Senior Product Manager, International Rapid Response Payment Systems

Priority application deadline: August 25, 2025 or until we reach a critical mass of applications

Location: This role is fully remote but must overlap with an East Africa timezone by at least 3 hours. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas in the U.S. or U.K. at this time.

About this role

GiveDirectly is seeking a Senior Product Manager to drive the design, evaluation, and deployment of cutting-edge payment solutions that support cash transfers to people affected by crises or in extreme poverty—anywhere in the world. This individual will serve as the technical and strategic lead on payment rails and digital transfer mechanisms within the International Rapid Response (IRR) Product team, with a strong focus on reaching displaced and crisis-affected populations with unconditional cash assistance efficiently, securely, and with dignity.

The ideal candidate will combine technical knowledge of global payment systems—including aggregator platforms and blockchain-based solutions—with a deep curiosity for solving complex financial and technology challenges. They will play a pivotal role in identifying, testing, and scaling solutions that allow GiveDirectly to deliver cash directly to individuals in emergency settings across the globe.

Reports to: Senior Product Director, International Rapid Response

Level: Senior Manager

Travel Requirement: Must be able to travel ~1-2 times per year to one of our countries of operation for team retreats or field visits

What you'll do:

• Payments Product Strategy and Roadmapping
  • Own the product vision, roadmap, and prioritization for international payments infrastructure.
  • Translate strategic objectives into actionable product goals, features, and success metrics.
  • Regularly evaluate and refine product-market fit in the context of fast-evolving program and country needs.
• Investigate and Innovate Global Payment Channels:
  • Identify, assess, and recommend international payment solutions that can reach populations in fragile and underserved markets.
  • Develop partnerships with global and regional payment aggregators, mobile money platforms, remittance providers, and stablecoin or crypto partners.
  • Pilot and evaluate alternative transfer modalities, including blockchain-based or decentralized finance (DeFi) approaches, particularly in contexts where traditional banking access is limited.
• Build and Scale Payment Infrastructure:
  • Design systems for integrating new payment rails into GD's operations, ensuring compliance, security, and scalability.
  • Define and document technical and operational requirements for payment implementation in humanitarian and development settings.
  • Collaborate with engineers and data teams to ensure seamless integration with targeting, verification, monitoring, and payments systems.
• Research & Landscape Analysis:
  • Map and compare emerging technologies and vendors in the payments space, with a focus on rapid deployment and cross-border capabilities.
  • Conduct technical due diligence on vendors and track trends in stablecoin, mobile finance, and blockchain applications.
• Cross-functional Collaboration:
  • Work closely with program managers, engineers, field teams, and finance/legal teams to ensure payment strategies align with on-the-ground realities and compliance frameworks.
  • Ensure excellent handoff of provider execution, oversight and compliance to implementation teams.
  • Support crisis response deployments with technical insight and problem-solving on-the-fly to ensure people get paid.
• Performance and Reliability Management:
  • Define and monitor key metrics (e.g., transaction success rates, payment speeds, reconciliation gaps).
  • Coordinate root cause analyses and mitigation planning for issues affecting reliability, latency, or compliance, and feed this into the product and FSP strategy
• Drive Efficiency and Creativity:
  • Leverage your creativity to solve the unique challenges of delivering money in unpredictable, unstable, or disconnected environments.
  • Continuously refine internal payment playbooks and propose systemic improvements to speed, reliability, and recipient experience.

What you'll bring:

• Exceptional alignment with GiveDirectly Values and active demonstration of our core competencies: emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity. We welcome and strongly encourage applications from candidates who have personal or professional experience in the low-income and/or historically marginalized communities that we serve.
• 5 years of experience working with international digital payment systems, financial technology platforms, and/or crypto/blockchain-enabled services.
• Demonstrated understanding of global remittance infrastructures, mobile money networks, cross-border compliance issues, and KYC/AML processes.
• Hands-on experience evaluating and/or implementing stablecoin or cryptocurrency payment solutions in low-infrastructure environments.
• Experience in a high ambiguity, low-structure environment — you create clarity, not wait for it
• Ability to collaborate inclusively with stakeholders across varied social, national, and cultural backgrounds, including communicating technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Analytical problem solver: looks at problems with analytical and iterative mindset, with strong framework for prioritization
• Intermediate to advanced data manipulation and analysis skills to derive insights from payment data.
• Technical fluency with payments APIs and technical documentation, including data security standards and the ability to identify areas of concern or strength.
• Language Requirement: English fluency

Nice to Have

• Experience operating in crisis or humanitarian contexts (e.g., conflict zones, natural disasters).
• Prior work with startups or experimental products in global south or emerging markets.
• Comfort working in SQL, python, R or other scripting data manipulation tools for performance monitoring.

Compensation

At GiveDirectly, we strive to pay our employees generously and equitably. We use an accredited third party salary aggregator to ensure that staff's total compensation package (base compensation bonus) falls within the 75th percentile of similar roles, at similar organizations. We also have a no negotiation policy to ensure we are paying staff equitably across roles. Read more about our compensation philosophy here.

• The United States base salary for this role is $129,000.
• The Kenya base salary for this role is $101,221.

This role is fully remote, so if you are not based in the US or Kenya, we will share an estimated salary benchmark for the country you are based in during the hiring process.

Why work at GiveDirectly?

At GiveDirectly, we work to ensure that you have everything you need to excel in your role and on your team, including:

• A supportive team that works hard and cares hard
• A robust health benefits plan (exact details will vary by country)
• Flexible paid time off that staff is encouraged to take
• Allowances for desk set-up and learning and development

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