System Administrator

Mama Money; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Mama Money is seeking an experienced Systems/IT Operations professional to own identity and access management, endpoints, VPN, and ISMS compliance. You will decide how access is granted and revoked, and document procedures for audits.

You’ll build and automate from scratch, while maintaining clear internal documentation and runbooks. Expect after-hours incident response and hands-on work with Google Workspace, AWS, and internal tooling.

Qualifications

• 4+ years in systems administration or similar hands-on infrastructure role.
• Strong Linux admin skills and practical networking knowledge.
• Experience with AWS IAM and access control, Google Workspace admin.
• Scripting ability (Bash/Python) to automate tasks; documentation mindset.
• Certifications such as RHCSA and CompTIA Linux+ are a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own identity and access management across Google Workspace, AWS, and tools.
• Enforce least privilege, MFA, and SSO; eliminate shared accounts.
• Run access reviews and compile audit-ready evidence.
• Maintain controls under ISMS; support audits with artifacts.
• Monitor for access anomalies and respond to incidents.
• Day-to-day AWS & SaaS platform administration; cost visibility.
• Automate repetitive work and document runbooks.

Skills

Linux administration

Networking fundamentals

AWS IAM & access control

Google Workspace administration

Scripting in Bash/Python

Incident response

Education

RHCSA

CompTIA Linux+

CCNA

Tools

AWS IAM

S3/EC2

CloudTrail

Terraform

Kubernetes

Job description

Who are we?

Mama Money is a who are we?growth-stage fintech on a mission to improve the financial lives of migrants and underserved communities across Africa and beyond. What started in 2015 as a cross-border payments service has grown into a multi-product financial platform — giving people the tools to send, save, and manage money on their own terms, at a socially fair price. Payments were just the beginning; today Mama Money is building the fuller financial toolkit our customers need, all under one roof.

Mama HQ is in beautiful Cape Town. We're 159 people strong (and counting), representing 19 countries across Africa, Asia, the UK, and Europe. Everything we build is in service of people who deserve better — and our culture reflects that same commitment. We've had good times and tough times, but the focus never shifts: people over profit, always.

The role, in short:

You'll own the systems that everyone at Mama Money depends on but nobody thinks about until they break: identity and access, endpoints, VPN, SaaS administration, and the operational evidence our ISMS the regulators require.

This is a hands-on role with real ownership. You're not filing tickets into someone else's queue, you're the person who decides how access is granted and revoked, and how we prove all of it during an audit.

Some of this you’ll inherit and improve, but most of it you’ll build from scratch. A big part of the role is documenting and explaining, so clear writing matters as much as technical depth. After-hours: Occasional after-hours work may be needed to respond to incidents.

What you'll actually be doing:

• Identity & access management: Own the joiner / mover / leaver process across Google Workspace, AWS, Atlassian, Slack, and our internal tooling.
• Enforce least privilege, MFA, and SSO. Kill shared accounts and standing credentials.
• Run periodic access reviews and produce the evidence trail for them.
• Security operations & compliance: Help maintain and improve controls under our ISMS platform in accordance with ISO27001
• Support internal and external audits with working evidence.
• Monitor for access anomalies and respond to incidents
• Cloud & scripting: Day-to-day AWS, SAAS platform access review and administration: IAM, S3, EC2, SSM, CloudTrail, cost visibility.
• Automate repetitive work. If you do it twice by hand, script it
• Help write and maintain internal documentation and runbooks for everything in your domain

What we’re looking for:

• 4+ years in systems administration, IT operations, or a similar hands-on infrastructure role
• Strong Linux administration, troubleshooting, not just running commands from a wiki
• Solid networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VLANs, routing, firewalls, VPN
• Practical AWS experience, particularly IAM and access control
• Google Workspace administration
• Scripting in Bash and/or Python, enough to automate real work
• Infrastructure / OS: RHCSA or CompTIA Linux+
• Networking: CCNA or CompTIA Network+
• Security: CompTIA Security+
• Cloud: AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

Nice to have:

• Experience in a regulated environment (finance, health or similar); FSCA, SARB or FIC exposure is a plus
• Familiarity with ISO 27001, SOC 2 or an equivalent standard
• MikroTik, Ubiquiti or similar network hardware
• Kubernetes and container basics (CKA a bonus)
• Terraform or other infrastructure-as-code (Terraform Associate a bonus)

Why Mama Money?

We build products that help people do more with their money — from sending money home, to saving, to accessing money in ways that feel safe and simple. The work matters because it helps real people in real ways, every single day.

We're not afraid to give things a go, and we take ownership of what we do. We keep learning, support each other, and stay focused on what matters most. If you're after meaningful work and a team that genuinely cares about what they're building — this could be your next move.

Mama's values:

• Making it easier for customers
• Give it a go
• Just own it