Head of Commercial Payments Engineering

Job description

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time. With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group. Belonging at Absa Absa is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome applications from suitably qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds. In support of our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) commitments and Employment Equity objectives, preference may be given to candidates from underrepresented designated groups, including persons with disabilities. We encourage applicants who may require reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process to let us know so that appropriate support can be provided. Job Summary Lead the agile solution design, deployment & ongoing optimization & evolution of enterprise wide technology products and services (full stack engineering & ownership / control) in low complexity environments. Job Description The Head of Engineering – Commercial Payments is accountable for the end-to-end engineering strategy, architecture, design, development, delivery, reliability and continuous improvement of Commercial Payments technology products and platforms. The role provides strategic and technical leadership across the commercial payments value chain, including merchant acquiring, point-of-sale (POS), SoftPOS, e-commerce payment gateways, QR payments, digital wallets, payment switching, transaction processing, merchant onboarding and servicing, settlement, reconciliation and associated integration services. Working in partnership with the CIO, business product owners, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, risk and other technology functions, the incumbent will translate business strategy into scalable, secure and resilient engineering solutions that support revenue growth, operational efficiency, regulatory compliance and superior merchant experiences. The successful candidate will be accountable for the full technology lifecycle, from solution ideation and architecture through engineering, testing, deployment, production support and ongoing optimisation. The role will drive engineering excellence through modern software engineering practices, automation, DevSecOps, cloud and platform modernisation, data-driven operational management and the responsible adoption of AI-enabled engineering capabilities. The incumbent will lead multidisciplinary engineering and business analysis teams, build sustainable technical capability, manage strategic technology vendors and ensure that Commercial Payments technology remains fit for purpose, resilient, cost-effective and aligned with Absa’s long-term technology strategy. Job Description 1. Engineering Strategy and Technology Leadership * Define and execute the Commercial Payments engineering strategy, aligned to the CIO’s strategic direction, business objectives and Group Technology standards. * Translate business priorities into an executable engineering roadmap covering platform modernisation, digital payment capabilities, technical debt reduction, resilience, scalability and innovation. * Provide end-to-end engineering leadership across the commercial payments technology value chain, ensuring alignment between business requirements, solution architecture, development, integration, infrastructure and operational support. * Act as the principal technology and engineering partner to senior business stakeholders and product owners, providing clear advice on technical options, trade-offs, feasibility, cost-to-value and delivery implications. * Establish a clear target-state architecture and phased modernisation roadmap that balances immediate business needs with long-term strategic technology outcomes. * Drive engineering decisions that improve payment acceptance, transaction processing performance, merchant experience, operational efficiency and commercial growth. * Ensure that technology investment decisions are supported by measurable business outcomes, engineering benefits, risk assessments and total cost of ownership. * Represent Commercial Payments engineering in relevant technology, architecture, risk, governance and business prioritisation forums. 2. Solution Architecture and Engineering Design * Lead the design and implementation of end-to-end payment solutions across front-end channels, payment gateways, switching platforms, integration layers, APIs, data services and back-end processing systems. * Ensure that solution designs are secure, scalable, highly available, resilient, supportable and aligned with enterprise architecture principles and technology standards. * Provide technical oversight across payment platforms and services, including card transaction processing, merchant acquiring, e-commerce, POS, SoftPOS, QR payments, digital wallets, settlement and reconciliation. * Guide architecture decisions relating to API-led integration, event-driven architecture, real-time processing, cloud adoption, containerisation, distributed systems and modern application design. * Ensure that solutions are designed for high transaction throughput, low latency, fault tolerance, recoverability and predictable performance under peak transaction volumes. * Establish and maintain engineering design standards, reusable components, reference architectures, integration patterns and technical documentation. * Ensure appropriate consideration of non-functional requirements, including security, performance, capacity, availability, maintainability, observability and disaster recovery. * Partner with Group Architecture, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity and other technology functions to ensure solutions align with enterprise standards while addressing the specific requirements of payment processing. * Challenge unnecessary complexity, technology duplication and point solutions that increase long-term operational cost or create architectural fragmentation. * Ensure that technical debt is identified, prioritised and addressed through a managed engineering improvement roadmap. 3. Software Engineering, DevSecOps and Engineering Excellence * Establish and continuously improve engineering practices across development teams, ensuring consistent standards for software design, coding, testing, security, deployment and maintenance. * Drive the adoption of modern software engineering principles, including domain-driven design where appropriate, modular architecture, API-first development, asynchronous processing and reusable services. * Implement and optimise CI/CD pipelines, automated testing frameworks, infrastructure as code, automated security controls and standardised release processes. * Promote automation-first engineering, reducing manual deployment activities, operational interventions, repetitive tasks and avoidable human error. * Embed security by design through secure coding standards, code reviews, vulnerability management, dependency controls and automated security testing throughout the software development lifecycle. * Ensure effective engineering quality controls through unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, performance testing, end-to-end testing and production verification. * Drive consistent engineering standards across teams, including source control, branching strategies, code quality, release management, environment management and technical documentation. * Establish clear accountability for code quality, application maintainability, defect prevention, engineering productivity and production readiness. * Introduce appropriate engineering metrics to measure delivery performance, deployment frequency, change failure rate, recovery time, defect leakage and service reliability. * Encourage experimentation, technical learning and continuous improvement while maintaining the governance and control standards required in a regulated financial services environment. 4. Payment Platform Modernisation and Transformation * Lead the engineering execution of Commercial Payments modernisation initiatives, including legacy platform evolution, integration simplification, infrastructure optimisation and the adoption of modern payment technologies. * Develop and execute phased modernisation plans that reduce technical risk and operational complexity without compromising transaction processing continuity. * Drive the evolution of payment switching, gateway, merchant acceptance and transaction-processing capabilities to support new products, channels, partners and business models. * Enable the integration of fintechs, payment service providers, merchants and strategic partners through secure, scalable and well-governed APIs and integration services. * Partner with business and transformation leaders to translate strategic programmes into engineering deliverables, technical milestones, release plans and measurable business outcomes. * Ensure that proof-of-concept and pilot solutions are engineered for enterprise-scale deployment, with appropriate architecture, operational support, security, monitoring and cost controls. * Drive rationalisation of legacy applications, redundant services and overlapping technology capabilities where there is a clear business and technical case. * Ensure that new capabilities transition successfully into sustainable production services, with defined ownership, support models, service levels and operational controls. * Support the adoption of real-time payment capabilities, digital acceptance channels, tokenisation, payment orchestration and other emerging capabilities aligned to the Commercial Payments strategy. * Drive responsible adoption of AI and intelligent automation to improve software delivery, engineering productivity, incident investigation, operational monitoring and merchant servicing. 5. Production Engineering, Reliability and Service Management * Own the engineering accountability for the availability, stability, performance, recoverability and technical integrity of Commercial Payments applications and platforms. * Establish proactive engineering practices to identify and address production risks before they result in material customer, merchant or business impact. * Ensure effective management of major incidents, problem management, root-cause analysis, capacity planning, performance optimisation and recurring defect elimination. * Drive the implementation of comprehensive monitoring, alerting, observability and service-health capabilities across payment platforms and their critical dependencies. * Ensure that monitoring covers transaction processing, system availability, infrastructure health, integration connectivity, transaction flows and end-to-end payment outcomes. * Establish and maintain appropriate service-level objectives, availability targets, recovery objectives and operational performance measures. * Ensure robust disaster recovery, business continuity, resilience testing and recovery procedures for critical payment services. * Partner with infrastructure, network, cybersecurity, operations and service management teams to maintain end-to-end service reliability and clear operational accountability. * Lead engineering remediation following major incidents, ensuring that corrective actions address underlying technical and control weaknesses rather than only immediate symptoms. * Drive operational automation, self-healing capabilities and preventative maintenance to reduce manual intervention, avoidable incidents and operational expenditure. * Ensure that production changes are supported by appropriate impact assessments, testing evidence, implementation plans, rollback procedures and post-implementation verification. 6. Agile Delivery and Engineering Execution * Own engineering delivery across assigned products and services, balancing strategic change initiatives with production support, maintenance, mandatory changes and technical debt reduction. * Work with the CIO, business product owners and delivery leaders to prioritise the engineering backlog based on business value, risk, regulatory obligations, capacity and technical dependencies. * Ensure that engineering teams translate product requirements into clear technical specifications, delivery estimates, dependencies, acceptance criteria and release plans. * Lead multidisciplinary teams comprising software engineers, technical leads, architects, business analysts, testers and other relevant specialists. * Embed fit-for-purpose Agile delivery practices, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, retrospectives and continuous improvement. * Ensure that delivery commitments are realistic, transparent and supported by appropriate resource capacity, technical readiness and risk management. * Proactively manage dependencies across business, technology, architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, risk, vendors and external payment partners. * Maintain visibility of delivery progress, impediments, risks, costs, quality and expected outcomes through meaningful engineering and delivery reporting. * Ensure effective release management and change governance to minimise customer impact and production risk. * Drive a culture of accountability for delivery outcomes, engineering quality and sustainable execution rather than activity-based reporting alone. 7. People Leadership and Engineering Capability Development * Lead, develop and retain a high-performing engineering organisation with the skills and capabilities required to deliver the Commercial Payments technology strategy. * Set and communicate clear engineering direction, technical standards, performance expectations and accountability across teams and individual contributors. * Attract and develop engineering talent across software development, solution design, integration, testing, platform engineering, DevOps, production engineering and business analysis. * Build strong technical leadership within squads through empowered engineering leads, senior developers, architects and subject-matter experts. * Coach and mentor senior engineers and technical leads, strengthening technical judgement, architecture capability, problem-solving and engineering ownership. * Establish clear career development pathways, technical competency frameworks, succession plans and knowledge-transfer practices. * Ensure appropriate resource allocation across business-as-usual support, strategic change, platform modernisation and mandatory regulatory or scheme-related initiatives. * Build a collaborative, inclusive and performance-driven environment that encourages constructive challenge, knowledge sharing and continuous learning. * Proactively manage performance, capability gaps, critical vacancies, retention risks and single points of technical failure. * Develop sustainable engineering capacity through appropriate workforce planning, skills development, vendor utilisation and knowledge retention. * Foster a culture in which teams take accountability for the complete lifecycle of the solutions they build, including their ongoing support, reliability and continuous improvement. 8. Financial, Commercial and Vendor Management * Manage engineering budgets, resource expenditure, technology investment and vendor costs within agreed financial parameters. * Ensure that engineering investment decisions are supported by clear business cases, cost-to-value assessments, measurable benefits and sustainable operating models. * Drive optimisation of technology costs across software licensing, infrastructure, cloud consumption, vendor services, development capacity and production support. * Lead or contribute to technology vendor selection, technical due diligence, solution evaluations, commercial negotiations and contract governance. * Hold strategic technology vendors accountable for service quality, engineering standards, delivery commitments, contractual obligations and agreed service levels. * Ensure that vendor solutions are appropriately integrated into Absa’s architecture, security, operational support and risk management frameworks. * Reduce unnecessary vendor dependency and technology lock-in through appropriate architecture, internal capability development, documentation and knowledge transfer. * Maintain clear visibility of total cost of ownership, technology lifecycle costs, renewal obligations and material commercial risks. * Ensure that engineering delivery and operational commitments are managed within approved budgets and agreed priorities, escalating material deviations and trade-offs transparently. 9. Risk, Governance, Security and Regulatory Compliance * Maintain end-to-end accountability for engineering-related technology risks, ensuring that risks are identified, assessed, documented, mitigated and escalated appropriately. * Ensure that engineering solutions comply with applicable Absa policies, Group Technology standards, information security requirements and regulatory obligations. * Embed risk management and control requirements throughout the solution lifecycle, from ideation and architecture through development, testing, deployment and production support. * Ensure compliance with applicable PCI DSS requirements, card scheme mandates, payment security standards, data protection requirements and relevant regulatory obligations. * Partner with Cybersecurity, Enterprise Risk, Compliance, Fraud, Architecture and other control functions to address risks associated with payment processing and digital payment services. * Ensure appropriate controls for privileged access, encryption, key management, secrets management, vulnerability remediation, audit logging and secure software delivery. * Drive timely remediation of audit findings, technology control weaknesses, scheme compliance issues and identified operational risks. * Ensure engineering teams maintain appropriate evidence of design decisions, testing, approvals, release controls, risk acceptance and operational readiness. * Proactively identify and mitigate concentration risks, unsupported technology, obsolete components, vendor dependencies and single points of failure. * Promote a culture of engineering accountability in which technology risk remains owned by Absa and is not delegated to third-party vendors. Required Experience and Qualifications Essential qualifications * Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field. * Equivalent relevant qualifications and experience may be considered in line with Absa’s requirements. Essential experience * Significant technology leadership experience in banking, payments, financial services or another complex, highly regulated technology environment. * Demonstrated experience leading engineering, software development or technology delivery teams across multiple products, platforms and services. * Strong experience in payment processing, card acquiring, payment gateways, transaction switching, merchant services or digital payment technologies. * Proven experience in end-to-end solution architecture, software engineering, systems integration and platform modernisation. * Demonstrated understanding of high-volume, high-availability transaction-processing environments and the engineering disciplines required to operate them reliably. * Strong knowledge of modern software engineering practices, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, application performance monitoring and production engineering. * Experience in Agile delivery, multidisciplinary team leadership, technical resource planning and managing competing Run and Change priorities. * Proven experience managing technology budgets, vendors, delivery commitments, commercial contracts and technology-related risks. * Experience working with enterprise architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, risk and compliance stakeholders in a regulated environment. * Demonstrated experience delivering complex technology initiatives from solution design through implementation, production stabilisation and ongoing optimisation. * Strong executive stakeholder management skills, including the ability to communicate technical complexity, business impact, delivery risk and investment trade-offs clearly. Advantageous experience * Experience with card schemes, including Visa and Mastercard, and the associated technical, operational and compliance requirements. * Experience with payment switches and gateways, including platforms such as BASE24, BASE24-eps, Postilion, Cybersource or equivalent technologies. * Experience with cloud platforms, containerisation, Kubernetes, API management, event streaming, distributed systems and modern integration architectures. * Experience with observability platforms, automated incident management, performance engineering and resilience testing. * Experience in merchant onboarding, payment acceptance, digital wallets, QR payments, tokenisation, fraud controls and payment orchestration. * Experience applying AI and intelligent automation to software engineering, operational support and payment-service management. * Experience in large-scale technology transformation, legacy modernisation and the transition of new digital capabilities into enterprise production environments. Technical and Leadership Competencies The successful candidate will demonstrate: * Strategic engineering leadership: Ability to translate business strategy into an executable engineering roadmap and measurable outcomes. * Architecture and technical judgement: Ability to make sound end-to-end technology decisions, balance competing design considerations and challenge inappropriate solutions. * Software engineering excellence: Strong understanding of software development, engineering standards, automated delivery and continuous improvement. * Payments domain expertise: Understanding of payment processing, merchant acquiring, transaction flows, scheme requirements and associated operational risks. * Reliability and resilience: Ability to engineer highly available, secure and recoverable services for business-critical payment environments. * Commercial acumen: Ability to evaluate technology investment, optimise cost-to-value and manage vendor and financial commitments. * Risk and control discipline: Ability to embed security, compliance and operational risk management throughout the engineering lifecycle. * People leadership: Ability to build high-performing teams, develop technical talent and establish clear accountability. * Executive communication: Ability to communicate complex technology matters and material decisions to senior business and technology stakeholders. * Continuous improvement: Ability to use engineering metrics, automation and data-driven insights to improve quality, productivity, reliability and delivery performance. Key Performance Outcomes Success in the role will be measured through a balanced set of business, engineering, service and people outcomes, including: 1. Platform reliability and resilience: Improved availability, stability, recovery capability and reduction in recurring production incidents. 2. Engineering delivery: Improved predictability, delivery throughput, release quality and time to market for business-critical capabilities. 3. Platform modernisation: Delivery against the agreed modernisation roadmap, reduction of material technical debt and improved architectural alignment. 4. Business and merchant outcomes: Contribution to payment acceptance growth, merchant experience, operational efficiency and revenue opportunities. 5. Engineering quality and automation: Increased automated testing and deployment, reduced manual intervention, lower defect leakage and improved engineering productivity. 6. Risk and compliance: Timely remediation of technology and scheme-related control gaps, audit findings and security vulnerabilities. 7. Financial performance: Effective management of engineering expenditure, vendor costs, technology investment and total cost of ownership. 8. People and capability: Improved engineering capability, succession coverage, retention of critical skills and reduced dependence on individual specialists. 9. Operational efficiency: Improved monitoring, incident resolution, capacity management and automation of repetitive operational activities. 10. Sustainable delivery: Successful transition of new capabilities into production with appropriate ownership, documentation, support arrangements and operational controls. Why This Role Matters Commercial Payments is a critical enabler of business banking, merchant services and digital commerce. The reliability, scalability and evolution of its technology directly influence merchant experience, payment acceptance, operational efficiency and Absa’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing payments ecosyst