PAYMENOW GROUP VACANCY

Role:      Activation Lead

Location:    Stellenbosch, South Africa

Type:       Permanent

Reports to:    TBC

Works closely with: Head of Growth · Head of Marketing · Head of Implementation · Relationship Managers · Client Relations

About the role

Paymenow's growth strategy identifies client activation as a critical lever in our business. We have set ourselves ambitious registration and activation targets against our Vision to end the debt trap for 10 million employees by 2035.

This is a new role. 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.

Key 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 Day 60 and Day 90 review sessions with the RM and client

Reporting and impact

• Produce the Day 90 impact snapshot per client: registrations, activations, product usage, department breakdown
• Maintain the activation tracker in Monday.com, real-time and accurate at all times
• Share weekly progress numbers with the Head of Growth every Monday morning
• Flag churn risk signals to the RM: low activation rates, disengaged HR champions, technical blockers

Content and comms collaboration

• Work closely with the Head of Marketing (Head of Marketing) and the team on employee-facing comms, she leads content strategy, you lead deployment and execution
• Brief the marketing team on what is and is not working in the field, your activation data informs the comms strategy
• Coordinate with Implementation on the pre-go-live comms kit handover and readiness checklist

Product expansion activation

• When a client is sold an additional product (SmartReset, EngageHR, Savings, Rewards), lead the new product activation sprint for that client's employee base
• Each new product sprint follows the same 90-day model, plan, launch, track, close

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

Experience that would help:

• 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

Experience that is not required but would be a bonus:

• Experience in fintech, financial wellness, or EWA
• Experience building a function or process from scratch
• Experience working with WhatsApp-based communications at scale

What we offer

• A genuinely new role with real ownership, you build this function
• A mission that matters: 10 million employees by 2035 is not a brand line, it is the reason this business exists
• Direct access to the Head of Growth and a team that moves fast and takes activation seriously
• A role at the most commercially critical intersection in the business, if you get this right, the whole flywheel turns
• Competitive salary commensurate with experience

Paymenow Group · paymenow.app