Senior Recruiter, Expansion

About the role

Wave is expanding into new African markets and needs a deployable recruiter to build hiring engines ahead of launch, especially in francophone countries. You will be on the ground before the office and HR team exist, creating talent maps, establishing compensation benchmarks, and managing full‑cycle recruitment for the first cohort of hires.

Key responsibilities

• Deploy into new markets roughly a month before launch and own hiring on the ground during the critical early months.
• Build a talent map from scratch: identify existing talent, understand compensation expectations, and pinpoint gaps that require external hires.
• Establish realistic compensation benchmarks in markets with limited salary data and ensure offers are competitive.
• Own full‑cycle recruitment for the first cohort, focusing on leadership and business‑critical roles.
• Cover the gap before People Ops arrives by onboarding new hires, handling practicalities, and acting as the interim People function.
• Maintain Greenhouse data integrity to keep pipeline health and funnel metrics usable.
• Transfer knowledge to your replacement and set them up for success.
• Document learnings from each launch to accelerate future market entries.

Required profile

• 6+ years of end‑to‑end recruitment experience, including 3+ years in‑house recruiting in high‑growth African environments.
• Full professional fluency in French and English, able to negotiate compensation and handle difficult conversations in both languages.
• Proven ability to recruit in markets you did not previously know, building talent maps from scratch.
• Right to work in one of Wave’s operating countries and the flexibility to relocate for months at a time.
• Strong stakeholder management and the ability to earn credibility quickly with country leadership.
• Analytical mindset comfortable with metrics, KPIs, and spreadsheets.
• High autonomy in ambiguous conditions, often as the sole recruiter in the country.

Required skills

• Greenhouse (ATS)
• Excel (spreadsheets for metrics and compensation analysis)

What we offer

• Competitive salaries calculated with a transparent formula.
• Generous parental leave (26 weeks for mothers, 4 weeks for fathers) and subsidized child care.
• Gym membership and fitness class subsidies.
• Airtime reimbursement and an assignment allowance.
• Travel and accommodation support for deployments.