly policies and flexible working arrangements
Well-being support and career growth opportunities.