Head: Technical Architecture at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Join Absa’s Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) Technology team as the Head of Systems Architecture, where you will define and shape the technology vision that underpins our critical trading, pricing, and risk platforms. In this senior leadership role, you will be responsible for designing scalable, high-performance architectures across our diverse technology stack, ensuring seamless integration of cloud services, data platforms, and enterprise systems. You will collaborate with senior business and technology stakeholders to drive innovation, set technical direction, and align our architecture to meet the evolving needs of the global markets business.

Job Description

What you’ll get to do:

• Align the business unit strategy to the enterprise architecture strategy, ensuring alignment with business objectives and technology goals across numerous platforms.
• Design scalable, high-performance systems that support complex financial operations, with a focus on cloud-native solutions, data platforms, and microservices architectures.
• Oversee architectural governance to ensure consistency, quality, and adherence to best practices across all technology initiatives within the business unit.
• Collaborate with senior technology leaders to drive innovation and shape the future of the technology stack, ensuring it remains cutting-edge and adaptable to changing market conditions.
• Work closely with development, operations, and infrastructure teams to ensure seamless integration, performance, and security of systems across the technology landscape.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to architects and engineers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Evaluate new technologies and tools, identifying opportunities to enhance the architecture and support the bank’s long-term technology vision.
• Ensure robust, secure, and resilient architectures that can handle the demands of high-frequency trading, real-time data processing, and regulatory compliance.

What you’ll bring to us

• Relevant degree in Engineering/Computer Science/Information Technology
• Extensive experience 10 years + in enterprise systems architecture, including designing and managing large-scale, high-performance systems in financial services or other complex environments.
• Strong expertise in cloud architecture, particularly with AWS, including building cloud-native applications and migrating legacy systems to the cloud.
• Deep understanding of microservices, APIs, and distributed systems, with hands-on experience in designing, deploying, and scaling such architectures.
• Proven experience in leading architectural governance, setting standards, and ensuring best practices across diverse technology initiatives.
• Background in financial markets technology, especially in supporting trading, risk management, or pricing platforms, is highly desirable.
• Track record of collaboration with senior business and technology leaders, translating business objectives into robust, scalable, and adaptable architecture strategies.
• Strong knowledge of data architecture and platforms, with experience in managing real-time data, big data solutions, and data integration across systems.
• Experience in security architecture, ensuring the design of secure, compliant systems that meet regulatory requirements.
• Leadership experience in mentoring and guiding teams, including architects and engineers, fostering a culture of innovation and excellence.

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Physical, Mathematical, Computer and Life Sciences (Required)