Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead

Sanlam; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanlam Limited in Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa seeks a Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead to design, implement and operate scalable cloud and DevOps platforms. You will provide hands-on delivery, mentor one team member, and drive improvements in delivery speed, reliability and security across AWS, Azure, Kubernetes and Jira Cloud.

The role requires deep technical expertise, strong leadership, and the ability to align platform capabilities with business goals.

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams in DevOps, cloud and platform delivery.
• Strong understanding of SDLC, DevSecOps and governance in regulated environments.
• Hands-on delivery of large-scale CI/CD and Kubernetes platforms.

Responsibilities

• Ensure technical agility domain meets stakeholder requirements across business, technology and operations.
• Define cross-functional tooling and SDLC practices to improve delivery speed and reliability.
• Lead Jira Cloud migration, integrations, governance and operations.
• Provide day‑to‑day technical leadership and coaching for the DevOps team.
• Maintain high availability, scalability and security of cloud platforms and CI/CD pipelines.
• Collaborate with architecture and infrastructure teams to deliver a clear technical roadmap.

Skills

Cloud architectures

DevOps tooling

Kubernetes

Azure DevOps

AWS

Jira Cloud

Automation

Education

Undergraduate degree

Honours preferred

Tools

Jira Cloud

Azure DevOps

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

About Sanlam Corporate Sanlam Corporate forms part of the Sanlam Life and Savings (SLS) business cluster within the Sanlam Group. We partner with employers, retirement funds and intermediaries across South Africa to strengthen financial confidence through clear advice, responsible decision-making and sustainable long-term value. Our integrated retirement, investment, group risk, healthcare, consulting and advice solutions support financial resilience and wellbeing. Our ambition is to be the trusted partner for digitally enabled financial wellness by 2030, encompassing retirement, health, investments and group risk, complemented by rewards and banking. Combining specialist expertise and innovation with exceptional client and member experiences, we deliver lasting value to organisations and their people. Underpinned by integrity, care, collaboration and innovation, our culture supports professional growth, the development of future-ready capabilities and meaningful contribution

Purpose of the Role

The Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead is responsible for the hands‑on design, implementation, operation and continuous improvement of the organisation’s DevOps, cloud and technical agility capabilities. The role provides technical leadership for the DevOps function, manages and develops one DevOps team member, and remains directly involved in engineering delivery, automation, platform support, troubleshooting and incident resolution.
The role provides deep technical expertise across AWS cloud‑native architectures, Azure DevOps cloud services, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes, DevSecOps tooling and developer enablement. The role will also provide technical leadership for the migration to and ongoing operation of Jira Cloud, ensuring appropriate integration with the organisation’s development lifecycle, DevOps tooling, delivery processes and governance requirements.
The role is accountable for implementing and maintaining scalable, secure, reliable and compliant engineering platforms and practices, while driving measurable improvements in delivery speed, platform stability, security, developer experience and cost efficiency.

Overview of Role Responsibilities (Level 1-13)

Software Development- Level 6 - Adaptation
Develop existing applications and contribute to development of new applications by analyzing and identifying areas for modification and improvement. Develop new routine applications to meet customer requirements.

Software Maintenance- Level 6 - Adaptation
Monitor, identify, and correct more complex software defects to maintain fully functioning applications software.

Programming Troubleshooting- Level 6 - Adaptation
Manage programming troubleshooting projects, ensuring effective diagnosis of programming issues and the development of effective solutions.

Testing Information Technology (IT) Performance- Level 6 - Adaptation
Design and perform website/applications software tests and respond to user emails to monitor, diagnose, and correct performance issues.

Technical Developments Recommendation- Level 6 - Adaptation
Discuss and recommend technical developments to improve the quality of the used technology, such as systems, processes, infrastructure, installations and machines.

Required Skills

Application Development - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to develop software through use of programming languages. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Techniques - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to understand and apply the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, and maintenance, to effectively develop software that supports modelling activities. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

IT Testing - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to design, execute and report on systems/service tests to ensure that an application functions as specified in the requirements. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Compiling and Decompiling Code - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to compile and decompile programming code. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

IT Implementation and integration - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to implement, configure and optimize systems and services. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

System Design - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to design and implement high‑quality and scalable solutions to technical challenges. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Overview of Responsibilities

• Ensure technical agility domain meets the requirements of all stakeholders to including business change, technology and operations.
• Ensure industry best practice is being adopted and aligned in terms of Infrastructure Architecture; Continuous Delivery and Integration; Deployment; Security and Test automation.
• Responsible for defining the System Development Life Cycle methodology and associated cross‑functional tools to ensure adoption and continuous improvement in alignment with SAFE
• Define and drive adoption of technical agility platform principles / standards – ensuring adherence to blueprints
• Partner with platform owners, Architecture, infrastructure and business Agility to deliver a clear technical roadmap for the platform.
• Promotes, documents, and implements best practices, building tools that allow SC‑IT to develop and deploy impeccable software
• Collaborates with the quality assurance department in creating solution designs, capacity planning, and performance optimisation.
• Leverage industry‑leading business processes to improve business agility and technical agility for shorter cycle times.
• Proactive identification of platform enhancements including non‑functional enhancement
• Work collaboratively with business stakeholders and operational teams to support prioritisation of changes and defect backlog prioritisation
• Act as point of escalation for Platform related Defects and Major Incidents resolution

• Build and maintain a relationship network with key stakeholders in technology and business
• Maintain an understanding of the existing and potential platform capabilities
• Define target platform structure, drive transformation to reach the target and govern adherence
• Ensure solution design supports the goal of a right first time, reducing time to market / minimises cost to deliver whilst meeting the business requirements
• Act as the final escalation point for platform‑related: Major Incidents, Platform defects, Systemic CI/CD failures.
• Ensure high availability, scalability, and performance of Azure DevOps services and agent infrastructure, AWS build and runtime environments
• Deep understanding of Kubernetes control plane concepts, etcd considerations, node lifecycle, autoscaling strategies (Cluster Autoscaler/Karpenter), and capacity planning.
• Practical experience managing container registries
• Provide technical leadership, day‑to‑day work direction, coaching and performance management for one DevOps team member, while remaining directly accountable for hands‑on engineering delivery and platform support.
• Provide technical leadership for the migration to and ongoing operation of Jira Cloud, including configuration, data migration, integrations, workflow alignment, access controls, automation, governance and operational support.

Qualifications & Certifications

• Microsoft AzureDevOps
• Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional or Solutions Architect – Associate/Professional
• SAFE for DevOps
• SAFE Practitioner
• Relevant IT certifications (e.g. COBIT, ITIL, JIRA etc.) is advantageous.
• Experience in a Dev Ops environment and leading the development automation
• 7–10 years’ experience in DevOps, platform or cloud engineering, including hands‑on technical delivery and experience leading, mentoring or managing engineering resources.
• Relevant governance or service management certifications (ITIL, COBIT) are advantageous.

Education

Undergraduate Degree / Honours Tertiary Degree

Degree or Diploma and the required Certification with 8 to 10 years related experience.

Experience Required

• DevOps Tooling strategy development and implementation
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving and conflict resolution skills.
• Proven experience owning enterprise CI/CD platforms at scale
• Experience defining and governing SDLC and DevSecOps frameworks in regulated environments
• Hands‑on experience with Jira Cloud, Azure DevOps and Agile testing tools, including configuration, integrations, workflow automation, access controls and support for migration from Jira on‑premises to Jira Cloud.
• Exceptional analytical, conceptual, and problem‑solving abilities.
• 3–5+ years designing, operating, and governing Kubernetes platforms in enterprise environments (self‑managed and/or managed services such as EKS/AKS).
• Highly self‑motivated to deliver both independently and with strong team collaboration.
• Strong written and oral communications along with presentation and interpersonal skills.
• Working knowledge of agile methodology, techniques, and frameworks

Ensures Accountability

Tech Savvy

Manages Complexity

Decision Quality

Business Insight

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The closing date for this advert is 3 November 2026

Our Commitment To Transformation

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.