Overview
Chief of Staff Jobs in Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria at BFREE
Title: Chief of Staff
Company: BFREE
Location: Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
About BFREE
BFREE is building the infrastructure for distressed credit in Africa. We use artificial intelligence and data to acquire and manage non-performing loan portfolios, serving banks, fintechs, and alternative asset managers across Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Backed by AfricInvest, Capria Ventures, and others, we are scaling portfolio acquisition, entering new markets, and creating the continent’s first institutionalised secondary market for retail and SME credit. As our balance sheet grows and our regulatory footprint deepens, a rigorous, independent risk function is no longer optional; it is central to how we operate and how we earn the trust of the institutions we work with.
About the Role
The Chief of Staff sits at the center of BFREE’s operations, working directly alongside the founders and leadership team across every vertical of the business. You are not a scheduler or a note-taker. You are an operator: someone who takes a problem, structures it, and drives it to a conclusion with limited hand-holding and high standards.
The portfolio is deliberately broad and will shift with the company’s priorities: one week, you might be preparing investor materials and coordinating a data room; the next, you could be on the ground in a new market scoping a launch or sitting in a meeting with a regulator. You will be exposed to every dimension of a fast-growing African fintech, including strategy, operations, commercial, fundraising, and expansion, earlier than almost any other role at your stage would offer.
Key Responsibilities
● Support the founders across strategic priorities, including structuring problems, building analyses, and following through on execution so nothing falls through the cracks.
● Own discrete special projects end-to-end: market entry assessments, operational deep dives, partnership scoping, and process improvement initiatives.
● Contribute to fundraising efforts, building presentations and data packs, researching investors, coordinating logistics, and preparing briefing notes ahead of meetings.
● Support BFREE’s pan-African expansion by conducting on-the-ground research, building local relationships, and helping stand up new market operations.
● Step into fires: when something breaks or needs urgent attention, you diagnose quickly, bring structure, and help the team move through it.
● Attend meetings with external stakeholders: banking partners, regulators, and shareholders. Prepared, attentive, and ready to support follow-through on whatever comes out of them.
● Produce board-quality outputs: concise memos, sharp slide decks, and structured analyses that allow leadership to make fast, well-informed decisions.
● Track cross-functional workstreams, flag blockers early, and keep the organization aligned on what matters most.
● Travel across the continent regularly to support expansion, stakeholder engagement, and wherever the work takes you.
Requirements
● At least 2 years of experience in a front-office role at a Tier 1 management consulting firm (McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or equivalent), a Tier 1 investment bank, or a venture capital/private equity firm. You have been trained to think rigorously and work at pace.
● Knowledge of GenAI and prompt coding will be an added advantage.
● Strong analytical and structured thinking skills. You can break down a messy problem, build a clean model or framework around it, and communicate your findings clearly.
● High ownership and follow-through: you do not hand problems back, you do not need constant direction, and you hold yourself accountable for outcomes rather than activities.
● Genuine comfort with ambiguity. The brief will shift, the priorities will change, and you will need to adapt without losing momentum.
● The maturity to engage with senior stakeholders, including founders, board members, institutional investors, and regulators, professionally and without needing to be managed.
● A willingness to travel extensively across Sub-Saharan Africa as a regular part of the role.
● Fluency in English. French, Arabic, or Swahili is an advantage.
● An interest in or existing connection to the African tech and financial services landscape.
Why Join Us
● High-Level Collaboration: Co-founders / CEO. Day-to-day exposure to the full leadership team.
● Global Reach: Lagos, Nairobi, or Accra. Exceptions considered for the right person. Significant pan-African travel. Expect to be on the ground across multiple markets regularly.
● Compensation: Competitive package including cash and equity. Commensurate with the seniority and scope of the role.