Tech Lead

Sanlam Limited; South Africa; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanlam Limited seeks a Technical Lead for its Fintech arm to drive architecture and mentorship within an agile team. You will steer distributed systems, align with business goals, and coach engineering talent across cloud-native environments.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in software development, 3+ years in tech leadership, and strong skills in backend/frontend tech, microservices, and DevOps. Flexible work practices and a focus on fintech outcomes are offered.

Qualifications

• A relevant bachelor's degree or diploma.
• 8+ years of software development experience, with 3+ years in a technical leadership role.
• Proven track record of designing, building, and scaling distributed systems in cloud environments (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Strong expertise in modern backend technologies (e.g., Java, Python, Node.js, Go) and frontend frameworks (React, Angular, or Vue)
• Experience with microservices, event-driven architectures, and API design (REST/gRPC/GraphQL)
• Hands‑on with databases (SQL/NoSQL) and messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ)
• Familiarity with DevOps practices (CI/CD, IaC, Kubernetes, Docker) and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
• Leadership & Mentorship: Ability to guide, inspire and grow engineering teams
• Fintech/banking experience (payments, lending, wealth management) is a plus
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills

Responsibilities

• Reporting to the CTO, this role drives technical leadership, mentorship and innovation within a fintech agile team.
• Key responsibilities include:
• Technical Direction: Align team deliverables with strategic technical decisions, ensuring scalable, high-quality solutions
• Leadership & Mentorship: Foster team growth through coaching, cultivating top-tier engineering talent
• Code Excellence: Deliver robust, maintainable code in a collaborative, cross-functional environment
• Modern Tech Stack: Leverage pragmatic, cutting-edge technologies to build scalable distributed systems
• Ideal for fintech innovators passionate about disrupting finance, this role combines hands-on development with stakeholder management, guiding projects from inception to delivery while optimizing team productivity and communication. Join us in shaping the future of finance through technology

Skills

Technical leadership

Mentorship

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

Backend tech

Frontend framework

Microservices

API design

Databases

DevOps

Observability

Leadership

Fintech

Education

Bachelor's degree or diploma

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Kubernetes

Docker

Prometheus

Grafana

ELK

React

Angular

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Job description

Sanlam was established as a life insurance company in South Africa but has since transformed into a diversified financial services group that operates across the African continent, India, Malaysia and selected developed markets, with listings on the Johannesburg, A2X and Namibian Securities Stock exchanges. In 2018 the Group celebrated its centenary as well as 20 years since demutualisation and listing in South Africa and Namibia. Sanlam is one of the largest internationally active insurance groups in the world with a presence in 27 countries and has the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.

The Group's four business clusters (Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz and Santam) house the Group's business operations. The Group Office provides strategic direction and support to the four clusters, assisting them in realising their strategies and meeting their business objectives. The Group Office is responsible for governance and for the Group's centralised functions, which include: Group Tecnhnology, Finance, Actuarial, Risk and Balance Sheet Management, Strategy, Human Capital, Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs. The Group Office ensures cohesive management across the organisation.

Positions Overview

Sanlam Fintech x is a small business unit within the Sanlam Group office and it's looking to fill the role of a Technical lead. A TL is responsible for larger components, sets of features or whole applications. They typically have 8-10 years or more of software engineering experience and at least 3 years’ experience managing/coaching a team. They work closely with Design and Product Management but may also work broadly across an organisation on critical contributions. They help others with planning and reviews and propose solutions to complex problems. They have technical writing skills and help drive the overall vision and system design.

What will you do?

Reporting to the CTO, this role drives technical leadership, mentorship and innovation within a fintech agile team.

Key responsibilities include:

• Technical Direction: Align team deliverables with strategic technical decisions, ensuring scalable, high-quality solutions
• Leadership & Mentorship: Foster team growth through coaching, cultivating top-tier engineering talent
• Code Excellence: Deliver robust, maintainable code in a collaborative, cross-functional environment
• Modern Tech Stack: Leverage pragmatic, cutting-edge technologies to build scalable distributed systems
  

Ideal for fintech innovators passionate about disrupting finance, this role combines hands-on development with stakeholder management, guiding projects from inception to delivery while optimizing team productivity and communication. Join us in shaping the future of finance through technology

Qualification and Experience

• A relevant bachelor's degree or diploma
• 8+ years of software development experience, with 3+ years in a technical leadership role (e.g., Tech Lead, Senior Engineer, or Architect)
• Proven track record of designing, building, and scaling distributed systems in cloud environments (AWS/Azure/GCP)
• Strong expertise in modern backend technologies (e.g., Java, Python, Node.js, Go) and frontend frameworks (React, Angular, or Vue)
• Experience with microservices, event-driven architectures, and API design (REST/gRPC/GraphQL)
• Hands‑on with databases (SQL/NoSQL) and messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ)
• Familiarity with DevOps practices (CI/CD, IaC, Kubernetes, Docker) and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK)
• Leadership & Mentorship: Ability to guide, inspire and grow engineering teams
• Fintech/banking experience (payments, lending, wealth management) is a plus
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills

What will make you successful in this role?

This role requires extensive hands‑on experience designing, developing, and testing distributed, high-volume, and highly reliable software. You will need a solid understanding of requirements and excellent communication skills for explaining technical solutions. Business and operational awareness, as well as experience with cloud-based infrastructure, ideally AWS, are also required.

At Sanlam Fintech, we demand a lot from each other, but we also give a lot in return. You'll love:

• Engaging with intelligent, driven people in a stimulating virtual environment
• Making a real social impact through your work
• Continuous growth and learning, with abundant support and encouragemen
• Courageously navigating through uncharted territory
• Tackling exciting challenges with international teams
• Enjoying flexible work practices that enable you to deliver your best
• Having the autonomy and empowerment to lead
• Being at the cutting edge of technology and innovation

SFTx's 6 Leadership Principles:

• Ownership Mindset – Looking for ways to do, instead of reasons not to. Being accountable for actions and decisions, owning both successes and mistakes, and learning and growing from each experience.
• Growth Mindset – Always learning and improving, getting better each time. Embracing challenges and failures as opportunities for growth.
• Customer Centricity – A deep understanding of the customer seen in everything you do. Being led by customers, their feedback and their behaviours.
• Innovation (Jugaad) – Where some see impossible, seeing a way. Doing more with less, applying creativity to turn obstacles into opportunities, chance into change.
• Velocity – Moving fast and fixing things. Working iteratively to deliver customer value without sacrificing long-term value for short-term results.
• Inclusion – Seeking out and valuing different perspectives. Believing that when we change how we look at things, how things look for us also changes, making tomorrow not just different, but better.

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth.Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.

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.