Head Technology: Core Big Data Platforms at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Lead the agile solution design, deployment & ongoing optimization & evolution of enterprise wide technology products and services (full stack engineering & ownership / control) across multiple squads in complex & high impact business areas  Business complexity is determined by:  1. Customer Impact 2. Number of integration points: • Data • Teams to talk to  • Systems • Enabling function • 3rd party vs. internal  3. Complexity of business rules & Processes 4. Level of operational readiness  5. Introduction of new or changing old Tech (e.g. redo platforms)

Job Description

Product & Service Direction Setting, Solution Design & Performance Management

• Work with the CIO & business product owners to define the product & technical strategy for our core big data platforms. (Full Stack – End to End)
• Act as the single point of partnership & assume responsibility for managing senior business and vendor relationships
• Assume one stop shop accountability for the delivery of the product & solutions (risk cannot be outsourced to vendors)
• Apply design thinking practices to deliver architecturally sound technical product & service solutions (and explain / guide / coach others on this architecture holistically and technically)
• Lead & facilitate the design of the product & or service solution blueprints aligned to the organization strategy (Short, Medium & Long Term)
• Collaborate across the tech value chain (CSO, CTO, etc.) to guide the business on the appropriate technical solution (cost to value) & the range of strategic technical choices to be made
• Lead the detailed scoping, prioritisation & integration planning for the design & deployment of products & services with & across multiple stakeholder groups (Front End, Back End & Integration) – (aligned to solution blueprints)
• 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.
• Meaningfully contribute & ensure solutions align to the design and direction of the Group Infrastructure standards and practices e.g. OLA’s, IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, Containerisation etc.
• Strategically & operationally monitor the performance of products and services (all applications) – ensuring ongoing optimization & cost to value for our businesses (think bank wide)

DevOps (with deep knowledge & understanding of context within which we develop architecturally & infrastructurally)

• Leverage the required expert level (own) skill & knowledge in architecture & Infrastructure, design and manage all development & development practices & outputs across squads (apply knowledge on virtualization, containerization, automation, storage & serverless technologies (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google, & on prem-Cloud, etc.)
• Ensure the most optimal design & deployment of technical products and services in the organization (via pipeline – not manually)
• Design & Implement Automation Testing, Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery Strategies & frameworks across squads for effective solution development & deployment (understand and apply expert knowledge in e.g. Kubernetes, Jenkins, TeamCity, Arifactory, MS Powershell, Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) Tools, APM Tools (e.g. NewRelic & Splunk) etc.
• Ensure solution designs deliver on the key technical principles of: self-service, repeatability, testability, scalability & resilience
• Guide code development practices and processes through an understanding of complex concepts and developmental practices such as threading, parallel processing, asynchronous programming, domain driven design, lambdas etc. & coding language expertise (e.g. Spark, Java, C++, Groovy, Python, Bash, Perl, Ruby etc.)
• Guide & ensure the delivery of quality development (code) based on own experience in developing across a range of applications including but not limited to: server side, client side, web (SOAP, REST, JSON), socket based programming, batch & real time, building architectural patterns, security / security domains)
• Effectively manage the DevOps pipeline & associated releases for maximum customer impact & minimum business risk
• Manage the maintenance & optimization of applications, products & services as a ‘way of doing things / culture’ within the development teams. You are fully accountable for the longevity of applications aligned to Group Architectural practices.
• Coach & Mentor senior developers across squads on the technical competencies to effectively deliver on DevOps solutions (see Dev competency model in skills & competencies section). To do this, display proficiency in the Senior level competency requirements.

Delivery Management (where there is a specific product / service you manage)

• With fluency in the deployment of agile methodologies, resource & manage the appropriate number and nature (skill & capability) of squad based teams to execute on both Run & Change elements of delivery
• Work in collaboration with transformation & change teams for effective resourcing and delivery management of various programmes at all levels (SI, BU etc.)
• Ensure agile practices are implemented and sustained for effective delivery to business e.g. RETRO’s etc.
• Positively & proactively manage product owner relationships including building product owner technical capability to enable balanced & best fit decision making
• Proactively engage with & partner CTO, CSO, SE, Risk and broader enablement functions to drive alignment & leading practice in technology design & deployment

People

• 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 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.)
• Accountable 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

Financial & Vendor Management, Risk & Governance

• Carry the ‘one stop shop’ accountability for all risk associated with technical decision making (from ideation to deployment)
• Manage & Apply the organization risk & governance frameworks
• Ensure decisions on infrastructure & product design are aligned to chapter & guild guidelines & are sustainable for the enterprise
• Proactively involve / engage chapter & guild leads in product design & infrastructure decision making, applying an enterprise wide lens to product & service development
• 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)

Skills and Experience Required

• 7+ years experience in a similar environment
• Relevant B-Degree in Computer Science OR; equivalent level of industry certification in Technical field , not essential if minimum requirements of experience & practical application in the following is evident:
• 5 – 7+ years’ experience with designing and building, BI systems and complex data eco systems
• 5 – 7+  years’ experience working in Big data environment (advantageous for all, a must for high volume environments) – optimising and building big data pipelines, architectures and data sets with e.g. Java, Scala, Python, Hadoop, Apache Spark and Kafka

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology