Lead Product Engineer at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Build high-performing, scalable, enterprise-grade applications & build capability in others to do the same. This includes but is not limited to applying critical thinking, design thinking and problem solving skills in an agile team environment to solve complex technical problems (Front End, Back End and Integration) with high quality solutions & leading all phases of the development lifecycle to deliver.

Job Description

• Absa CIB Corporate Technology is looking for skilled, senior developers and architects to join the Absa Access Platforms team based in Cape Town.  
• Absa Access is a Pan-African, single sign-on platform that gives clients standardised, secure, and near real-time access to their business portfolios and the banking services. This enables them to make informed decisions to drive the growth of their businesses, managing their finances with the speed and intelligence that the platform provides. 
• You will work on the award winning Absa Access Online platform, comprising of a core framework that offers services and an extensible application environment. The platform is underpinned primarily by .Net Core micro-services and open source technologies, deployed via Kubernetes, into a cloud-hosted environment. 
• We are currently in a significant phase of improvement and looking for strong, passionate software experts to join our team and make a real impact.   
• Our team builds primarily in .Net Core, on AWS, and with Agile approaches – our software needs to be fast, scalable, secure, and reliable. We want creative developers with this mindset to bring their experience and skills to this critical space within Absa!  

Competencies – What are the specific key competencies required?  

• Minimum 10 years development experience. 
• Strong C# .Net Core experience and understanding, both practical and theoretical. 
• Extensive practical experience of microservice architectures and containerization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, Rancher, ECS, EKS, etc. 
• Experience with various database paradigms, particularly relational. (PostgreSQL and MongoDB experience advantageous). Must have experience in and knowledge of appropriate data model design concepts. 
• Practical experience and knowledge of Cloud computing (current experience with AWS highly advantageous). 
• Proven track record of building for performance, scalability, resilience, and security is critical. Must be able to demonstrate proficiency (practice and theory) in all these concepts. 
• A pragmatic understanding and real-world experience of OOP, SOLID, and Clean Code principles, as well as modern architectural patterns (including CQRS+ES). 
• Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills, with excellent attention to detail.  
• Proven track record of being able to rapidly adapt to, and lead the way in, new technologies and patterns. 
• Passion for producing pragmatic software of the highest quality, in an extremely complex environment. 
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, for all audiences. 
• Critical: willingness to teach, and be taught. 

 Advantageous: 

• Experience with Azure DevOps and Pipelines, Terraform / CloudFormation, Helm, AWS CodeDeploy / CodePipeline etc. 
• DevOps / DevSecOps, SRE concepts & exposure 
• Experience in caching technologies (e.g. Elasticache, Redis), as well as queuing and/or event streaming tools (e.g. Kafka) 
• Experience in Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript 
• Practical experience in various testing approaches and paradigms 
• Experience in Banking and FinTech industries very beneficial. 
• Outputs – What are the key performance areas and daily responsibilities?  
• Design, Build, and Run software systems according to Absa and industry best practices, across multiple projects, with a deep-seated focus on world-class performance, scalability, resilience, and security. 
• Document and present system and architectural designs to both technical and non-technical audiences, and engage in robust discussions on unfamiliar designs & technologies.  
• Analyse, diagnose and resolve errors related to their applications, often in high pressure situations. 
• Perform root cause analyses when required. 
• Proactively participate in the growth and Continuous Improvement of your team, through self-learning, team code reviews, mentoring juniors, and so on. 
• Keep abreast of technical and industry developments.  
• Work closely with and support our product stakeholders (which includes other Absa development teams as well as Absa’s clients and partners) to promote and educate, and thereby further the success of the Absa Access Platform. ​

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology