Vice President of Engineering

Kuda; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 4,000,000 - 7,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Group life insurance

Medical insurance

Wellness program

Hybrid work schedule

Career development

Job summary

Kuda is seeking a VP of Engineering to lead a 100+ engineer team across four countries. You will scale the organization, drive delivery excellence, and ensure regulatory and security compliance as we grow globally.

This leadership role bridges strategy and day-to-day execution, fostering psychological safety, technical excellence, and rapid innovation. You will own the product roadmap execution, implement modern practices (GitOps, CI/CD, automated testing), and optimize architectures for

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience in high-throughput financial systems.
• Experience leading large engineering organizations (100+) in fast-growth environments.
• Deep understanding of modern cloud infrastructure and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Scale the human organisation with 100+ engineers across four countries.
• Own internal product roadmap execution with high velocity and security.
• Drive adoption of GitOps, automated testing, CI/CD to accelerate delivery cycles.

Skills

Leadership

Cloud-Native

Fintech

DevSecOps

Tools

Cloud platforms

Job description

About Kuda:

Kuda, which means ‘love' in Shona, a Southern African language, is a fintech company on a mission to make financial services accessible, affordable, and rewarding for Africans.

Backed by over $100 million in funding from some of the world's most respected institutional investors, we offer a better alternative to traditional finance by delivering services including free money transfers, remittance, business banking, and instant access to credit through digital devices.

Our team of passionate and diverse people works hard to break boundaries, carry one another along, do better every day, and share the love that defines us.

If you're excited about working at a place where purpose, innovation, and impact connect, you'd be right at home with us.

Please note that this role is part of our ongoing talent mapping and pipeline-building efforts. We are always keen to connect with exceptional engineering leaders who align with Kuda's mission and future growth plans.

Role Overview:

As the VP of Engineering (VPE) at Kuda, you will lead a world-class engineering organization of 100+ software and quality engineers distributed across four countries. Your mission is built on three core pillars: Scale, Delivery, and Compliance. You will be the engine of internal execution, responsible for scaling our human organization, driving operational excellence, and ensuring our technical systems remain robust as we expand globally. You will bridge the gap between high-level technical strategy and daily execution, fostering a culture of psychological safety, technical excellence, and rapid innovation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Scaling the Human Organisation
• Lead, mentor, and grow a diverse, distributed engineering team of 100+, ensuring high levels of engagement and professional development
• Establish clear career frameworks and performance standards that reward technical excellence and leadership
• Foster a culture of psychological safety where engineers feel empowered to take calculated risks and innovate
• Operational & Delivery Excellence
• Own the internal execution of the product roadmap, ensuring high velocity without compromising on quality or security
• Drive the adoption of modern engineering practices (e.g., GitOps, automated testing, CI/CD) to accelerate delivery cycles
• Optimize engineering processes to reduce friction and improve the developer experience across all squads
• Technical Strategy & Scale
• Oversee the architectural integrity of our cloud-native, high-throughput, and low-latency financial systems
• Ensure our core banking systems and microservices are built to handle millions of global customers
• Drive cloud infrastructure consolidation to simplify maintenance and improve cost-efficiency
• Compliance & Security
• Partner with internal stakeholders to ensure all software delivery upholds the highest standards of security and financial compliance
• Ensure readiness for evolving standards (such as ISO 20022, 22301, CBN Risk-Based Cybersecurity Framework, PCI-DSS, etc) and lead the implementation of advanced security features

Requirements

• Seasoned Technologist: 10+ years of engineering experience with a demonstrable background in building and maintaining high-throughput, low-latency financial systems
• Proven Leadership: Previous experience leading large engineering organizations (100+) and building high-performance squads in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
• Cloud-Native Expertise: Deep understanding of modern cloud infrastructure and distributed systems
• Regulatory Knowledge: Experience navigating the security and compliance mandates of financial regulatory bodies

Hard Skills:

• Expertise in software delivery metrics (DORA metrics) and process optimization
• Strong grasp of architectural patterns for scalable fintech applications (12 Factor Apps)
• Experience with automated regression testing and security-first development (DevSecOps)

Soft Skills:

• Clear Communication: Ability to translate complex technical challenges into business impact for executive and other business stakeholders
• Empathetic Leadership: A commitment to fostering an inclusive, safe, and high-growth environment for engineers
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to balance immediate delivery needs with long-term organizational health

Benefits

Why join Kuda?

At Kuda, our people are the heart of our business, so we prioritize your welfare. We offer a wide range of competitive benefits in areas including but not limited to:

• A great and upbeat work environment populated by a multinational team
• Career Development & growth
• Competitive annual leave plus bank holidays
• Competitive paid time off (Parental, Moving day, Birthday, Study leave etc)
• Group life insurance
• Medical insurance
• Well-fare package (Wedding, Compassionate and etc)
• Awardco
• Goalr - employee wellness app
• Award winning L&D training
• We are advocates of work-life balance, working in a hybrid in office schedule

Kuda is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Kuda is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent.

We don't regard colour, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.