Lead Technology – Domestic High Value Pan Africa

Absa Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services provider in Sandton is seeking a Payments Technology Lead to oversee the RTGS payments team, focusing on secure and scalable payment solutions across Africa. The ideal candidate will have over 8 years of experience in IT, specifically in payments technology, and strong leadership skills to manage complex systems and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards.

Qualifications

• 8-10 years of Information Technology experience.
• Experience working in a Payments or RTGS payments environment.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technology strategy for payment platforms.
• Drive architecture, development, and integration of RTGS systems.
• Manage the senior business interface relationship.

Skills

Information Technology experience

Experience in Payments or RTGS environment

Excellent communication skills

Analytical skills

Experience with cloud-native architectures

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology

Job description

Job Summary

Lead the agile solution design, deployment & ongoing optimization & evolution of enterprise wide technology products and services (full stack engineering & ownership / control) in complex environments.

Job Description

We are looking for a seasoned and strategic Payments Technology Lead to head up the RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) payments team, responsible for our in-house developed RTGS application within CIB Payments Technology across Pan Africa. The successful candidate will bring extensive experience in real-time payments infrastructure and RTGS systems, along with a strong track record of working across Pan-African financial institutions or fintech environments. This role demands a combination of technical depth and leadership excellence to drive the delivery of secure, high-performing, and scalable payment solutions.

Key requirements and experience

• 8-10 years Information Technology experience
• Relevant B-Degree in Computer Science OR; equivalent level of industry certification in Technical field
• Experience working in a Payments or RTGS payments environment
• Banking and or Corporate Investment Banking experience
• Understanding or prior experience working with SWIFT payments
• Prior experience implementing payment solutions across multiple African countries
• Proven track record of leading cross-functional teams and delivering scalable payment infrastructure
• Experience and proven track record defining enterprise wide technical strategies single / limited product / service environment
• Excellent communication, analytical skills and decision making ability in collaborative environments
• Experience working on a high risk and complex systems or environment
• Familiarity with regulatory requirements
• Experience working with core banking systems, payment switches etc
• Risk mindset
• Experience with cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, GCP) in payment contexts

Key Accountabilities

• Lead the technology strategy for payment platforms, with a focus on real-time and cross-border payments across Africa
• Drive the architecture, development, and integration of RTGS systems in line with country-specific central bank requirements
• Product and Service Direction Setting, Solution Design and Performance Management
• Act as the single point of partnership and assume responsibility for managing the senior business interface (product owner) relationship
• Collaborate across the tech value chain to guide the business on the appropriate technical solution (cost to value) and the range of strategic technical choices to be made
• Lead the detailed scoping, prioritisation & integration planning for the design & deployment of products and services with and across multiple stakeholder groups
• Meaningfully contribute and ensure solutions align to the design and direction of the Group Architecture standards, principles, preferences and practices. Short term deployment must align to strategic long term delivery
• Meaningfully contribute and ensure solutions align to the design and direction of the Group Infrastructure standards and practices
• Strategically and operationally monitor the performance of products and services (all applications) – ensuring ongoing optimization & cost to value for our businesses (think bank wide)
• DevOps (with deep knowledge & understanding of context within which we develop architecturally & infrastructurally)
• Delivery Management (where there is a specific product / service you manage)
• Build a high performance team environment through self-directed teams by driving performance management and measurement that is aligned with agile working practices
• Accountable for the right people in the right teams to deliver on our tech strategy
• Leverage coaching techniques in all squad related activity to drive a higher quality design and deployment of technical products and services
• Financial and Vendor Management, Risk and Governance

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised