Senior Cloud Security & DevSecOps Manager

Optimal Growth Technologies; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimal Growth Technologies is seeking a Senior Cloud Security & DevSecOps Manager to lead a hybrid, 12-month program focused on secure cloud delivery, threat management, and automated security tooling. The role requires deep AWS expertise, strong leadership, and experience with regulated environments including POPIA compliance.

You will guide DevSecOps practices across Architecture, Development, Security, and Compliance teams, building secure CI/CD pipelines and incident response capabilities

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field and 8+ years in DevOps, Cloud Engineering, or Cybersecurity.
• Proven leadership in regulated environments (POPIA/GDPR).
• Strong hands-on AWS experience and IaC/CI/CD proficiency.

Responsibilities

• Lead DevSecOps engineers and foster a security-by-design culture.
• Design, implement, and govern secure cloud architectures (AWS/Azure/GCP).
• Build secure CI/CD pipelines with security gates (SAST/DAST/IaC).
• Oversee vulnerability management, threat modelling, and incident response.
• Ensure compliance with POPIA and regulatory changes.

Skills

Cloud security

DevSecOps

AWS

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Threat modelling

POPIA compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Engineering

Tools

Terraform

Ansible

CloudFormation

Docker

Kubernetes

Git

Security tools (Inspector, GuardDuty)

Job description

Senior Cloud Security & DevSecOps Manager

About the job Senior Cloud Security & DevSecOps Manager

Job Title: DevSecOps Manager

Location: Midrand - Hybrid

Duration: 12 months

Role Summary

• This senior role drives secure, automated, and compliant cloud-native delivery while managing monitoring/alerting, penetration testing programs, vulnerability management, and broader cybersecurity initiatives.
• You will lead a team of DevSecOps engineers, foster a security by design culture, and enable the business to innovate rapidly in a regulated South African and global context

Key Responsibilities

DevOps

• Provision and manage cloud infrastructure as code (Terraform, Ansible,

CloudFormation) on AWS, Azure, or GCP.

• Implement containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm) for
• Automate repetitive tasks, reduce toil, and improve developer experience through self

service tools

• Collaborate with software developers, QA, and security teams to embed DevOps

practices (shift-left security, automated testing).

• Perform root-cause analysis on production issues, implement fixes, and drive
• Participate in on-call rotations and incident response.

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of DevOps, SRE, and security
• Mentor junior engineers and promote a culture of automation and shared ownership
• Champion DevSecOps practices and culture across Development, Operations, Security, and Compliance teams.
• Define and track KPIs: vulnerability remediation time, security gate pass rate, MTTR, deployment frequency, and alert reduction.

AWS Cloud Environment Management & Security

• Design, implement, and govern secure AWS architectures (multi-account landing

Code (Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, CDK).

• Enforce least-privilege IAM, encryption (KMS), secrets management, network

security, and data sovereignty for POPIA compliance.

• Leverage AWS-native services: Amazon Inspector, GuardDuty, Security Hub, Config,

IAM Access Analyzer, and AWS Security Agent for automated security.

• Build and Secure CI/CD Pipelines & Automation
• Build and evolve secure CI/CD pipelines (AWS CodePipeline, GitLab), optimizing

workflows to automate testing, builds, and deployments with security gates (SAST,

• DAST, SCA, IaC, secret, and container scanning)

Monitoring, Alerting & Observability

• Architect comprehensive monitoring and alerting using AWS CloudWatch, GuardDuty,

X-Ray, EventBridge, and SIEM integrations.

• Design intelligent alerting with automated routing, escalation, noise reduction, and

rapid incident response processes (critical for Cybercrimes Act obligations).

• Set up monitoring, logging, and alerting to maintain high availability and performance.
• Ensure 24/7 visibility into security posture, performance, and compliance.
• Lead and coordinate regular penetration testing
• Oversee vulnerability management: scanning, risk-based prioritization, remediation

tracking, and exception processes.

• Conduct threat modelling, runtime protection, supply-chain security, zero-trust

implementation, and incident response.

• Ensure appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures for POPIA

Condition 7 (Security Safeguards), including encryption, access controls, logging,

and regular testing.

Compliance, Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Support audits and evidence collection
• Collaborate on release management with security go/no-go decisions.
• Stay current with AWS security updates, emerging threats, and South African

regulatory changes.

• Drive maturity of DevSecOps practices and conduct regular AWS Well-Architected
• Framework reviews (Security Pillar).

Qualifications & Experience

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Engineering

Experience

• 8–10+ years in DevOps, Cloud Engineering, or Cybersecurity.
• 3–5+ years in technical leadership or management roles.
• Strong hands‑on AWS experience
• Proven track record in regulated environments with POPIA/GDPR compliance.

Certifications

• AWS Certified Security – Specialty or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional.
• CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or CISA.

Technical:

• Deep expertise in AWS.
• Proficiency with security tools (Inspector, GuardDuty, SAST/DAST like SonarQube,
• SIEM).
• Proficiency in at least one scripting language (Python, Bash, PowerShell).
• Strong experience with Linux, networking, and Git.
• Hands‑on expertise with CI/CD, IaC, Docker/Kubernetes, and at least one major
• cloud platform (AWS/Azure/GCP certifications preferred).
• Penetration testing methodologies and vulnerability management.
• Knowledge of monitoring, observability, and infrastructure security.

Leadership & Soft Skills:

• Excellent stakeholder communication (technical to executive level).
• Ability to drive cultural change in hybrid/fast‑paced environments.
• Strong problem‑solving, metrics‑driven approach, and collaboration skills.