🚀 We’re Hiring: Procurement Officer – Merchant Division

Are you a procurement professional who thrives on building strong supplier partnerships, driving cost efficiency, and enabling operational excellence across a fast‑growing merchant ecosystem?

We’re looking for a Procurement Officer – Merchant Division to lead disciplined, strategic procurement for all merchant‑facing products and services, ensuring value, quality, compliance and strong supplier performance. This role plays a critical part in enabling financial inclusion and digital empowerment for merchants across Southern Africa.

📍 Location: Johannesburg
📊 Reporting Line: CFO – Merchant Division

💼 Purpose
The Procurement Officer ensures value‑driven, well‑governed procurement across all merchant‑related categories — POS hardware, secure cash‑management equipment, software and SaaS solutions, logistics partners, and service providers.

This role supports Lesaka’s mission by:

• Securing competitive, reliable supplier partnerships
• Enabling timely and high‑quality product availability
• Driving cost optimisation and commercial value
• Ensuring strong governance, compliance and audit readiness

The role works closely with Finance, Technology, Operations, Legal and Commercial teams to embed disciplined procurement practices across the Merchant Division.

🤝 Key Relationships

• CFO – Merchant Division
• COO – Merchant Division
• Financial Control Teams
• Internal Audit
• External Audit

🔍 Key Responsibilities

Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management

• Lead end‑to‑end procurement for merchant‑related goods and services (POS hardware, vaults, software, data/telecoms, SaaS, logistics, 3rd‑party merchant support services).
• Identify, evaluate and onboard suppliers that meet quality, commercial and risk standards.
• Conduct RFQs/RFPs and negotiate competitive commercial terms.
• Foster strong supplier relationships to support merchant expansion across Southern Africa.

Contracting & Commercial Risk Management

• Draft, review and maintain SLAs, MSAs and supplier agreements with Legal.
• Track contract renewals, penalty clauses, and deliverables.
• Escalate performance issues and mitigate commercial risk with operations and legal teams.

Cost Optimisation & Value Creation

• Drive cost‑saving initiatives across procurement categories.
• Provide procurement spend analysis, supplier forecasts and variance commentary for budgeting cycles.
• Partner with Finance and Operations to optimise inventory and prevent stock‑outs (POS devices, vaults and related equipment).

Governance, Controls & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with internal governance frameworks, Delegation of Authority, SOX requirements and ethical procurement standards.
• Maintain supplier documentation, approvals and procurement records for audit readiness.
• Uphold anti‑corruption and fair vendor‑selection practices.

Reporting & Cross‑Functional Partnership

• Produce dashboards covering spend categories, supplier KPIs, savings and risk indicators.
• Act as a trusted partner to Product, Technology, Operations and Finance in enabling new merchant offerings and market expansion.
• Provide insight‑driven procurement recommendations to senior leadership.

📌 Key Deliverables

• Reliable supply chain for POS and cash‑management equipment.
• Competitive commercial contracts that deliver measurable cost savings.
• SOX‑ready procurement documentation and risk‑managed supplier engagements.
• Strong supplier performance tracking and optimised category spend.

🎓 Qualifications & Experience

Mandatory

• Tertiary qualification in Supply Chain, Procurement, Finance, Business or Commerce
• 5–8+ years procurement experience (technology, financial services or SaaS preferred)
• Strong experience negotiating and managing supplier contracts
• Exposure to ERP procurement modules and contract‑management systems

Preferred

• Experience in fintech, payments or merchant services

🧠 Skills & Competencies

• End‑to‑end procurement expertise (sourcing, tendering, negotiation)
• Experience with technology/fintech procurement (hardware, SaaS, integrations)
• Strong financial acumen and ability to interpret budgets and forecasts
• Governance and risk‑management awareness within regulated environments
• Proven cost‑savings delivery and supplier‑risk management
• Strong relationship‑building and cross‑functional influence

🌟 Personal Attributes

• Commercially astute, analytical and detail‑oriented
• Confident communicator with strong influencing skills
• Highly organised and able to manage multiple priorities
• Collaborative, solutions‑focused and action‑oriented
• Strong ethical mindset and sound judgement

🔗 Ready to drive value, quality and disciplined procurement across the Merchant Division?
Apply now — or share with someone who would excel in this influential, high‑impact role.

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