Agentic AI Engineer

Ozow; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Ozow is building AI-powered automation to streamline operations, risk and engineering workflows in a regulated payments environment. You will develop, test and deploy agent components, focusing on safe production use and robust integrations with internal APIs.

The role emphasizes collaboration with cross-functional teams, adherence to security standards, and clear documentation with human sign-off where required. Experience with LLMs and data privacy is valued.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field.
• Solid Python and REST APIs experience.
• Hands-on experience with at least one LLM API.
• Basic understanding of RAG, embeddings and prompt engineering.
• Git and Docker experience.
• Careful approach to data privacy and security.

Responsibilities

• Ship at least one AI agent feature to production within six months with tests.
• Collaborate with product, operations and risk to define usable automation.
• Propose new automation use cases backed by problem statements.
• Build and maintain agent workflows with tool calling and data retrieval.
• Connect agents to internal APIs and data sources securely.
• Write clear tests and documentation, and ensure compliance with policies.

Skills

Python

REST APIs

JSON

LLM API

Git

Docker

Data privacy

Communication

Education

Degree in Computer Science / Engineering or related field

Tools

Docker

Git

ASP.NET Core

LangGraph

Job description

Ozow is a leading fintech company that's redefining digital payments in South Africa and beyond. We're dedicated to making payments more accessible, secure, and convenient for both businesses and consumers. As a fast-growing player in the financial technology sector, Ozow fosters a culture of innovation, diversity, and inclusivity. We believe in pushing the boundaries of what's possible and are committed to making a positive impact on the world through our payment solutions.

More about this Ozow fantastic position

Join the team building AI agents that automate real work across Ozow, from operations and support to fraud, risk and engineering workflows. You'll build, test and ship agent components alongside senior engineers, and learn how to put AI safely into production in a regulated payments environment.

Your role and responsibilities

• Ship at least one agent feature to production within your first 6 months, with evaluation tests in place.
• Work with product, operations and risk teams to understand the process an agent will support.
• Bring forward ideas for new automation use cases, backed by the problem they solve.

Build and integrate

• Build and maintain agent workflows: tool calling, retrieval (RAG), prompt design and multi-step task orchestration.
• Connect agents to internal APIs and data sources through secure, well-scoped integrations.
• Write clean, tested code that passes review against team standards.

Quality, reliability and safety

• Write evaluation tests that check agent outputs for accuracy, reliability and safety before release.
• Monitor agents in production, triage failures and feed findings back into improvements.
• Explain the failure modes of what you've built and how they're caught.
• Handle personal and financial data in line with POPIA and Ozow policy.
• Document how each agent works, what it can and cannot do, and where a human signs off.
• Follow Ozow's change, release and security processes for every AI feature.
• Help business users adopt new agent tools through clear guides and demos.

Automation and AI

• Use AI coding assistants responsibly to speed up your own delivery.
• Keep up with agent frameworks, MCP (Model Context Protocol) and model releases, and share what's useful with the team.
• Flag manual processes that are good candidates for automation.

You are an ideal candidate if you have

• A degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Solid Python, and comfort working with REST APIs and JSON.
• Hands‑on experience building with at least one LLM API, shown through a project, GitHub repo or production work.
• Basic understanding of RAG, embeddings and prompt engineering.
• Git, and working knowledge of Docker.
• A careful approach to data: you understand why personal and financial data needs protecting.

Nice to have

• Exposure to an agent framework (for example LangGraph, CrewAI or an agent SDK) or to MCP.
• AWS experience.
• C# or .NET, since much of our platform runs on ASP.NET Core.
• SQL (SQL Server or PostgreSQL).
• Interest in payments, fraud or financial services.

Your skills and competencies

• You eagerly embrace change, absorb cross-functional skills, and connect ideas across disciplines to drive fresh thinking and innovation.
• Ability to initiate, develop, maintain and leverage outstanding relationships to influence a wide network, both inside and outside the company.
• A trailblazer who steps up, takes charge, and creates meaningful impact—those driven by performance and purpose to lead from the front and make a real difference every day.
• You thrive in collaboration, embrace inclusion, and bring a genuine curiosity for global cultures—valuing collective success over individual credit.
• Demonstrate strategic foresight, sound judgement, and the ability to make confident decisions under uncertainty, always working toward the best possible outcomes.
• You challenge norms, champion innovation, and constantly seek growth—for themselves, their team, and the solutions they build.
• You are a decisive doer—those who take initiative, follow through with confidence, and ensure results through courageous, hands‑on leadership.
• We value optimism, agility, and the strength to persevere under pressure—balancing performance with positivity, even in challenging environments.
• You are driven, proactive individuals who take ownership, face challenges with grit, and consistently push for excellence—not just as participants, but as catalysts for success.

During the interview process you will meet with the People team, the hiring manager, and relevant CSuite. Our process may include psychometric and technical assessments, giving you an opportunity to demonstrate your strengths, skills and potential beyond your CV and interview.

Join Ozow and become part of an elite force that challenges the ordinary and achieves the extraordinary. If you're driven to make an impact, embrace challenges, and seek unparalleled opportunities for growth, your journey starts here.

Compliance

As a fintech company, we prioritize data security, confidentiality, regulatory and compliance. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, we require individuals with a high level of integrity and trustworthiness to ensure adherence to financial regulations and industry standards. Given the sensitive nature of our work, all employees are expected to demonstrate professionalism, accountability, and a commitment to ethical conduct in line with financial regulations and industry standards