Back to jobs
New

Senior Product Manager, International Rapid Response Payment Systems

London, UK

About GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly (GD) aims to reshape international giving – and millions of lives – by providing cash grants directly to the world’s poorest. The Brookings Institution estimates that $70B of cash transfers would be required to eliminate the poverty gap; the aid sector currently spends $135B each year, much of it on evidence-free interventions. GiveDirectly wants to change that, establishing cash transfers as a benchmark for foreign aid – as the index fund is a benchmark for the financial industry – and in the process accelerating the end of extreme poverty.

GD has raised over $1B since launching in 2011, delivered cash to more than 1.5 million people in 15 different countries. We’ve also supported large-scale, experimental research that indicates strong recipient impact of our programs. As a result, GD has been celebrated as one of the most innovative non-profit companies by Fast Company, while the growing cash transfer movement (and GD’s leading role within it) have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, This American Life, Foreign Affairs, and The Economist.

Our culture is candid, analytical, agile, and non-hierarchical. Our global team of ~150, and country operations teams of ~650, together come from 21 different countries speaking 69 different languages. From software engineers to seasoned humanitarian workers, former management consultants to public servants, researchers to field operations -- it’s an incredible group of people.

Our values are central and deliberately opinionated. We genuinely center the people we serve in our decision making, and strive to build an ambitious, dynamic and high performing environment. We strongly encourage you to read through our values carefully, if they reflect how you like to work and energize you, this could be a great fit.

We work hard to create an environment in which all our team members can thrive, succeed and grow.  We support flexibility, take care of each other, have fun, and create professional growth opportunities.

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: approximately once per quarter

 

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

 

 #LI-REMOTE

 

Working at GiveDirectly

GiveDirectly is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to the person’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Flagging for US applicants: We invite you to "Know Your Rights" as an applicant.

Commitment to Safeguarding

As a global organization serving some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, GiveDirectly takes the safeguarding of its recipients, staff, and partners seriously. To that end, GiveDirectly is a member of the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, and will systematically check with previous employers about any sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment issues relating to potential new hires. We may also employ other robust pre-hire screens, including in-depth reference checks, criminal background checks, and sanctions screens.

GD is committed to observing all local, national and international laws that protect children, vulnerable adults, and basic human rights of all. GD is committed to a policy of “zero tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH)” and expects anyone who works for GD to uphold the protection and safeguarding of our recipients as a priority.

These efforts help us continue to build and maintain trust with the communities we serve, and prevent harm to our recipients.

 

Want to put your best foot forward on your GiveDirectly application? Take a look at our Candidate Application Prep Guide!

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at GiveDirectly? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...
Select...

We'd love to hear from you—not AI.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in GiveDirectly’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.