Devices & Wearables Specialist

Discovery Limited; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Discovery Limited's Vitality Devices & Wearables team in South Africa seeks an Associate Specialist to own end-to-end reliability of wearables and device integrations. You will diagnose issues across firmware, APIs, data pipelines and member journeys, driving service improvements that reduce defects and lift NPS.

You will work with engineering, product, data and external partners to enhance onboarding, telemetry, and compliance—ensuring POPIA-aligned data handling and accurate billing across

Qualifications

• Bachelor level degree in a software/engineering discipline or related field.
• Post-graduate qualifications in IT/engineering are advantageous.
• Experience with wearables or health-tech is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end reliability of wearables integrations across APIs and data pipelines.
• Lead RCA on device-related issues and drive measurable defect reduction.
• Improve self-service journeys and reduce device-related support queries.
• Translate VoC into prioritized experience enhancements across the device lifecycle.
• Maintain device partner onboarding templates and governance documentation.
• Collaborate with Product, Data, Dev, and external partners to ensure POPIA-compliant data handling.

Skills

Wearables integration

REST APIs

Data pipelines

Observability

Python

SQL

Security/compliance

Education

BSc in Software/CS/CE

Mechatronic/Electronic Eng

Tools

Splunk

Grafana

Azure Monitor

App Insights

Postman

Swagger

Kafka

Job description

Discovery Vitality RSA Quality & Support

Vitality Devices & Wearables

About Discovery

Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.

About Discovery Vitality RSA

Vitality is at the heart of Discovery’s shared value model and aims to reward members for positive behaviour change. Vitality is a global thought leader in wellness and encourages members to live healthier lives. Vitality operates in a fast-paced and agile environment and has remained at the forefront of wellness thought leadership by delivering cutting edge innovation through bi-annual product launches. Within the team of 500+ creative minds, projects span across all areas, including marketing, finance, data, people, MIS and actuarial, operations, systems, strategic programs and wellness – providing opportunities for a holistic experience. Vitality partners with leading partners to provide members with a superior rewards experience, providing a dazzling service to our members. In all they do, Vitality people pride themselves in living the Discovery values and championing its core purpose of making people healthier and enhancing and protecting their lives whilst being the everyday ambassadors.

Key purpose of the role

The Associate Specialist: Vitality Devices & Wearables is responsible for driving service excellence, member experience uplift, and end-to-end reliability of Vitality's connected device and wearables ecosystem (e.g. Apple Watch, Garmin, Oura, Samsung, Fitbit, and future integrations). The incumbent applies software and mechatronic engineering fundamentals to diagnose issues across firmware, APIs, data pipelines and member-facing journeys, and leads targeted service improvement initiatives that reduce defects, lift NPS and support Vitality's ambition for zero defect.

Areas of responsibility

3.1 Wearables Reliability & Uptime

• Monitor device integration health across all partner APIs (Apple HealthKit, Garmin Connect, Fitbit Web API, Oura, Samsung Health, COROS), maintaining SLA-aligned uptime and data freshness.
• Own the device Splunk / observability dashboards (alerting, contextual alerts, proactive linking & syncing) and drive incident detection to closure.
• Design and maintain fail-safe controls and chaos-style resilience tests across device data ingestion, points allocation and billing/clawback flows.

3.2 Service Improvement

• Lead root-cause analysis (RCA) on top device-related member complaints (linking failures, sync gaps, points not awarded, benefit billing errors) and drive continuous-improvement initiatives with measurable defect-reduction targets.
• Partner with Servicing, Strategic Programs, R&D, and Systems to enhance self-service journeys and reduce agent-handled device queries.
• Contribute to the templatised device partner onboarding framework, reducing new-device time-to market.

3.3 Member Experience

• Translate member feedback (VoC, complaints, Nostradamus, app store reviews) into a prioritised backlog of experience enhancements across the device lifecycle: discovery → activation → linking → daily use → benefit fulfilment.
• Own the device-related Vitality Help Page, VA scripting, and contextual in-app messaging in collaboration with UX, Marketing, Legal and Compliance.
• Support benefit constructs such as the Oura Ring sleep benefit, Apple Watch, Garmin and future wearables — ensuring member journeys are intuitive, transparent and reward-accurate.

3.4 Technical Integration & Engineering

• Interpret and refine API specifications, data contracts and event streams between wearables partners, VDP and Vitality systems.
• Assess firmware/hardware behaviours and edge cases (sensor drift, offline sync, time zone handling, HR/HRV/SpO₂/sleep-stage variability) that impact business rules.
• Work with Architecture, Dev, Data and Systems teams to enforce POPIA-compliant data handling for personal and special personal information collected from devices.

3.5 Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure all wearable integrations meet POPIA, information security, and 3rd-party privacy attack surface requirements.
• Maintain accurate technical documentation, data lineage and change logs for audit and executive reporting.

3.6 Stakeholder Engagement & Reporting

• Produce executive-ready dashboards and updates on device reliability, member experience metrics, and improvement roadmaps for Vitality Ops Exco.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Actuarial, Data Science, Systems, Servicing, L&D and external device partners.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering / Computer Science / Computer Engineering, OR Mechatronic Engineering / Electronic Engineering with strong software competency.
• Relevant post-graduate qualifications or certifications (e.g. AWS/Azure, ITIL, SAFe, ISTQB, ISO 27001, POPIA practitioner) advantageous.

Experience

• 1--3 years' experience in a software engineering, embedded/IoT, or product engineering environment.
• Demonstrated experience with REST APIs, OAuth 2.0, webhooks, event streaming (Kafka/Event Hubs) and integration troubleshooting.
• Exposure to wearables / IoT devices, health data standards (HL7 FHIR advantageous) and consumer health ecosystems.
• Experience working within regulated environments (financial services, healthcare, or insurance) is preferred.
• Track record of leading service improvement or reliability initiatives with quantifiable outcomes.

Technical Competencies

• API design, testing (Postman, Swagger) and integration debugging.
• Observability tooling (Splunk, Grafana, Azure Monitor, App Insights).
• SQL and data analysis; familiarity with Python or similar for diagnostics.
• Understanding of mechatronic/sensor principles: accelerometry, PPG, ECG, SpO₂, sleep-stage detection, GPS accuracy.
• Familiarity with mobile ecosystems (iOS/Android), HealthKit, Google Health Connect.
• Working knowledge of secure data handling, encryption and POPIA/GDPR principles.

Behavioural Competencies

• Analytical, evidence-based problem solving.
• Ownership mindset — 'Zero Defect' thinking.
• Member-obsessed and outcomes-focused.
• Structured written and verbal communication; comfortable presenting to executive stakeholders.
• Collaborative across engineering, business, and vendor teams.
• Curious, continuous learner with an interest in health-tech and behaviour change.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.