New Positions at Vodafone Global Enterprise

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• Vodacom has embarked on a group-wide initiative to accelerate infrastructure deployment across all African markets to improve population coverage, increase site fiberisation, accelerate national backhaul fibre and to roll out fibre to the home and business (“FTTH/B”) aggressively. 
• The main business objective is to connect the unconnected population driving digital inclusion, financial inclusion and in the process stimulating economic growth across the markets. Due to the very expensive nature of deploying such infrastructure Vodacom is proactively looking to partner with other operators and infrastructure providers within its markets to either share or co-build  infrastructure by setting up dedicated special purpose vehicles (“SPVs”) or Infrastructure Companies (‘InfraCos”) to help drive efficiency and accelerate deployment of such infrastructure.
• The candidate will be responsible for planning, coordinating, driving, project management and executing all commercial and Operational aspects of the InfraCo’s and will take full accountability for “end-to-end” operations and support business plan development, commercial pricing, demand forecasts and negotiation with partners, providing inputs into legal agreements and project execution in accordance with industry best practises. In addition, the candidate will support with the technology planning, support with business case development and support the operational teams
• This role reports to the ME: Group New Business Development and will serve as a key interface between Vodacom Group Business Development, other Group business units and Vodacom Markets. The key stakeholders include the Vodacom Group Chief M&A and BD, International CEO, Market Managing Directors

Your responsibilities will include:

Commercial Strategy

• Coordinate with Group commercial and new business development the development of End-to-end commercial strategy for all new infraco products
• Lead the development of  detailed rate cards and product description along with SLA’s for all new fibre co products
• Detailed benchmarks to validate pricing structures and to ensure best practice 
• Deliver all the commercial and sales aspects required to populate the business plan for each infraco

Operational support

• Support the organisational design team to develop an optimal organisational design to maximise efficiencies and to maximise commercialisation of new infrastructure assets
• Lead the process of demand management and Technology planning to ensure that the infrastructure deployment is done in the optimal location, specification and customised for customer demand 
• Lead with the launch of new infraco’s and the eventual handover to the EXCO to be appointed
• Review and sign-off on all commercial legal agreements on behalf of the infraco’s
• Lead commercial due diligence for all projects

Innovation and Optimisation

• Collaborate and review with Technology the networks designs with regards to specifications, costs, use cases against a baseline design in order to find innovative solutions to rural deployments
• Support low-cost models to support the feasibility of infraco’s
• Ensure alignment with industry best practises and learnings across the Group

Reporting

• Draft high-quality proposals for Vodacom and all other stakeholders to motivate new infrastructure projects
• Support Governance teams to source all required internal approvals
• Develop an internal reporting system to report back on all commercial project progress and all post implementation tracking of delivery

Resourcing / Org Design

• Review and support the commercial Operating model for each InfraCo.
• Develop an optimal commercial structure and resourcing plan structure for the SPV’s in consultation with Group HR.
• Design and deliver an end-to-end operational execution plan for each infraco
• Develop new capabilities across the InfraCo’s (common solutions)

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

Must have technical/professional qualifications: 

• An engineering telecommunications degree or  similar is essential. 
• An MBA will be advantageous.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience working in mobile and fixed telecommunications; specialising in network operations, “end-to-end” network planning,  engineering & design,
• Minimum 5 years management and leadership experience in the telecommunications sector
• Technology strategy and transactional experience 

Core competencies, knowledge and experience:

• Strong technical, strategic and managerial experience
• Strong understanding of “end-to-end” network architecture and design in the mobile and fixed environment
• Sound understanding of organizational design. 
• Risk management and compliance in a technology environment 
• Stakeholder Management (internal and external)
• Strong Programme and Project management skills
• Ability to succinctly express key concepts for C-suit and board delivery and understanding.

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Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• We are seeking a Senior Data Architect – a technical “unicorn” with broad expertise across Data Architecture, Solution Architecture, and Cloud Architecture – to join our Big Data & AI team. In this strategic role, you will design and oversee the implementation of scalable, secure, and future-ready solutions that drive Vodacom’s AI/ML initiatives across multiple markets.

Your responsibilities will include:

Holistic Architecture Design:

• Define end-to-end architectures for data ingestion, processing, governance, and analytics in a cloud or hybrid environment.
• Collaborate with product owners, data scientists, ML engineers, and DevOps teams to craft integrated solutions that meet both technical and business requirements.

Data Architecture & Governance:

• Design robust data models, data pipelines, and feature stores that ensure data quality, lineage, and security.
• Implement best practices for data lifecycle management, metadata cataloging, and regulatory compliance (GDPR, POPIA).
• Design solutions for data masking, encryption, and anonymisation to protect PII.

Cloud & Solution Architecture:

• Lead cloud adoption strategies (AWS, Azure, or multi-cloud) ensuring security, cost optimization, and performance.
• Architect microservices, APIs, and containerized deployments (Kubernetes, Docker) for AI-driven applications.
• Ensure high availability, scalability, and fault-tolerance for real-time ML workloads.
• design architecture for on-prem, cloud and hybrid data platforms.
• Develop a data strategy roadmap aligned with business objectives.
• Architect solutions for real-time analytics, reporting, and BI dashboards.
• Enable self-service analytics using tools like Power BI, Qlik, etc. 

Technical Leadership & Mentorship:

• Provide thought leadership on emerging technologies (serverless, event-driven architectures, MLOps frameworks).
• Mentor engineering teams in design reviews, architecture patterns, and best practices for building data-intensive solutions.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Roadmaps:

• Partner with business and IT stakeholders to create architecture blueprints and technology roadmaps that align with Vodacom’s Big Data & AI objectives.
• Communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, ensuring strategic alignment.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• 3-year Degree/National Diploma related to IT field of study (minimum)
• 8+ years in architect roles encompassing data, cloud, and solution architecture.
• Strong knowledge of AWS, Azure, or hybrid cloud – including container orchestration and DevOps pipelines.
• Proven track record in data modeling, ETL/ELT pipelines, and data governance for large-scale data platforms.
• Experience architecting or managing AI/ML workflows (e.g., MLOps, feature stores, model registry).
• Familiarity with microservices, REST APIs, GraphQL; proficient in Python, Java, or other modern languages.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and collaboration skills; comfortable presenting to executives and guiding engineering teams.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies