Head of Digital Product Engineering

Momentum; Centurion; On-site; ZAR 2,500,000 - 4,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Momentum Group is looking for a Head of Digital Product Engineering to lead engineering strategy, governance and delivery across its digital portfolio. The role bridges business strategy, product management, experience design and engineering execution to deliver scalable digital capabilities for advisers, investors and employees.

The incumbent will drive modern product engineering, AI-enabled delivery, automation and continuous improvement while ensuring security, resilience and measurable

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Engineering or a related discipline (required).
• Postgraduate qualification in Technology, Engineering, Information Systems or Business Management (preferred).
• Relevant certification in Microsoft Azure, solution or enterprise architecture, Agile delivery, DevOps, cyber security, product development or engineering leadership (required).
• 10 or more years of progressive experience in software engineering, digital technology or platform delivery (required).
• At least 5 years of senior engineering leadership experience across multiple teams or complex workstreams (required).
• Proven delivery of large-scale customer-facing digital products or platforms in a complex enterprise environment (required).
• Demonstrated experience governing solution design, engineering standards and non-functional requirements (required).
• Experience leading internal teams and external engineering partners through the full product lifecycle (required).
• Strong experience with modern cloud, API, integration, DevSecOps and automated quality practices (required).
• Financial services, investments, asset management, wealth management, banking or fintech experience (advantageous).
• Adviser, intermediary, investor, digital onboarding, service or transaction platform experience (advantageous).
• Platform engineering, cloud modernisation and legacy simplification at enterprise scale (advantageous).
• AI-enabled product delivery and adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices (advantageous).
• Technology strategy, investment planning, commercial evaluation and vendor governance (advantageous).
• Delivery in a regulated environment with material security, privacy, resilience and audit obligations (advantageous).

Responsibilities

• Define and implement the digital product engineering strategy, operating principles and capability roadmap aligned to the Momentum Investments business and digital strategies.
• Provide portfolio-wide engineering leadership and technical direction on behalf of the Chief Digital Officer.
• Establish engineering standards, governance frameworks, quality controls and delivery guardrails.
• Build a culture of accountability, innovation, client-centricity, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Drive engineering effectiveness and continuously improve engineering maturity across the digital portfolio.

Skills

Digital product engineering

Engineering leadership

Cloud platforms (Azure)

API management

DevSecOps

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Postgraduate qualification in Technology/Engineering/Business Management

Tools

Microsoft Azure

CI/CD tooling

Solution architecture

Job description

Through our client-facing brands and our other specialist brands, Momentum Group enables business and people from all walks of life to achieve their financial goals and life aspirations.

We help people grow their savings, protect what matters to them and invest for the future. We help companies and organisations care for and reward their employees and members. Through our own network of advisers or via independent brokers and utilising new platforms Momentum Group provides practical financial solutions for people, communities and businesses.

Disclaimer As an applicant, please verify the legitimacy of this job advert on our company career page.

Role Purpose

The Head of Digital Product Engineering is accountable for engineering leadership, technical design authority, digital product engineering and delivery oversight across the Momentum Investments digital portfolio. Acting on behalf of the Chief Digital Officer, the role ensures that digital products, platforms and client experiences are designed, built, integrated and operated to the highest standards of engineering excellence, security, scalability, resilience and business value. The role serves as the bridge between business strategy, product management, experience design, architecture and engineering execution. It translates strategic priorities into scalable digital capabilities for advisers, investors, employees and strategic partners, while creating sustainable technology assets and measurable customer and business outcomes. The incumbent establishes engineering standards and guardrails, governs solution design, leads internal and partner engineering teams, and drives successful execution from discovery and design through development, deployment and production support. The role champions modern product engineering, platform thinking, AI-enabled delivery, automation and continuous improvement.

Role context and strategic mandate

Momentum Investments is advancing a digital agenda focused on adviser enablement, investor experience modernisation, digital onboarding and servicing, self-service, platform-based operating models, data-driven decision-making, intelligent automation and ecosystem growth. The Head of Digital Product Engineering converts this agenda into delivered, secured and reusable digital capabilities.

Strategic mandate

• Create a coherent digital engineering strategy aligned with the Momentum Investments business and digital strategies.
• Provide portfolio-wide technical design authority and engineering governance on behalf of the CDO.
• Accelerate time to value while protecting long-term platform sustainability, security and operational resilience.
• Build internal engineering capability and create effective delivery partnerships with enterprise technology teams and external providers.
• Enable differentiated adviser and investor experiences through modern, reusable digital platforms and services.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Engineering or a related discipline (required).
• Postgraduate qualification in Technology, Engineering, Information Systems or Business Management (preferred).
• Relevant certification in Microsoft Azure, solution or enterprise architecture, Agile delivery, DevOps, cyber security, product development or engineering leadership (required).
• 10 or more years of progressive experience in software engineering, digital technology or platform delivery (required).
• At least 5 years of senior engineering leadership experience across multiple teams or complex workstreams (required).
• Proven delivery of large-scale customer-facing digital products or platforms in a complex enterprise environment (required).
• Demonstrated experience governing solution design, engineering standards and non-functional requirements (required).
• Experience leading internal teams and external engineering partners through the full product lifecycle (required).
• Strong experience with modern cloud, API, integration, DevSecOps and automated quality practices (required).
• Financial services, investments, asset management, wealth management, banking or fintech experience (advantageous).
• Adviser, intermediary, investor, digital onboarding, service or transaction platform experience (advantageous).
• Platform engineering, cloud modernisation and legacy simplification at enterprise scale (advantageous).
• AI-enabled product delivery and adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices (advantageous).
• Technology strategy, investment planning, commercial evaluation and vendor governance (advantageous).
• Delivery in a regulated environment with material security, privacy, resilience and audit obligations (advantageous).

Duties & Responsibilities

Digital Engineering Strategy and Leadership

• Define and implement the digital product engineering strategy, operating principles and capability roadmap aligned to the Momentum Investments business and digital strategies.
• Provide portfolio-wide engineering leadership and technical direction on behalf of the Chief Digital Officer.
• Establish engineering standards, governance frameworks, quality controls and delivery guardrails.
• Build a culture of accountability, innovation, client-centricity, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Drive engineering effectiveness and continuously improve engineering maturity across the digital portfolio.

Engineering Leadership and Capability Development

• Lead, develop and inspire high-performing multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Establish clear accountabilities across engineering leadership, technical leads, engineers, platform teams and quality engineering functions.
• Develop succession plans, career pathways, technical mentoring and communities of practice.
• Shape workforce plans and capability-building initiatives to ensure future-fit engineering skills.
• Support talent acquisition, strategic sourcing and partner capability decisions.

Solution Design Authority and Architecture Governance

• Act as the technical design authority for digital initiatives within the agreed enterprise governance model.
• Review, challenge and approve material solution designs and engineering decisions.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture, security, data, integration and cloud principles.
• Establish reusable reference architectures, engineering patterns, standards and guardrails.
• Drive management of technical debt, architectural risk and technology simplification initiatives.
• Ensure non-functional requirements relating to performance, resilience, observability, accessibility, supportability and security are defined and achieved.

Digital Product And Experience Engineering

• Lead engineering across adviser, investor, employee and partner digital experiences.
• Partner with Product, Design and Architecture teams to shape technically feasible and scalable solutions.
• Ensure products are engineered to deliver measurable client, operational and business outcomes.
• Embed accessibility, privacy, security, usability and performance considerations throughout the product lifecycle.
• Promote product-based ownership, lifecycle accountability and continuous improvement.

Portfolio Delivery Leadership

• Provide engineering oversight across multiple products, platforms and strategic initiatives.
• Align engineering capacity and delivery sequencing to portfolio priorities and value outcomes.
• Drive delivery predictability, quality, transparency and risk management.
• Resolve cross-functional dependencies and technology constraints impacting delivery.
• Establish meaningful engineering health metrics and reporting for leadership and governance forums.
• Ensure delivery outcomes meet agreed business value, risk, security and operational readiness requirements.

Platform Engineering and Technology Modernisation

• Shape the target-state digital platform landscape and associated technology roadmap.
• Develop reusable platform capabilities and shared services that improve efficiency and scalability.
• Drive cloud adoption, modern engineering practices and application modernisation initiatives.
• Improve developer productivity through platform tooling, automation and engineering enablement.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend adoption based on strategic fit, business value and sustainability.

AI, Automation and Engineering Innovation

• Identify and prioritise opportunities to apply AI and intelligent automation across digital products, platforms and engineering delivery.
• Establish responsible AI engineering practices aligned to enterprise governance and risk requirements.
• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development, testing, documentation and operational support capabilities.
• Promote experimentation, innovation and measurable value realisation through technology-enabled improvements.

DevSecOps, Engineering Operations and Service Reliability

• Establish and continuously improve secure software development lifecycle standards.
• Drive CI/CD, infrastructure automation, release automation and automated quality engineering practices.
• Improve service reliability, observability, incident management and operational readiness.
• Reduce change failure rates, production defects and operational risk.
• Embed security-by-design and privacy-by-design principles across engineering delivery.

Vendor, Partner and Technology Ecosystem Leadership

• Set engineering expectations and quality standards for external delivery partners and technology vendors.
• Participate in vendor selection, technical due diligence and investment decisions.
• Hold partners accountable for delivery quality, security, documentation and knowledge transfer.
• Manage strategic technology relationships and mitigate vendor-related risk.

Governance, Risk and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure compliance with applicable technology governance, information security, privacy, operational risk and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain transparent technical risk, exception and remediation processes.
• Provide assurance regarding engineering controls, quality standards and delivery governance.
• Balance governance rigour with practical, risk-based decision making that enables delivery outcomes.

Competencies

Technical competencies:

• Digital product engineering and product lifecycle management.
• Solution architecture, domain design and architecture governance.
• Microsoft Azure or comparable enterprise cloud platforms.
• API management, microservices, integration and event-driven architecture.
• Web, mobile and responsive digital experience engineering.
• DevSecOps, CI/CD, infrastructure automation and environment management.
• Automated testing, quality engineering and software quality metrics.
• Observability, site reliability, resilience and incident management.
• Security-by-design, privacy-by-design and secure software development.
• Platform engineering, developer experience and reusable shared services.
• Data integration, analytics enablement, AI engineering and intelligent automation.
• Technology economics, total cost of ownership and vendor solution assessment.

Leadership and Behavioural competencies:

• Strategic and systems thinking.
• Client and adviser orientation.
• Commercial judgement and value focus.
• Executive influence and clear communication.
• Decisive, evidence-based problem solving.
• Enterprise collaboration and constructive challenge.
• Talent development, coaching and inclusive leadership.
• Change leadership, resilience and learning agility.
• Ownership, integrity and accountability.
• Innovation balanced with disciplined risk management.