Manager - Credit & Repayment Operations

Apollo Agriculture is an agritech company that provides smallholder farmers in Africa with access to high-quality farming inputs, financing, insurance, and agronomic training. By bundling these services into an integrated offering delivered through a network of local agrodealers, the company enables small-scale farmers to significantly improve their yields and income. Apollo uses data science and satellite imagery to assess credit risk for farmers who lack formal credit histories, making financial services accessible to a population historically excluded from traditional banking and lending systems. The company operates primarily in Kenya and is expanding across sub-Saharan Africa. Apollo Agriculture's mission is rooted in sustainability and climate resilience. By improving access to certified seeds, fertilizers, and crop insurance, the company helps farming families build more stable and productive livelihoods while contributing to broader food security goals. The emphasis on climate adaptation, including supporting farmers in selecting inputs suited to changing weather patterns, positions Apollo as an active participant in the green and climate-focused technology sector. What makes Apollo Agriculture distinctive is its end-to-end approach to smallholder farmer empowerment. Rather than addressing a single pain point, the company tackles financing, inputs, insurance, and training simultaneously, reducing the barriers that typically prevent small-scale farmers from investing in their land. This holistic model, combined with technology-driven credit assessment and a last-mile distribution network of agrodealers, allows Apollo to reach and serve farmers in rural and remote areas at scale.

Responsibilities:

Repayment Strategy & Execution

Contribute to the development of operational repayment strategies in close collaboration with the Credit Leadership team, and take ownership of executing these strategies to ensure alignment with company objectives.

Provide hands-on guidance to the repayment operations team, focusing on execution to deliver strong performance and seamless repayment and collection processes.

Continuously improve repayment and collection rates, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness through hands-on execution.

Cross-Functional Alignment & Leadership Engagement

Act as the primary liaison between Credit Ops, Commercial, and Product.

Represent repayment performance and strategy in senior leadership forums, ensuring alignment with business priorities.

Customer-Centric Collections Execution 

Champion a customer-first approach across all repayment channels (field and call center), ensuring that collections practices are empathetic, respectful, and solutions-oriented.

Embed Quality Assurance (QA), coaching, and clear policies that guide repayment teams to deliver constructive, customer-centric conversations while meeting repayment performance standards.

Team Development & Performance Management

Build, maintain, and continuously improve a high-performing repayment operations team spanning the field, call center, and repayment associates.

Lead recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, and training to foster ownership, accountability, and professional growth.

Track team and individual performance regularly, providing constructive feedback, coaching, and mentorship to drive growth while recognizing achievements and celebrating success.

Create a culture of performance and improvement that drives sustained delivery on repayment goals.

Compliance & Risk Management

Ensure all repayment activities strictly adhere to company policies, industry regulations, and best practices.

Embed robust controls, coaching, and QA processes to uphold the highest compliance and quality standards across repayment teams.

Cost & Budget Management

Manage the credit and repayment-related costs and budgets, ensuring efficient use of resources without compromising on quality or performance.

Identify cost-saving opportunities while safeguarding customer experience.

Insights, Data & Risk Management

Use data and field insights to refine repayment strategies and flag risks early.

Partner with analytics teams to strengthen dashboards and decision-making tools.

Collaborate with fraud teams to detect, escalate, and resolve fraud cases.

Process Innovation & Digitization

Continuously improve repayment systems and processes, including digital tools, automation, and field innovations.

Hands-On Leadership & System Building

 Not only are you a leader, you are a doer. You roll up your sleeves to support execution while building and refining the systems, processes, and structures needed for repayment success. You set the tone for accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement across teams.

Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree from a recognized institution, preferably in Business, Finance, Economics, or a related field. 

5-8 years of experience in repayment operations, collections, or a related field

Proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop high-performing teams.

Demonstrated ability to define, execute, and adapt repayment strategies in alignment with business goals.

Strong analytical skills to interpret data, generate insights, and drive decision-making.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively across levels and functions.

Knowledge of budgeting, cost management, and financial targets.

Familiarity with compliance requirements and experience in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks.

Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment and adjust strategies as needed.

Customer-centric mindset with a focus on balancing repayment performance and positive customer experiences.

Proactive, gritty, and resourceful, able to balance strategy with execution and thrive in dynamic, field-driven environments.

SQL knowledge is an added advantage. 

We:

Are a collaborative team of smart and ambitious people who are dedicated to serving our customers. 

Make magic happen to solve hard problems and always come with solutions when challenges arise. 

Are comfortable taking risks that can result in radical scale, and understand that failures are opportunities to learn and improve. 

Are considerate listeners and take the time to deeply understand and seek out ideas from the people around us, even when we disagree. 

Offer a dynamic environment that fosters talent, collaboration, and growth. 

Take pride in our work and share the responsibility to see it through from conception to deployment. 

Back up our talk with a competitive compensation and benefits package and challenging projects. 

Value autonomy, honesty, transparency, and respect. 

Are excited to hear from you!