Tech Lead Engineering - AI & Automation

Sanlam Limited; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 1,600,000 - 2,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanlam Corporate seeks a Tech Lead Engineering – AI and Automation to anchor AI/automation initiatives. You will lead a team of engineers, set standards, and guide production-grade AI solutions from concept to scale while ensuring governance and risk controls align with POPIA and group policies.

You will partner with business, product and data teams to prioritise high-value use cases, while delivering secure, observable, and cost-aware platforms across cloud environments.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related field.
• 8+ years software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a technical lead role.
• Proven experience delivering AI/ML or generative AI solutions into production.
• Experience delivering process automation (RPA, workflow or low-code platforms).
• Cloud certification (e.g. Azure or AWS) is advantageous.
• Financial services or insurance industry experience is advantageous.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and at least one of C#, Java or TypeScript.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and generative AI: prompt engineering, RAG, vector databases.
• Experience with automation and orchestration platforms (UiPath, Power Automate).
• Cloud-native development and AI services on a major cloud platform, including containers, DevOps and CI/CD.
• Data engineering fundamentals: data pipelines, data quality.
• Security and governance for AI, including POPIA.
• Leadership experience in managing cross-functional engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Leads, coaches and grows a team of AI, automation and software engineers, including recruitment and performance management.
• Defines and maintains engineering standards, reference architectures and reusable components for AI and automation solutions.
• Designs and builds solutions using LLMs, RAG, AI agents and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs.
• Drives intelligent automation of business processes, including workflow automation and RPA.
• Takes solutions from proof of concept to production, ensuring security and scalability.
• Establishes MLOps/LLMOps practices, including CI/CD and monitoring.

Skills

AI/ML leadership

Python

Team leadership

LLMs & RAG

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Education

CS degree

Tools

UiPath

Power Automate

Azure

AWS

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 Tech Lead Engineering – AI and Automation is the technical anchor for how Sanlam Corporate designs, builds and runs AI and automation solutions. Leading a team of engineers, this leader is responsible for turning AI and automation opportunities into secure, production-grade solutions that remove manual effort, improve client and member experience, and lift the productivity of our people.

Key responsibilities include setting the engineering standards, reference architectures and reusable patterns for generative AI, AI agents, intelligent document processing and process automation. The tech lead stays hands-on: designing solutions, reviewing code, unblocking engineers and taking ideas from proof of concept to scaled production with the right evaluation, monitoring and controls in place.

In addition to delivery, this role acts as a trusted technical partner to business, product, architecture, data, risk and Group AI teams, helping to shape and prioritise the AI and automation backlog based on value, feasibility and risk. The tech lead ensures that solutions align with the Sanlam Corporate and Group technology strategy and meet our obligations around responsible AI, data privacy (POPIA) and regulatory requirements.

Ultimately, the Tech Lead Engineering – AI and Automation serves as the engine room of the AI rollout, building the capability, platforms and engineering culture that allow Sanlam Corporate to adopt AI safely and at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Leads, coaches and grows a team of AI, automation and software engineers, including recruitment, performance management and skills development.
• Defines and maintains engineering standards, reference architectures and reusable components for AI and automation solutions.
• Designs and builds solutions using large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs.
• Drives intelligent automation of business processes, including workflow automation, RPA and intelligent document processing across administration, claims, underwriting and client servicing.
• Takes solutions from proof of concept to production, ensuring they are secure, scalable, observable and supportable.
• Establishes MLOps/LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, model and prompt versioning, automated evaluation, monitoring and cost tracking.
• Embeds responsible AI controls such as human-in-the-loop design, guardrails, accuracy and bias testing, explainability and audit trails, in line with Group AI governance, POPIA and regulatory requirements.
• Partners with business units and product owners to identify, size and prioritise AI and automation use cases based on value, feasibility and risk.
• Works with enterprise architecture, data, security and infrastructure teams to ensure solutions integrate cleanly with core systems and cloud platforms.
• Collaborates with Group AI and other Sanlam clusters to reuse shared platforms and patterns and avoid duplication.
• Evaluates AI and automation tools and platforms, and manages relationships with technology vendors and partners.
• Tracks and reports on delivery progress, adoption and benefits realised (for example hours saved, turnaround times and cost).
• Brings in outward trends in AI and automation to influence business and technology strategy.
• Builds AI literacy and engineering capability across IT through communities of practice, demos and mentoring.

Overview of Role Responsibilities (Level 1-13)

Enterprise Architecture- Level 6 - Adaptation
Maintain an established set of enterprise architecture artifacts.

Enterprise Infrastructure Modernization- Level 6 - Adaptation
Deliver digital solution architecture services as assigned, preparing conceptual and logical architecture diagrams to align technical direction and document future-state architectures.

Business Requirements Identification- Level 6 - Adaptation
Collect business requirements using a variety of methods, such as interviews, document analysis, workshops, and workflow analysis, to express the requirements in terms of target user roles and goals.

Analysis of "As Is" and "To Be"- Level 6 - Adaptation
Document "as is" and "to be" processes and describe the changes required to migrate to the "to be" capability to record accurately the change required.

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.

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related field is advantageous.
• 8+ years’ software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a technical lead or team lead role.
• Proven experience delivering AI/ML or generative AI solutions into production.
• Experience delivering process automation (RPA, workflow or low-code platforms).
• Cloud certification (e.g. Azure or AWS) is advantageous.
• Financial services or insurance industry experience is advantageous.
• Strong software engineering skills in Python and at least one of C#, Java or TypeScript, including API design and microservices.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs and generative AI: prompt engineering, RAG, vector databases, agent orchestration and evaluation frameworks.
• Experience with automation and orchestration platforms (e.g. UiPath, Power Automate or similar).
• Cloud-native development and AI services on a major cloud platform, including containers, DevOps and CI/CD.
• Data engineering fundamentals: data pipelines, data quality, and working with structured and unstructured data.
• Security and governance for AI, including identity and access, data protection, model risk and POPIA.
• Solution architecture and design, with sound judgement on build, buy and reuse trade-offs.
• Leadership experience in managing cross-functional engineering teams and influencing senior management and key stakeholders
• Collaborative and open minded.
• Hands-on leader who leads by example and is comfortable in the code.
• Pragmatic and outcome-focused: delivers value in small increments and learns fast.
• Has integrity and delivers on committed tasks and initiatives.
• Good communicator who can explain AI concepts to non-technical audiences, verbally and visually.
• Sound ethical judgement on the responsible use of AI and data.
• Inquisitive about technology trends and self-motivated to continuous learning and personal development.
• Ability to take ambiguity and clarify for self and others.
• Invests in coaching and mentoring others to grow the team’s capability.

Required Skills

Architecture - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to design architectures, incorporating system/service requirements. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Enterprise application integration - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to integrate different software systems and platforms within an organization, enabling seamless data exchange and communication between various applications to improve operational efficiency and data consistency. Typically works independently and provides guidance.

Network/IT security - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to maintain system/service and information security, integrity, compliance and continuity. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Business Requirements Analysis - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to express user needs in terms of business requirements, identify current capability of the business to deliver, conduct build or buy analyses, and recommend preferred approach. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Analyze Current State/AS-IS State - Advanced
Works at an advanced level to understand business context, needs, rules, and architecture, as well as organizational structure, cultures, capabilities, and processes to document the current state of processes and the business. Typically works independent and provides guidance.

Define Future State/TO-BE State - Fully Competent
Works with full competence to envision and document the future state of processes and products by identifying the solution scope, potential value of the future state, and the changes to the process, products, organization infrastructure, capabilities, and technology necessary to achieve the desired future state. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.

Manages Complexity

Tech Savvy

Business Insight

Drives Results

Turnaround times

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. Closing date is 6th Nov 2026

Our aim is to help you 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 business clusters – Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Corporate Santam, Miway, as well as the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.