Chief AI & Technology Architect

AltGen South Africa; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

AltGen South Africa is seeking a senior Head of AI & Technology to shape the AI strategy, build the technology platform and reinvent how the business operates from Cape Town. This hybrid, permanent role reports to senior leadership and requires a blend of practical AI expertise and strategic judgement.

You will lead the design of AI workflows, production-ready systems, and commercially relevant AI-enabled products, while coordinating internal and external experts to deliver measurable value and

Qualifications

• Substantial background in hands-on software development, engineering or technology delivery, supported by recent, practical experience building with AI.
• Strong applied knowledge of large language models, AI workflows, agentic automation and data engineering.
• Experience designing systems and taking prototypes or products into reliable production use.
• Sound product and commercial judgement, including pragmatic decisions about what to build, buy or outsource.
• The confidence to contribute to leadership-level discussions about business strategy, competitive positioning and the future of expert work.
• The ability to remain hands-on while setting direction and coordinating internal specialists and external providers.
• Clear communication and the credibility to work with economists, engineers and analytical experts who expect evidence and practical results.
• An interest in how AI changes client needs, service delivery and opportunities for new products.

Responsibilities

• Own and develop the firm’s AI strategy, translating advances in technology into practical improvements in research, analysis, writing, review and client delivery.
• Build and test AI workflows, agentic automation and knowledge-management capabilities, using experiments and prototypes to establish what delivers measurable value.
• Help identify and develop commercially relevant AI-enabled products and services, working with technical experts to turn specialist knowledge into scalable offerings.
• Build, run and improve the platforms supporting subscription products, including data pipelines, dashboards, subscriber tools and the computing environment around specialist models.
• Design a coherent architecture for internal systems across finance, timesheets, CRM, project and contract management, and reporting.
• Give leadership better visibility of the business through connected data and reliable management information.
• Partner with the Head of Operations on workflow redesign and implementation, owning technology architecture and delivery while Operations leads adoption and change management.
• Set standards for data security, client confidentiality, reproducibility and outsourced technology services.

Skills

Hands-on software development

Practical AI expertise

Data engineering

Leadership experience

Product judgement

Tools

AI platforms

Job description

AltGen South Africa is seeking a senior Head of AI & Technology to shape the AI strategy, build the technology platform and reinvent how the business operates from Cape Town. This hybrid, permanent role reports to senior leadership and requires a blend of practical AI expertise and strategic judgement.

You will lead the design of AI workflows, production-ready systems, and commercially relevant AI-enabled products, while coordinating internal and external experts to deliver measurable value and