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Appointing pawaPay’s first senior marketing leader

Our financial services marketing recruiters supported pawaPay, a fast-growing B2B payments start-up, in 2025. As they searched for their first full time senior marketer to lead their next stage of growth, they needed the support of a specialist recruitment agency to connect them to the best possible talent.  

Jaemien Serrano and Harrison Knowles effectively represented the business, connecting them with an excellent Head of Marketing who is ready to lead their brand development and demand generation. 

Appointing pawaPay’s first senior marketing leader

The story of pawaPay

Founded in 2020, pawaPay is a high growth FinTech start-up, enabling businesses to make seamless mobile money payments across Africa. Having seen impressive success with limited marketing investment, the business recognised the need to bring in its first full-time senior marketer to establish a scalable marketing engine. 

Challenge: Building the foundation for growth marketing in a global FinTech

Working alongside their Fractional CMO, pawaPay partnered with 3Search to find a leader who could balance strategic vision with hands-on delivery. They needed someone capable of designing and executing a marketing strategy across multiple regions, whilst thriving in a remote-first, global environment. 

The brief required an exceptional all-rounder with deep experience in B2B sales funnels, a commercial mindset, and the ability to influence across international teams. 

Solution: A retained international search

Our team worked with pawaPay on a retained basis. Led by Jaemien and Harrison, they ran an international search spanning the UK, Europe, and Africa. 

The process began with detailed alignment calls between 3Search, the Fractional CMO, and pawaPay’s leadership team to define the ideal profile. Regular catchups ensured total clarity at every stage and gave all parties a shared understanding of priorities and progress. 

Our approach combined: 

  • Targeted headhunting across FinTech and payments sectors. 
  • Consultative refinement of the brief based on market feedback. 
  • Ongoing transparency, with clear communication on candidate engagement, availability, and offer management.

By blending strategic understanding with local market knowledge, the team identified high-calibre marketers with the right balance of technical skill, leadership capability, and growth experience. 


 

Result: A high-impact Head of Marketing hire

pawaPay successfully appointed their first permanent senior marketing leader – a pivotal hire responsible for shaping the company’s marketing function from the ground up. 

As a fractional CMO working with an early-stage payments start-up, I was tasked with helping the business make a pivotal first marketing hire. It was essential that we found a partner who not only understood the brief, but also the nuances of hiring into a fast-paced, remote-first, scaling environment. From our very first conversation, 3Search gave me complete confidence that they did. We worked with Jaemien and Harrison on a retained, international search, and the process was excellent from start to finish. The team quickly grasped the unique blend of strategic and hands-on skills we needed and ran a rigorous, detailed search that delivered a high-calibre shortlist. Their understanding of the payments and fintech landscape was clear, and their advice throughout was consultative, insightful, and pragmatic. Communication was seamless. I always felt updated and supported, and it genuinely felt like a partnership throughout. Thanks to 3Search’s work, we were able to appoint a fantastic Head of Marketing. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.
Guy Moreve Fractional CMO

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