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Digital Researcher

Job Title: Digital Researcher

Department: Digital Office

Reports to: Chief Digital Officer

Role Overview:

We are seeking an experienced Digital Researcher with a deep understanding of overall business needs and strategic objectives of the organisation. The ideal candidate will be responsible for market research, concept validation, business case development, and opportunity sizing for Simpaisa Holdings' cross-border payments and remittance products. This role sits at the intersection of strategy, product, and commercial - identifying new corridor opportunities, validating product-market fit for new payment propositions, and building the evidence base that informs investment decisions. Strong expertise in fintech market analysis, competitive intelligence, and structured business case development, ensuring the organisation pursues the highest-value opportunities with rigour, is essential. Experience in payments, remittances, or financial services is highly desirable.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Conduct market research and competitive analysis for cross-border payments, remittance corridors, and merchant payment services across MENA, South Asia, and Central Asia, identifying trends, market sizes, and growth drivers.
  • Develop and validate business cases for new remittance corridors, payment products, and market entries, including revenue modelling, cost analysis, and opportunity sizing.
  • Research and map the competitive landscape for each target corridor and product segment, analysing pricing, product features, distribution channels, and market share.
  • Collaborate with product, commercial, and compliance teams to validate new product concepts, ensuring regulatory feasibility across DFSA (Dubai), SBP (Pakistan), and destination-country jurisdictions.
  • Design and execute concept validation approaches - including customer interviews, surveys, data analysis, and pilot frameworks - to test assumptions before committing engineering resources.
  • Synthesise complex market, regulatory, and commercial data into clear, structured strategy documents, presentations, and executive briefings for the leadership team and board.
  • Monitor regulatory developments across target markets (DFSA, SBP, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, Central Bank regulations) and assess their impact on product strategy and corridor viability.
  • Partner with the Product Management tribe to ensure market insights and validated opportunities flow into the product roadmap and backlog prioritisation.
  • Track and analyse industry benchmarks - transaction volumes, corridor growth rates, FX margins, customer acquisition costs - to inform strategic positioning.
  • Maintain a pipeline of validated product and corridor opportunities, with clear prioritisation criteria based on market size, strategic fit, regulatory complexity, and time-to-market.
  • Develop and maintain relationships with industry bodies, regulators, and market data providers relevant to cross-border payments and remittances.

Required Skills and Experience:

  • Market Research and Analysis: Strong capability in primary and secondary research methods, competitive intelligence, and market sizing. Experience with fintech, payments, or financial services market analysis.
  • Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to distil complex market dynamics and strategic insights into clear, compelling narratives for executive and board audiences.
  • Strategy and Planning: Ability to develop structured business cases, opportunity assessments, and strategic recommendations that inform investment and product decisions. Strong organisational skills for managing multiple research and validation workstreams.
  • Leadership and Influence: Ability to work independently, own strategic workstreams, and influence product and commercial direction through evidence-based analysis.
  • Analytical Skills: Exceptional analytical skills to size markets, model corridor economics, evaluate competitive positioning, and assess regulatory impact. Comfort with financial modelling and data analysis.
  • Payments Domain Knowledge: Understanding of cross-border payments, remittance corridors, FX economics, Pay-In/Pay-Out methods, merchant acquiring, and the regulatory landscape for financial services in MENA and South Asia.
  • Regulatory Awareness: Familiarity with regulatory frameworks relevant to payments and remittances, including DFSA, SBP, PCI-DSS, AML/CTF, and destination-country requirements. Ability to assess regulatory feasibility of new product concepts.
  • Stakeholder Management: Ability to collaborate effectively with product, engineering, commercial, compliance, and executive teams, incorporating diverse perspectives into strategy recommendations.
  • Tools and Methods: Proficiency with strategy and analysis tools - financial modelling (Excel/Google Sheets), presentation development, data visualisation, and research platforms. Familiarity with product management tools (Jira, Confluence) and version control (Bitbucket) is a plus.

General Requirements for the Role:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a related field: A bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Strategy, Marketing, or a closely related field is required. An MBA or relevant master's degree is desirable.
  • 5+ years of experience in product strategy, management consulting, or market research, with at least 2 years in payments, fintech, or financial services.
  • Demonstrated experience in developing structured business cases, opportunity assessments, or investment analyses.
  • A verifiable history of research and analysis that directly informed product, commercial, or investment decisions.
  • Understanding of MENA and/or South Asian payments markets, regulatory landscapes, and remittance dynamics is highly desirable.

Benefits and Perks:

  • Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
  • Opportunity to shape the strategic direction of a rapidly growing cross-border payments fintech, working closely with the CDO and leadership team.
  • Professional development and training opportunities, including industry conferences and certifications.
  • Inclusive company culture that values diversity and innovation.