Our client, a leading South African fintech company focused on improving financial wellness through earned wage access solutions, is seeking an Activation Lead to join their team in Stellenbosch. This role does not exist yet. We are looking for someone who can build it while running it (with the support of the Head of Growth), someone who is data-led and proactive and applies learnings to ongoing optimisations for the benefit of the client and the employee.

The Activation Lead is responsible for the full employee activation journey across every new employer client; from the point the Implementation team brings you in through to when the activation sprint closes and the Relationship Manager takes full ownership of the ongoing relationship.

This is not a marketing role, and it is not a client service role. It sits at the most important commercial intersection in the business: the moment a client goes live, and the employee base either builds the habit or does not

The Activation Lead is the operational owner of the entire on-the-ground activation machine. This includes the people, scheduling, coordination, staff enablement, and execution required to make activation happen at every client site. This role does not hand briefs to others and wait. It owns the outcome.

Requirements

• Relevant 3 year tertiary qualification

• Experience in a client-facing role where employee or member engagement was the primary measure of success

• Experience in onboarding, change management, internal communications, or field activation

• Familiarity with CRM or project management tools (Monday.com, Salesforce, or similar)

• Experience working in or with large employer environments, retail, logistics, manufacturing, or similar deskless workforces

• An understanding of the South African workforce context and the financial pressures facing low-to-middle income employees

• Beneficial:

  • Experience in fintech, financial wellness, or EWA

  • Experience building a function or process from scratch

  • Experience working with WhatsApp-based communications at scale

Responsibilities

• Activation planning and execution

• Own the end-to-end employee activation process for every new employer client

• Build and manage the activation comms calendar per client, WhatsApp, SMS, poster, payslip messaging, in-app prompts

• Manage and execute online manager buy-in sessions and employee training sessions as a core execution responsibility --- scheduling, facilitation, attendance tracking, and follow-up all sit here

• Design and deploy incentive mechanics to drive first registration and first-transaction behaviour

• Track daily registration and activation numbers per client and per department

• Identify underperforming clients or departments early and intervene decisively

Client relationship

• Build a strong working relationship with the employer's HR and communications champion during the activation window

• Be the day-to-day contact for everything employee communications related, not for commercial or operational queries (those sit with the RM)

• Participate in review sessions with the RM and client

Reporting and impact

• Produce the snapshot per client

• Maintain the activation tracker in Monday.com, real-time and accurate at all times

• Share weekly progress numbers with the Head of Growth

• Flag churn risk signals to the RM

Content and comms collaboration

• Work closely with the Head of Marketing (Head of Marketing) and the team on employee-facing comms - you lead deployment and execution

• Coordinate with Implementation

Product expansion activation

• When a client is sold an additional product, lead the new product activation sprint for that client's employee base

Who we are looking for

• This role does not exist yet. We are looking for someone who can build it while running it (with the support of the Head of Growth), someone who is data-led and proactive and applies learnings to ongoing optimisations for the benefit of the client and the employee.

You will thrive in this role if you

• Are relentlessly organised, you track everything, follow up on everything, and nothing falls through the cracks

• Are a strong communicator, you can run a manager briefing with 50-line managers one day and write a WhatsApp message template the next

• Are comfortable in ambiguity, the playbook does not exist yet; you will write it

• Care about the mission, you understand that every employee who registers is one step closer to financial stability, and that drives you

• Are a natural collaborator, you work across Implementation, Marketing, Client Relations, and the RM team without ego and without territorial thinking

• Are data-literate, you read your own numbers, know when you are off-track, and act before being asked

• Thrive on being in the field, this role involves on-site visits, virtual sessions, and being present where the activation happens

General:

• We are committed to fair and inclusive hiring. All suitably qualified applicants are welcome to apply.

• Preference may be given in line with our client's Employment Equity plan and applicable legislation.

• Applicants must have the legal right to work in South Africa at the time of application.

• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within 30 days, please consider your application unsuccessful.

• Please include your current remuneration (CTC), salary expectation, and notice period (optional but helpful for screening).

• By applying, you consent to the processing of your personal information for recruitment purposes in accordance with POPIA.