Platform Domain Lead

Absa Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank Limited is seeking a Platform Domain Lead to provide executive engineering leadership for the platforms underpinning Digital Business Bank. You will own the platform vision, roadmap, and delivery outcomes with the CIO and Architecture Lead.

This role drives secure, resilient platforms with observable metrics, manages standards, debt remediation, and continuous improvement while coordinating with Operations, QA and Cyber Security.

Qualifications

• Executive leadership for platform engineering and service outcomes.
• Deep software, API, event-driven, cloud, CI/CD and observability experience.
• Hands-on experience with GraphQL, Spring Boot, Node.js and AWS microservices.

Responsibilities

• Owns platform vision, roadmap, and investment plan with the CIO and Architecture Lead.
• Delivers measurable service outcomes, platform health, and security standards.
• Leads engineers, managers and oversees budgets with focus on availability, performance and security.
• Ensures deployment standards, incident learning and continuous improvement across platforms.
• Publishes platform standards and drives alignment with Group Architecture.

Skills

Platform engineering leadership

Cloud & microservices

API design & integration

Observability & monitoring

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology

Tools

GraphQL

Spring Boot

Node.js

AWS

CI/CD

Job description

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time. With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

A Platform Domain Lead provides executive engineering leadership for the platforms underpinning Digital Business Bank. The role connects strategy, delivery, platform health and service outcomes.

• The lead owns the platform vision and roadmap, engineering priorities, standards, investment planning and delivery outcomes with the CIO and Architecture Lead.
• The role drives secure and resilient platforms through measurable service objectives, observability, quality controls, technical-debt remediation and continuous improvement.
• First-year priorities include identifying platform risks, publishing the roadmap, establishing standards, delivering visible outcomes and strengthening leadership capability.

Job Description

Leadership role reporting to the Chief Information Officer: Digital & AI. Provides executive and hands-on engineering leadership for the platforms underpinning Digital Business Bank

Owns implementation outcomes, platform health, code quality and technical standards across delivery teams. Translates strategic architecture into secure, maintainable, resilient and reusable software. Owns the platform vision, roadmap, lifecycle, investment plan and service outcomes with the CIO and Architecture Lead. Converts business demand and architecture direction into engineering priorities, capacity plans and release outcomes. Defines platform boundaries, products, services, APIs and ownership to reduce duplication and unmanaged dependencies. Balances feature delivery with resilience, security, modernisation, technical debt and cost optimisation. Sets coding, branching, review, integration, documentation, dependency, observability and deployment standards. Embeds standards into tooling, templates, pipelines, quality gates and automated controls. Provides design and implementation oversight for high-risk or strategically important changes. Drives reuse of components, APIs and patterns while preventing inappropriate customisation. Owns engineering outcomes for availability, performance, capacity, recovery, supportability and security. Establishes measurable service objectives, telemetry, production-readiness criteria and continuous improvement routines. Ensures vulnerabilities, obsolescence, technical debt and end-of-life risks are visible and remediated. Partners with Operations, QA and Cyber Security on incident learning, problem management and preventative engineering. Leads engineering managers, technical leads, specialists and partners, including workforce, budget and supplier performance. Measures success through predictable delivery, lead time, deployment frequency, reliability, quality-gate coverage, risk reduction and reuse. Requires deep software, API, event-driven, cloud, CI/CD and observability experience, including GraphQL, Spring Boot, Node.js and AWS microservices.

First-year priorities include confirming platform gaps and risks, publishing the roadmap, establishing standards, delivering demonstrable outcomes and strengthening leadership capability.

• Apply version control and related concepts and techniques
• Align all application development & development process to Group Architecture, Security & Infrastructure guidelines
• Work with project & program teams (when required) to plan & manage the development lifecycle e.g. releases, risk management, testing, integration etc.
• Conduct reviews, performance monitoring & ongoing optimization and maintenance on applications
• Stay ahead of the curve on emerging technologies and development practices e.g. scripting languages, containerization etc.
• Contribute to the design & evolution of Group Architecture, Infrastructure & associated technical standards for the organization

People

• Coach & mentor other engineers
• Conduct peer reviews, testing, problem solving within and across the broader team
• Provide technical subject matter expertise and support in the attraction and recruitment of Product Engineers for the organization
• Participate as a subject matter expert in the development & development planning of the broader product engineering team
• Support the people change teams in the design of adoption processes (Customer, Employee & 3rd Party Adoption)

Risk & Governance

• Identify technical risks and mitigate these (pre, during & post deployment)
• Update / Design all application documentation aligned to the organization technical standards and risk / governance frameworks
• Create business cases & solution specifications for various governance processes (e.g. CTO approvals)
• Participate in incident management & DR activity – applying critical thinking, problem solving & technical expertise to get to the bottom of major incidents
• Deliver on time & on budget (always)

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 At Absa, our story is not a single narrative.

It’s thousands of individual journeys unfolding across Africa and beyond.

From colleagues serving customers in local communities to teams shaping financial solutions across borders, Absa is built on people who bring their lived experiences, ambitions and perspectives into the workplace every day.

Whether you’re starting your career, a seasoned leader or somewhere in between, your contribution is seen, valued and connected to something bigger.

Our presence across Africa – which spans personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management, and insurance – exists because of the people who show up in their roles with purpose.

Across Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, our colleagues are shaping what Absa becomes in each market.

Beyond the continent, teams in global offices and a technology hub support and extend the stories that prove that African talent can lead, influence and innovate on the global stage.

At Absa, your story matters because progress is driven by human experience, not hierarchy.

When people are enabled to bring their whole selves to work, they don’t just build careers. They help shape the future of Africa’s financial services landscape.