Head Platforms & Engineering: Database Operations - Randburg at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Lead the agile design, deployment & ongoing optimisation & evolution of enterprise wide Database technology platforms including but not limited to: Virtual Platforms, Middleware Systems Technology, Mainframe, Storage and API’s. This includes: strategic direction setting & the transitioning / modernisation of the organisation to virtualisation & containerisation, cost transparency & optimisation, self service & provisioning at the point of interaction with our customers.

Job Description

Platform Technologies Direction Setting, Solution Design & Performance Management

• Assume one stop shop accountability for the delivery of ‘Platforms as a Service’ optimally & sustainably
• Proactively & meaningfully collaborate across the value chain in the design & delivery of sustainable Platform Strategies and Solutions
• Conduct ongoing assessments of our existing platform, API & storage technologies & build & communicate relevant insights (consumption, cost etc.) for business decision making
• Leverage expertise in emerging technologies, benchmarks & architecture as well as the broader organisation business strategies to define the appropriate Platforms strategy for the organisation
• Lead & facilitate the design of the appropriate platform solutions & realise our goal to provide ‘platforms as a service’
• Apply design thinking practices to deliver architecturally sound platform solutions (and explain / guide / coach others on this architecture holistically and technically)
• Lead the detailed scoping, prioritisation & integration planning for the design & deployment of platform services with & across multiple stakeholder groups (All businesses)
• Ensure the most optimal design & deployment of platform technologies in the organization (via pipeline – not manually)
• Manage all development & development practices & outputs across platform teams
• Ensure strategies & associated platform solutions deliver on the key technical principles of: self-service, repeatability, testability, scalability & resilience
• Effectively manage the DevOps& Decomm pipelines & associated releases, risk management for maximum customer impact & minimum business risk
• Embed a culture of ongoing maintenance & optimization of platforms as a ‘way of doing things’. You are fully accountable for the longevity of solutions.
• Drive the implementation of an optimised platform base (containerisation, virtualisation) including the optimisation & or decommissioning of legacy platform technologies
• Meaningfully contribute & ensure solutions align to the design & direction of the Group Architecture standards, principles, preferences & practices. Short term deployment must align to strategic long term delivery.
• Define, Agree and manage service offerings and SLAs across multiple stakeholder groups (agree annually and measure on a monthly basis).
• Investigate new ways of work to improve sustainability in services and improve platform resilience, stability, scalability & flexibility and provide solutions aligned with the overall Technology strategy for the bank.
• Strategically & operationally monitor the performance of platforms & associated products & services – ensuring ongoing optimization & cost to value for our businesses (think bank wide)
• Design & leverage dashboards & related insights to influence the direction of Technology for the bank & an overall improvement in the bank’s customer experience
• Continuously coach & mentor platform teams & the broader set of stakeholders on the optimal usage, consumption, development, optimisation etc. of platform technologies
• Drive awareness and collaboration of Platforms services to achieve optimal customer consumption and cost efficiencies.
• Attend relevant forums where direction is taken in terms of the future development of Infrastructure Services Africa in management and methodology.

Accountability: Build sustainable practices

• Proactively engage with stakeholders to ensure alignment in the utilisation and maintenance of platforms. Ensure that the various platform teams are adequately skilled and resourced to ensure sustainability.
• Analyse the effectiveness of practices, processes and systems in use in the distributed technologies teams and make recommendations for improvements.
• ‘Stay ahead’ of business needs through proactive engagement with business leaders
• Stay ahead of the curve on emerging technologies & associated technology practices
• Create & on an ongoing basis refine enterprise wide guidelines for Platform Services & Technologies
• Challenge established Group Technology (e.g. architecture, infrastructure) practices and define new practices for the sustainability & competitiveness of the organisation.

Accountability: Financial & Vendor Management, Risk & Governance

• Carry the ‘one stop shop’ accountability for all risk associated with technical decision making (from ideation to deployment)
• Contribute to, Manage & Apply the organization risk & governance frameworks (e.g. policies, SOX requirements, reporting etc.)
• Proactively monitor, manage & mitigate risk (e.g. reputation, resilience, stability, security) associated with platform technologies
• Ensure sustainable, regulatory compliant technology design & deployment for the enterprise
• Proactively involve / engage cross specialisation chapters / guilds & Business CIO’s in technical decision making, applying an enterprise wide lens to technical development & deployment
• Manage all vendor selection processes & take full accountability for all related commercial impact
• Negotiate best fit contracts for the organization at an enterprise level and align decision making to our key business principles of scalability, resilience, captivity etc.
• Deliver on time & on budget (always)

Accountability: People management

• Set & Cascade Platforms strategic direction across the team
• Proactively attract, recruit, develop, retain, reward & deploy a diverse resource base aligned to an ever evolving tech environment (ahead of demand)
• Build a high performance team environment & culture through self-directed teams by driving performance management & measurement that is aligned with agile working practices (including daily, weekly, etc. sprint routines, regular & honest feedback etc.)
• Assume one stop shop accountability for the right people in the right teams to deliver on our tech strategy (always!)
• Leverage coaching techniques in all squad related activity to drive a higher quality design and deployment of technical products and services
• Contribute to the ongoing evolution & design of leading people practices for the effective attraction & retention of a highly skilled technical workforce
• Contribute to the development of technical teams by sharing best practices and specialist knowledge on an ongoing basis

Experience Required:

• 10+ years in IT operations, with 5+ years in leadership roles overseeing database or infrastructure teams.
• Proven experience managing production-grade database environments (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, Cassandra, etc.) at scale.
• Strong knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and database-as-a-service models.
• Deep understanding of operational disciplines like SRE, DevOps, observability, and incident response.
• Solid grasp of ITIL or similar service management frameworks.
• Experience with automation and Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, etc.).
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

End Date: July 21, 2025