Technical Product Manager, Platform Foundations

Xceptor; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Xceptor is seeking a Technical Product Manager for Platform Foundations to own the roadmap and delivery of core platform capabilities including APIs, tooling, observability, and reliability. Reporting to the Senior Director, Platform, you will balance strategic thinking with technical depth to empower product and engineering teams.

You will partner with engineering, architecture, security, and data teams to drive adoption, improve developer experience, and enable scalable growth across the

Qualifications

• Experience as a Technical Product Manager in fintech or regulated environments.
• Ability to own platform roadmaps and translate strategy into delivery.
• Strong analytical and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the Platform Foundations roadmap and delivery.
• Collaborate with Senior Director to establish scalable, resilient platform capabilities.
• Design usability testing and translate insights into product features.
• Improve developer productivity, platform adoption, and engineering efficiency.
• Develop business cases and prioritisation frameworks for platform investments.
• Ensure platform initiatives deliver measurable value to internal customers.

Skills

Platform foundations

Roadmapping

Developer experience

APIs

Infrastructure

Observability

IAM

Reliability

Platform enablement

Stakeholder mgmt

Tools

Cloud technologies

Distributed systems

CI/CD

Git

Job description

About Xceptor

Data is at the heart of everything we do: Xceptor has been designed around data manipulation in its broadest sense. We source data from wherever it flows. We curate, normalise, validate, repair, and enrich that data so it reaches its destination in a reliable and consistent format. Data coming out of Xceptor is data our clients can trust.

We are recognised as an expert in the Financial Services vertical, which strongly aligns with Business Users in Middle and Back-Office teams. We enable these users to solve their data challenges by themselves, rather than through a technology-led project.

Our mission - we empower business users within financial institutions to build automated processes that deliver trusted data.

Our values

At Xceptor, we are:

• Client Centric; we prioritise our Clients’ experience and needs.
• One Team; we actively support one another to achieve our goals.
• Impactful; we focus, we innovate, we make every minute matter.

Your Role:

The Technical Product Manager, Platform Foundations is responsible for owning and managing the roadmap, and execution of the core platform capabilities that underpin the organisation's products and services. Reporting to the Senior Director, Platform, this role will drive the evolution of foundational platform products including developer experience, internal tooling, APIs, infrastructure services, observability, identity and access management, resilience, and platform enablement capabilities. Working at the intersection of Product, Engineering, Architecture, and Operations, the successful candidate will balance strategic thinking with technical depth, ensuring platform investments improve developer productivity, accelerate delivery, increase reliability, and enable business growth. This role is ideally suited to someone who is highly technical, intellectually curious, comfortable engaging in engineering discussions, and passionate about building products that empower other product and engineering teams.

What You’ll Be Doing:

Product Ownership & Delivery

• Own and manage the Platform Foundations roadmap, ensuring alignment with business and technology objectives.
• Partner with the Senior Director, Platform to establish long-term platform capabilities that support scalability, resilience, and innovation.
• Design user research testing (product usability), working with research and product to translate insights into product features and functionality.
• Identify opportunities to improve developer productivity, platform adoption, operational efficiency, and engineering effectiveness.
• Develop business cases and prioritisation frameworks to support strategic platform investment decisions.
• Ensure platform initiatives deliver measurable value to internal customers and the wider business.

Platform Product Management

• Own a portfolio of foundational platform products and services used across multiple engineering and product teams.
• Gather requirements from internal customers and translate them into clear product outcomes and priorities.
• Define and maintain platform roadmaps, backlogs, success metrics, and adoption plans.
• Prioritise platform investments by balancing technical needs, business objectives, risk, scalability, and user experience.
• Drive the adoption and continuous improvement of platform capabilities across the organisation.

Cross-Functional Relationships

• Work closely with Engineering, Architecture, Security, Data, Infrastructure, and Product teams to deliver platform initiatives.
• Build strong relationships with stakeholders and act as a trusted partner across the organisation.
• Facilitate alignment across teams with competing priorities and requirements.
• Lead platform discovery, planning, and prioritisation activities.
• Influence strategic technology and product decisions through data, insight, and customer understanding.

Developer Experience & Enablement

• Champion the needs of internal users, including software engineers, platform engineers, and product development teams.
• Drive improvements in developer experience through better tooling, automation, self-service capabilities, and platform usability.
• Support initiatives that reduce friction, improve development velocity, and increase engineering efficiency.
• Promote a product-led approach to platform development and internal customer engagement.

Platform Reliability & Scalability

• Partner with Engineering and Infrastructure teams to improve platform reliability, observability, security, and performance.
• Support platform modernisation and technical debt reduction initiatives.
• Ensure platform products meet scalability, availability, governance, and risk management requirements.
• Contribute to long-term platform architecture discussions and investment planning.

Data & Continuous Improvement

• Define and monitor KPIs relating to platform adoption, developer satisfaction, reliability, and operational performance.
• Use quantitative and qualitative feedback to drive product decisions and prioritisation.
• Establish feedback loops with platform users to ensure continual improvement.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, learning, and outcome-driven decision making.

Who we're looking for:

• Experience as a Technical Product Manager, or similar role.
• Experience working in a fintech, financial services, capital markets, or other regulated environment.
• Experience managing platform, infrastructure, developer tooling, technical, or enterprise software products.
• Strong understanding of software engineering principles, APIs, cloud technologies, distributed systems, and modern software architecture.
• Strong understanding of product management principles and Agile delivery methodologies.
• Proven ability to define and execute product strategies and roadmaps for platform or technology products.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication abilities.
• Ability to balance multiple priorities and deliver in a fast‑paced environment.
• Comfortable operating in highly technical discussions with engineers, architects, and technology leaders.
• Can read and understand code and enjoys engaging with technical concepts.
• Has a strong builder mindset and is passionate about creating products that enable others to succeed.
• Is naturally curious and constantly learning about new technologies, tools, and approaches.
• Balances strategic thinking with hands‑on execution.
• Demonstrates strong ownership and accountability for outcomes.
• Challenges assumptions and seeks innovative solutions to complex problems.
• Communicates clearly, openly, and effectively across technical and business audiences.
• Thrives in a fast‑paced, ambitious, and collaborative environment.

Diversity & Inclusion at Xceptor

We believe great ideas come from everywhere — and that the best teams are made up of people with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. At Xceptor, we’re committed to building a workplace where everyone feels welcome, valued, and empowered to be themselves.

We know that not everyone ticks every single box in a job description — and that’s okay. If you’re excited about this role and think you could make a difference, we’d love to hear from you. Your unique skills and experiences might be just what we need, even if you don’t meet every requirement.

We celebrate diversity and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all employees — regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or background.

Hybrid at Xceptor

We love the buzz of the office and the flexibility of home—so at Xceptor, you get the best of both. Our people spend 2-3 days per week in the office collaborating, brainstorming, and connecting in person. The rest is up to you. It’s all about great teamwork, balanced with the freedom to work your way.

Please note:

• Xceptor works with clients in financial services and our offers of employment are subject to the satisfactory completion of background checks, which includes criminal record checks, and credit reference checks.
• If you have any employment gaps exceeding three months within the last six years, we will request additional information and evidence to clarify those periods.