Lead: Platform Engineering and Architecture

Purpose of the role This is a senior executive role responsible for deg, establishing, and leading a high-performance digital development capability for the South African government. The primary objective is to drive the critical transition of government legacy systems into a modern, scalable "platform" capable of enabling large-scale, citizen-centric service delivery. The successful candidate may be strategically placed directly within a key government department to lead the engineering of priority digital infrastructure from the inside. Team Building and Leadership The Digital Development Squad: You will be tasked with deg, establishing, and operationalizing a specialized, multidisciplinary squad of approximately 10 high-caliber professionals. This team will include full-stack engineers, DevOps/Site Reliability Engineers (SREs), User-Centered Design (UCD)/Product leads, and data engineers and others.. End-to-End Leadership: Proven experience leading these multidisciplinary engineering teams through the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is essential. Will be required to put in place clear accountability and decision-making arrangements appropriate to complex public-sector environments. Key Responsibilities & Deliverables Transforming Culture: Build and sustain a high-cadence culture of implementation utilizing Agile/Scrum methodologies and modern Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) practices. You must possess the unique ability to instill this agile discipline and speed within a traditionally bureaucratic environment. Hands-on Technical Leadership: Provide direct mentorship to your team, stepping in to unblock the squad and resolve complex implementation hurdles. Architecture & Modernization: Drive the adoption of cloud-native environments. You will drive the government's transition away from legacy systems by deg and managing complex system integrations utilizing micro-services and API-led architectures. AI-Driven Acceleration: Actively integrate and utilize agentic AI to fast-track the software development lifecycle and automate routine, repetitive engineering tasks. Codification and Mainstreaming: Codify standards, playbooks, and reusable approaches that strengthen system-wide delivery capability and support replication in other parts of government. Candidate Profile & Technical Competencies Experience Profile: The ideal candidate possesses a CTO or VP of Engineering pedigree. You must have a demonstrable track record of building, scaling, and maintaining platforms in high-demand, complex sectors such as Financial Services, eCommerce, or Telecommunications. Education: A postgraduate qualification in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field is required. Tech Pedigree: Deep, practical experience in developing scalable platforms from the ground up and successfully managing complex system-to-system integrations. Modern Architecture Mastery: Expert-level command and practical applicat