Erick Otieno

Background

About Erick Otieno

Fintech Engineer with 8+ years of experience driving cross-border payment innovation, product integrations, and customer-centric solution design across Africa and Europe. I specialize in bridging commercial vision with technical execution by aligning business needs with scalable architectures, seamless integrations, and high-performing platforms. Over the years, I have led large-scale implementations spanning international money transfers, mobile wallets, SaaS platforms, and global payment ecosystems. Currently, as Technical Implementation Manager at Thunes, I lead partner integrations for Pay and Accept solutions, define technical, functional, and financial flows across diverse payment methods (cards, wallets, open banking, BNPL), and deliver technical workshops and solution rollouts. Previously, at Safaricom, I was instrumental in maintaining 99.99% uptime for M-PESA, scaling cross-border payments, and leading integrations with banks, MNOs, and global fintech partners. Core Expertise - API & Platform Integration: RESTful API design, OpenAPI/Swagger documentation, OAuth2 & Basic authentication, API lifecycle management, sandbox & production testing, error handling, and performance optimization- Fintech & Remittances: International Money Transfers (IMT), cross-border settlement flows, mobile money platforms, wallet interoperability, virtual card issuance, merchant payments, and global payout networks- Cloud & Distributed Systems: AWS and OpenShift deployment, Kubernetes orchestration, containerized microservices, database optimization (SQL tuning, caching, replication), and building fault-tolerant, high-availability systems- Partner Consulting & Enablement: Technical workshops, solution design documentation (IODs, BRDs, SDDs), SDK & Postman support, onboarding processes, post-sales technical enablement, and partner lifecycle management- Compliance, Risk & Analytics: AML/CFT compliance frameworks, transaction monitoring, log analysis, regulatory alignment, audit reporting, and investigative troubleshooting using data-driven insights- Product Delivery & Leadership: Agile and SAFe frameworks (Jira, Confluence), backlog management, go-to-market planning, stakeholder alignment, user adoption strategies, and cross-functional team leadership. I am passionate about scaling payment ecosystems, advancing financial inclusion, and building solutions that power trust in global money movement.