CoE Lead Safety, Workspace & Wellbeing

Reporting to the Chief People Officer, the CoE Lead Safety, Workspace & Wellbeing leads the end-to-end safety, health, wellbeing and workplace agenda. The role is accountable for designing and delivering a safe, compliant and high performing work environment across Safaricom, ensuring that physical workspaces, employee wellbeing and safety practices directly enable AI-first, commercial intensity, futuristic thinking, Agile, growth, performance and delivery of commercial outcomes. Reporting to the Chief People Officer, the role provides enterprise leadership on safety, health and wellbeing, workplace strategy, and property management. As the strategic custodian of safety and workplace practices, the role leads the shift from reactive, compliance-driven models to proactive, data led and AI-enabled approaches that embed safety and wellbeing into how work gets done. This includes institutionalizing a strong safety culture, strengthening governance and risk management frameworks, and leveraging digital and AI capabilities to drive predictive safety, intelligent care and enhanced employee experience across all environments.

The role owns the design and evolution of Safaricom’s future workplace, re-imagining how physical and hybrid environments enable agility, collaboration, innovation and AI-first ways of working. It ensures that workplace experiences are aligned to business needs and ways of working, supporting flow-to-work models, cross-functional delivery and evolving workforce expectations, while optimizing property footprint and driving disciplined cost management. In addition, the role leads enterprise wellbeing and medical strategy, embedding intelligent, data-driven and hyper-personalized care models that improve employee health outcomes while driving cost efficiency. It ensures that wellbeing is integrated into performance, engagement and productivity agendas, reinforcing Safaricom’s ambition to be an employer of choice.

Working closely with HR, Technology, Finance and business leadership, the role ensures consistent standards, governance and compliance across Safaricom and its subsidiaries, while enabling capability uplift and adoption of best practices across markets. Through these accountabilities, the role strengthens organizational health, enhances employee experience and enables Safaricom to deliver sustainable performance in a safe, agile and future-fit environment. Therefore, the CoE Lead Safety, Workspace & Wellbeing is strategically accountable for:

Deliver G4G Transformation: Deliver G4G Transformation across Safaricom, as a driver of Commercial Intensity, Futuristic Thinking and future-fit organization
Integration of AI & Digital-First Strategies: Transform workspace safety and workspace management from reactive processes to proactive, data-driven systems reducing hazardous exposures and enhancing efficiency. 
Safety, Health & Wellbeing Strategy: Define and lead the enterprise SHW strategy, ensuring safety, health, wellbeing and compliance are embedded as core business enablers across all operations.
Institutionalizing Safety: Reimagine safety by shifting from reactive rule-following to a proactive, top driven culture where safety is embedded in daily operations. Ensuring visible leadership commitment, resource allocation. Adopt best in class safety benchmarks, integrate safety into business strategies, and fostering organizational maturity.
Safety Governance, Risk & Compliance: Own safety governance frameworks, ensuring strong risk identification, mitigation and full regulatory compliance across all sites, environments and ways of working. 
Workspace Experience & Environment: Lead the design and delivery of end-to-end workplace experiences across physical and hybrid environments, ensuring spaces enable productivity, collaboration and employee experience. 
Future Workspace & Hybrid Strategy: Re-imagine workplace models to enable Agile, flexible and AI first ways of working, aligning physical environments with how teams operate and deliver. 
Workspace Transformation & Operations: Drive workspace transformation initiatives, ensuring seamless integration of digital tools, hybrid working models and evolving workforce needs. 
Employee Wellbeing & Medical Scheme Management: Lead enterprise wellbeing programs and oversee medical schemes, ensuring employees have access to quality healthcare, support services and initiatives that enhance health, resilience and productivity. 
Value Management: enable cost optimization in the Workspaces, Health and Wellbeing schemes, to deliver value for money. 
Hyper-Personalization of Medical Scheme: Embed artificial intelligence (AI), real-time data to tailor healthcare services. Medical scheme hyper-personalized keeping in mind the various employee segments in the organization. 
Agile Ways of Working within People: Enable the adoption and maturity of Agile ways of working within Safety, Workspace and Wellbeing function, including embedding the right structures, roles, governance and performance practices to drive speed, accountability and cross-functional delivery. 
Policy, Standards & Compliance Frameworks: Define and govern policies related to safety, workplace, wellbeing and property, ensuring consistency, compliance and alignment across the enterprise and subsidiaries. 
Subsidiary Oversight, Governance & Enablement: Provide oversight, governance and strategic support to subsidiaries, ensuring alignment to Group people frameworks, consistent standards and effective capability enablement across markets.

Anchored in Safaricom’s purpose of Transforming Lives, the CoE Lead Safety, Workspace & Wellbeing ensures the organisation operates in work environments that are safe, sustainable, efficient, and designed to support productivity and employee wellbeing. By delivering world-class facilities, travel services, and workplace support, the role enhances operational excellence, strengthens organisational resilience, and reinforces Safaricom as an employer of choice.
 

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions.

Deliver G4G Transformation 

• Lead delivery of G4G transformation across Safety, Workspace and Wellbeing as a driver of commercial intensity and futuristic thinking.
• Translate enterprise strategy into fit-for-purpose workplace, safety and wellbeing models that enable productivity and performance.
• Position Safety, Workspace and Wellbeing as strategic enablers of business performance, employee experience and resilience.
• Drive transformation of workplace and safety practices from reactive to proactive, data-driven and future-fit models.
• Embed a high-performance culture across environments, linking safety, wellbeing and workspace to business outcomes.
• Enable convergence between workplace design, employee experience and digital ways of working.
• Drive adoption of new behaviours and practices aligned to hybrid, agile and AI-enabled work environments.
• Partner with business and HR leaders to ensure transformation initiatives are embedded and sustained across all functions.
• Monitor and track transformation impact, ensuring delivery of measurable improvements in performance, engagement and efficiency.

Integration of AI & Digital-First Safety 

• Embed AI and digital solutions to transition safety management from reactive to predictive and preventive .
• Leverage real-time data and analytics to identify risks and drive proactive interventions.
• Introduce intelligent monitoring systems across workplaces to reduce hazardous exposures.
• Drive automation of safety reporting, compliance tracking and risk management processes.
• Enable data-driven decision-making in safety governance and operations.
• Integrate safety systems with enterprise digital platforms for seamless visibility and control.
• Partner with Technology to build AI-enabled safety capabilities aligned to enterprise architecture.
• Continuously evaluate emerging technologies to enhance safety outcomes and efficiency.
• Drive adoption of digital tools across the organization to improve safety awareness and compliance.

Safety, Health & Wellbeing Strategy 

• Define and lead the enterprise SHW strategy, positioning safety and wellbeing as core business enablers.
• Institutionalize a proactive, risk-based safety culture embedded in daily operations and leadership accountability.
• Embed safety into business strategy, operations and transformation initiatives across all clusters.
• Drive visible leadership commitment to safety through governance forums, reporting and accountability structures.
• Align safety strategy to CI (commercial intensity) and FT (future thinking) by linking safety to productivity and performance.
• Establish enterprise-wide safety standards, frameworks and policies across all environments.
• Lead continuous improvement of safety maturity using global benchmarks and internal diagnostics.
• Drive integration of wellbeing into performance, engagement and workforce productivity agendas. 
• Partner with business leaders to embed safety ownership at all levels of the organization.

Institutionalizing Safety

•  Define and lead the enterprise-wide safety strategy, shifting Safaricom from reactive, compliance-driven practices to a proactive, prevention-focused safety culture embedded in daily operations.
• Embed safety as a core business priority by integrating safety considerations into strategic planning, operational processes, and decision making across all functions and levels.
• Drive visible and sustained leadership commitment to safety by equipping leaders with clear expectations, accountability frameworks, and tools to role-model safety-first behaviours.
• Establish and enforce enterprise safety governance, standards, and policies aligned to global best-in-class benchmarks and regulatory requirements, ensuring consistency and rigor across the organization.
• Lead the adoption of leading safety practices, frameworks, and technologies, continuously benchmarking against industry leaders to elevate Safaricom’s safety maturity. 
• Design and implement proactive risk identification and mitigation mechanisms, including predictive analytics, early warning systems, and regular safety assessments to prevent incidents before they occur.
• Build organizational safety capability by embedding safety awareness, training, and behavioural programs that empower employees to take ownership of safety in their day-to-day work.
• Partner with business leaders to ensure adequate resource allocation (people, tools, budget) for safety initiatives, ensuring safety is not compromised in pursuit of commercial or operational objectives.

• Monitor, measure, and report on safety performance and maturity through clear metrics and insights, driving continuous improvement and reinforcing a culture of accountability and learning.

  
  

Safety Governance, Risk & Compliance 

• Own and enforce enterprise safety governance frameworks, ensuring consistency across all sites and operations.
• Lead identification, assessment and mitigation of safety risks across physical and hybrid environments.
• Ensure full compliance with regulatory, statutory and internal safety requirements.
• Establish robust incident management, reporting and investigation frameworks.
• Drive proactive risk management using data, analytics and predictive insights. 
• Embed safety assurance processes into business operations and decision-making.
• Oversee audits, inspections and compliance reviews across all locations.
• Strengthen crisis preparedness and response capabilities for safety-related incidents.
• Ensure alignment of safety governance across subsidiaries with Group standards Workplace Experience & Environment.
• Lead the design and delivery of end-to-end workplace experiences across physical and hybrid environments.
• Ensure workplace environments enable productivity, collaboration and employee experience.
• Align workplace design to business needs, customer outcomes and ways of working.
• Embed employee-centric design principles into workplace planning and delivery.
• Drive continuous improvement of workplace experience through feedback and data insights.
• Ensure consistency in workplace standards across all locations and subsidiaries. 
• Partner with business leaders to align workplace environments with team performance needs.
• Integrate safety and wellbeing into workplace experience design.
• Enable environments that support innovation, cross-functional collaboration and engagement.

Future Workplace & Hybrid Strategy 

• Define and implement future workplace strategy aligned to Agile, AI-first and hybrid ways of working.
• Re-imagine workplace models to support flow-to work, squad-based and cross-functional delivery. 
• Align physical spaces with evolving workforce needs and digital collaboration tools.
• Drive workplace innovation to support agility, speed and enterprise productivity.
• Enable seamless integration of physical and digital work environments.
• Partner with Technology to embed smart workplace solutions and digital collaboration platforms.
• Ensure workplace strategy supports talent attraction, retention and engagement.
• Continuously assess and evolve workplace models based on business and workforce trends.

• Position workplace as a strategic enabler of G4G transformation.

  
  

Workplace Transformation & Operations 

• Lead execution of workplace transformation initiatives across Safaricom.
• Drive operational excellence in workplace services, facilities and property management.
• Ensure seamless delivery of workplace services across all locations.
• Integrate digital tools and systems to enhance workplace operations and efficiency.
• Optimize service delivery models to align with hybrid working and business needs.
• Manage vendors and partners to ensure quality, efficiency and cost effectiveness.
• Drive continuous improvement in workplace operations using data and insights.
• Ensure operational resilience and continuity across all workplace environments.

• Align workplace operations to enterprise priorities and performance outcomes.

  
  

Employee Wellbeing & Medical Scheme Management 

• Lead enterprise wellbeing strategy, embedding wellbeing as a driver of performance and productivity.
• Oversee medical schemes, ensuring access, quality of care and cost efficiency.
• Embed intelligent care models using AI and data to enhance employee health outcomes.
• Drive hyper-personalization of medical and wellbeing offerings based on employee segments.
• Leverage data and analytics to optimize medical costs and improve utilization.
• Integrate wellbeing into employee experience, engagement and performance agendas.
• Partner with providers to enhance healthcare delivery and service quality.
• Drive preventive health programs and early intervention strategies.

• Ensure alignment of wellbeing programs with business priorities and workforce needs.

  
  

Value Management 

• Lead value optimization across workplace, safety and wellbeing investments, ensuring cost efficiency and value for money.
• Drive data-driven decision-making on workspace utilization, medical schemes and wellbeing programs.
• Optimize property footprint and workplace costs while maintaining high standards of employee experience and safety. 
• Embed cost discipline and financial governance across safety, workplace and wellbeing initiatives.
• Partner with Finance to align investments with enterprise cost and productivity targets.
• Leverage analytics and AI to identify cost drivers, inefficiencies and opportunities for optimization.
• Balance cost efficiency with employee experience, ensuring sustainable and impactful investments.
• Continuously benchmark against industry best practices to drive efficiency and effectiveness.

• Deliver measurable ROI on workplace, safety and wellbeing programs aligned to business outcomes.

  
  

Property Portfolio & Cost Optimization 

• Oversee management and optimization of Safaricom’s property portfolio.
• Drive efficient utilization of workspace aligned to hybrid working models. 
• Ensure cost discipline and optimization across property and workplace spend. 
• Align property strategy with business growth and transformation priorities.
• Lead space planning and footprint optimization initiatives. 
• Drive value realization from property investments and assets. 
• Partner with Finance to ensure cost efficiency and budget alignment.
• Continuously assess and optimize property performance and utilization. 

• Ensure sustainability and environmental considerations in property management.

  
  

Hyper-Personalization of Medical Scheme

•  Lead the design and delivery of an AI-enabled, hyper-personalized medical scheme that tailors healthcare solutions to diverse employee segments.
• Leverage real-time data, predictive analytics and AI to anticipate health risks, optimize interventions and improve employee health outcomes.
• Shift medical scheme management from reactive claims-based models to proactive, preventive and intelligence-led care.
• Segment the workforce based on health needs, demographics and risk profiles to deliver targeted, personalized healthcare solutions.
• Partner with medical providers, insurers and digital health platforms to embed intelligent care pathways and digital-first health services.
• Drive cost optimization through data-driven utilization management, fraud detection, preventive care and early intervention strategies.
• Integrate wellbeing programs (mental, physical, financial) with medical schemes to deliver a holistic, employee-centric care model. 
• Enable employees to access personalized health insights, recommendations and services through digital platforms and AI-enabled tools.

• Track and optimize scheme performance through advanced analytics, ensuring improved health outcomes, employee experience and cost efficiency.

  
  

Agile Ways of Working within People 

• Enable adoption and maturity of agile ways of working within the Safety, Workspace and Wellbeing function.
• Embed agile principles into operating models, including prioritization, sprint-based delivery and continuous improvement.
• Design and implement fit-for-purpose structures, roles and governance to support speed and cross functional delivery.
• Enable the function to operate as a responsive, service-oriented and business-aligned capability. 
• Drive collaboration across HR, Technology, Facilities and business teams to deliver integrated workplace solutions.
• Build capability within the function to operate effectively in agile and hybrid environments.
• Embed performance management practices that reinforce accountability, delivery and outcomes.
• Leverage agile methodologies to continuously improve workplace, safety and wellbeing services. 

• Track and improve delivery effectiveness using agile metrics and insights.

  
  

Policy, Standards & Compliance Frameworks 

• Define and govern enterprise policies across safety, workplace and wellbeing. 
• Ensure consistency and alignment of policies across business units and subsidiaries.
• Drive compliance with internal standards and external regulatory requirements.
• Regularly review and update policies to reflect evolving business and regulatory needs.
• Embed policies into day-to-day operations and decision-making.
• Drive awareness and adoption of policies across the organization.
• Establish monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for policy compliance.
• Align policies with global best practices and industry standards. 

• Support audits and governance reviews through robust policy frameworks.

  
  

Subsidiary Oversight, Governance & Enablement 

• Provide strategic oversight of safety, workplace and wellbeing across subsidiaries.
• Ensure alignment to Group standards, frameworks and governance requirements.
• Support subsidiaries in building capability across SHW and workplace management.
• Drive consistency in safety, workplace and wellbeing practices across markets. 
• Monitor subsidiary performance through governance forums and reporting structures.
• Share best practices and drive continuous improvement across subsidiaries.
• Provide advisory support on complex safety, workplace and wellbeing matters.
• Ensure subsidiaries are equipped to meet regulatory and compliance requirements. 

• Strengthen Group-wide capability and maturity in SHW and workplace practices.

  
  

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:
 

Customer Obsession 

• Deepen team connection to our customers and communities. 
• Foster authentic relationships with customers and partners that build trust. 
• Explicitly take customer-centric decisions and take personal ownership to achieve results. 
• Simplify processes through digitalization and promote a digital mindset and digital first customer experience. 
• Stay focused on the big priorities, know when to make meaningful trade-offs and demonstrate brilliant execution.

Purpose 

• Create an inspiring vision for your team to drive strategy and performance. 
• Show ambition and courage, empowering others to go beyond the plan. 
• Bold and challenge teams to reimagine how things are done. 
• Prompt new thinking and ideas by asking “what if” questions. 
• Use knowledge of the external environment (customers, partners, competition, external bodies) to identify and act on opportunities for growth at pace.

Innovation 

• Create psychological safety so everyone can have an impact. 
• Fuel innovative ideas from others and test them to enable growth. 
• Explore successes and failures with curiosity and resilience; fearlessly recognizing lessons learned. 
• Share your ongoing learning and personal purpose with others. 
• Learn fast from digital adoption, using learnings to drive simplicity, scale and efficiency.

Collaboration 

• Articulate your team’s role in making our strategy happen, prioritizing and aligning resources with current and future needs.
• Actively collaborate to break silos and hold your team accountable to do the same. 
• Develop others to make the most of their talents and coach them to take ownership to get things done.
• Create an inclusive environment ensuring the safety and wellbeing of others. Live our Purpose and demonstrate the highest Standard of integrity.
   

• Bachelor’s degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Environmental Health, Engineering, Facilities Management, Business Administration or a related field 
• Master’s degree in Occupational Health & Safety, Business Administration or a related discipline is an added advantage 
• Professional certification in Health & Safety (e.g. NEBOSH, IOSH or equivalent) is required
• Demonstrated experience in leading enterprise-wide safety, health and workplace functions within a large, complex organization 
• Strong expertise in safety governance, risk management and regulatory compliance frameworks 
• Proven experience in workplace and facilities management, including property portfolio oversight and vendor management 
• Experience in designing and delivering workplace strategies, including hybrid and future-of-work models 
• Strong understanding of occupational health, employee wellbeing programs and medical scheme management 
• Experience managing medical insurance providers, benefits design and healthcare cost optimization
• Proven experience in policy development, governance and compliance management 
• Strong financial acumen with experience in budget management, cost optimization and property-related financial planning
• Experience working across multiple locations or subsidiaries, ensuring consistency of standards and practices 
• Strong analytical capability with ability to interpret safety, cost and workplace data to drive decision-making 
• Demonstrated ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders across HR, Finance, Technology and Operations
• Knowledge of local regulatory requirements related to workplace safety, health and environmental standards
• Relevant certifications in facilities management or workplace strategy (e.g. IFMA) are an added advantage

How to Apply. If you feel that you are up to the challenge and possess the necessary qualification and experience, kindly proceed to create/ update your candidate profile on the recruitment portal and then Click on the apply button. Remember to attach your resume.

Safaricom is the leading technology company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 60 million customers connected across Kenya and Ethiopia, and play a critical role in the society, supporting over 1.13 million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 1.1 trillion ($ 8.5 billion) for the 12 months through March 2025.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 388 billion as at March 2025, Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology. Our 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network in aggregate covers over 99% of Kenya’s population.

We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering millions of customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to 84.8% of the adult population in 2024, from a low of 26.7% in 2006, and generated over KES 161 billion in revenue as at FY25.

Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, has deployed world class network and services to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.