Head of Sportsbook

BettingJobs are working with a Nigerian-based start-up operator to join their team in Lagos. They are looking for a Head of Sportsbook who owns the commercial performance, risk posture, and product strategy of their sportsbook vertical. You will:

• Own sportsbook GGR, margin, and hold as a P&L line
• Manage their managed-trading partnership and decide what they keep external versus build in-house over time
• Define and enforce liability, pricing, and bet-acceptance policies
• Shape the sportsbook product roadmap alongside Product and Engineering
• Build the trading and risk function from a standing start through to a 24/7 desk

You will be the senior commercial voice on every decision that touches the sportsbook — from market coverage to bonus design to customer factoring. This is a role for someone who has either run a sportsbook P&L or been the senior deputy on one, and who wants the chance to set the policy rather than inherit it.

What you'll do:

Commercial and P&L

• Own sportsbook GGR, margin, hold, and turnover against board-approved targets
• Set pricing strategy by sport, league, market type, and bet structure (singles, accas, bet-builders)
• Define stake limits, exposure caps, and bet-acceptance rules across pre-match and in-play
• Sign off weekly liability and exposure reporting; lead post-event reviews on any material loss event

Trading and risk

• Run the day-to-day relationship with their managed-trading provider: SLA enforcement, market coverage requests, escalations, quarterly business reviews
• Decide where managed trading ends and in-house trading begins — and execute the build-out where it does
• Hire and lead the trading and risk team, starting with a Trading Operations lead and scaling as volumes justify
• Define risk-tiering, customer factoring, syndicate/arbitrage detection, and bonus-abuse rules in partnership with Fraud and CRM
• Own player-profiling policy and the framework for how they treat sharp, recreational, and abusive customers

Product

• Set the sportsbook product roadmap with Product and Engineering: bet-builder, cash-out, edit-bet, request-a-bet, live betting, virtuals, esports
• Define market depth and coverage strategy across football (EPL, La Liga, UCL, NPFL, AFCON), basketball, tennis, and growth verticals
• Partner with the social/community team on copy-betting limits, tipster verification thresholds, and PvP risk parameters
• Own the sportsbook economics of bonuses, free bets, and acquisition offers — including the welcome bonus and community-owner GGR cashback mechanics

Compliance and regulatory

• Ensure sportsbook operations meet NLRC requirements and any applicable state-level obligations
• Lead the trading-related portions of regulatory reporting, audits, and certifications
• Embed responsible-gambling controls into trading policy (per-bet limits, exposure caps, sharp-customer review)

Leadership

• Build, coach, and retain the trading and sportsbook product team
• Represent the sportsbook function at exec team and board level
• Partner as a peer with Marketing, CRM, Engineering, Product, and Finance

What They're looking for:

Essential

• 8+ years in sportsbook trading, sportsbook product, or sportsbook commercial leadership, with at least 3 years in a senior role (Head of Trading, Senior Trading Manager, Trading Director, Head of Sportsbook, or equivalent)
• Direct, hands-on experience operating in the Nigerian sportsbook market — you have personally owned trading, risk, or sportsbook commercial outcomes at a Nigerian-licensed operator (e.g. Bet9ja, BetKing, SportyBet, NairaBet, 1xBet Nigeria, BangBet, MSport, MerryBet, BetWay Nigeria, or similar) and understand the regulatory, behavioural, and commercial realities of the market in depth
• Demonstrable P&L ownership of a regulated sportsbook with meaningful scale (annual GGR ≥ USD 20m or NGN equivalent)
• Deep technical command of pricing, liability management, and risk across major sports — especially football, including EPL, La Liga, UCL, NPFL, and AFCON
• Fluent in the dynamics of Nigerian betting behaviour: high-leg accumulator culture, mobile-first users, agent-network distribution, naira-denominated risk, payment-channel reliability, and the realities of operating with NLRC oversight
• Experience working with a managed-trading provider (Genius Sports, Sportradar, BetConstruct, Kambi, or similar) or running an in-house trading desk at scale
• Strong commercial instincts — comfortable making margin-versus-volume trade-offs with incomplete data and at speed
• Comfortable in a pre-launch, build-it environment. You will be writing the playbook, not inheriting one.

Strongly preferred

• Broader West African or comparable emerging-market exposure beyond Nigeria (Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa)
• Existing relationships across the Nigerian gaming ecosystem — NLRC, state regulators, payment providers, agent networks, and industry associations
• Exposure to social or community-driven betting products (copy-betting, tipster platforms, PvP, social feeds)
• Background spanning both pre-match and live trading
• Familiarity with virtuals and esports product economics — particularly the Nigerian virtuals appetite
• Track record of hiring and building a trading function from scratch

Nice to have

• Quantitative background (mathematics, statistics, actuarial, computer science, or similar)
• Prior experience integrating with .NET-based sportsbook platforms
• Existing network of trading talent across Nigeria, the UK, Malta, or Eastern Europe