Are you a driven analytical professional with a passion for leveraging data to solve complex financial challenges? BFREE Africa, an innovative tech-enabled ethical credit management company, is seeking a talented Investment Associate to join its dynamic team. We are dedicated to transforming consumers' financial health across Africa by making collection processes more scalable, efficient, and user-friendly.

About BFREE Africa

BFREE Africa is at the forefront of financial innovation, committed to ethical and data-driven solutions in the credit management space. Our mission is to build a robust platform that not only optimizes debt recovery but also fosters a healthier financial ecosystem for consumers on the continent. We believe in harnessing technology to create fair, transparent, and effective processes that benefit all stakeholders.

The Opportunity: Investment Associate

The Investment Associate role is a pivotal, highly analytical position that operates at the nexus of portfolio performance, collections strategy, and critical investment decision-making. This is far more than a reporting function; we are looking for a proactive individual who possesses intellectual rigor, insatiable curiosity, and a genuine drive to uncover the 'why' behind portfolio performance. You will be instrumental in diagnosing performance trends, identifying key levers that influence collections outcomes, and translating complex data into actionable recommendations for our operations, collections, and investment teams.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio Performance Analysis

Maintain sophisticated portfolio-level and cohort-level performance models across BFREE's diverse loan books.
Diligently track and analyze key metrics such as collection rates, cure rates, roll rates, and IRR versus underwriting projections across various portfolio vintages, products, and counterparties.
Generate regular, insightful performance reports for both internal leadership and external stakeholders.
Proactively identify performance outliers, both positive and negative, and lead thorough root-cause investigations to understand underlying drivers.

Collections Strategy & Optimisation

Collaborate closely with operations and collections leadership to design, implement, and rigorously evaluate new interventions, including optimizing channel mix, contact cadence, settlement strategies, and agent allocation.
Design and analyze A/B tests and operational experiments to establish clear causal evidence for what drives uplift in collections performance.
Develop robust models to project the expected impact of proposed strategy changes before deployment, and meticulously track realized versus projected outcomes post-deployment.

Data & Tooling

Exhibit expert proficiency in querying and manipulating large datasets using SQL.
Build and maintain advanced analytical models utilizing Python, R, or Excel, adapting to the most effective tools for the task.
Partner effectively with the data engineering team to define analytical requirements, identify and flag data quality issues, and continually improve the overall analytical infrastructure.
Develop reusable dashboards and automated reporting solutions to enhance efficiency and accessibility of insights where appropriate.

What We're Looking For

Experience

2–4 years of experience in a quantitatively intensive role, such as consumer lending analytics, credit risk management, structured finance, management consulting, investment banking, or distressed debt.
Prior exposure to debt collections, credit portfolio management, or non-performing loan (NPL) markets is a significant advantage.
Experience operating within African financial markets is preferred.

Skills & Competencies

Exceptional Quantitative and Logical Reasoning: You possess the ability to build financial models from the ground up, rigorously stress-test your own assumptions, and intuitively recognize when an answer doesn't align with expectations.
Technical Proficiency: Required proficiency in SQL, Python or R for statistical analysis, and Excel/Google Sheets for financial modeling.
Experimental Design & Interpretation: A strong understanding of statistical significance, selection bias, and the inherent limits of observational data.
Strong Communication: Ability to translate complex analytical findings into clear, concise, and decision-oriented narratives for both technical and non-technical audiences.
Detail-Oriented and Self-Directed: Comfortable managing multiple work-streams with minimal oversight within a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

Education

An MBA is preferred, particularly from a program with a strong emphasis on finance, strategy, or analytics.
A Bachelor's or Master's degree in a quantitative discipline (e.g., Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, Finance, Computer Science) will also be strongly considered.

Join BFREE Africa

This is an exciting opportunity to make a tangible impact within a fast-growing company that is redefining ethical credit management in Africa. If you are a highly analytical professional eager to apply your skills to drive financial health and business growth, we encourage you to apply!