Head of Engineering

We are seeking an exceptional Head of Engineering to serve as the strategic and technical bridge between executive architecture vision and day-to-day engineering execution This is a player-coach role operating in a high-complexity environment where we deliver high-stakes financial recommendations that must be accurate, defensible, and seamlessly integrated across disciplines. You will translate long-range strategy into structured execution while building a high-performance engineering system that scales.

You will work at the intersection of Software Development, Data Science, DevOps, and Product, ensuring that complex initiatives move with clarity, speed, and technical integrity.

Responsibilities:

• Bridge strategy to execution: Translate the CTO’s architectural vision and product strategy into clear, actionable engineering plans and roadmaps.
• Own solution architecture: Lead domain-level technical decisions and ensure coherence across multiple interconnected initiatives.
• Drive cross-team alignment: Orchestrate collaboration between software engineering, data science, DevOps, and stakeholders to ensure seamless delivery.
• Coach and enable teams: Provide hands-on technical guidance (especially early on), unblock teams, review designs/code, and build team capability over time.
• Build engineering systems: Establish best practices, CI/CD pipelines, quality standards, delivery metrics, and operational reliability.
• Optimize Execution: Improve delivery predictability, lead time, and quality through structured engineering processes and governance.
• Ensure Production Integration of data science: Oversee the integration of models, features, and insights into robust, productized engineering workflow

Qualifications and experience:

• Education: Bachelors in computer science, engineering, or related field; postgraduate or professional certifications advantageous (Azure, TOGAF, SAFe).
• Software engineering: 10+ years in software development, 3–5 years in senior architecture or technical leadership; deep experience with C#, .NET 6+, EF Core, Azure SQL, microservices, and distributed systems.
• DevOps and engineering excellence: Strong CI/CD, automated testing, release governance, monitoring; experience scaling high-availability or performance-sensitive systems.
• Data science and analytics exposure: Working knowledge of ML lifecycle, MLOps, statistical modeling, data pipelines, feature stores, and integration into product workflows.
• Leadership: Proven experience leading multiple technical teams; coaching and mentoring engineers and data scientists; improving delivery predictability and engineering standards in complex environments.

The reference number for this position is NG61092 which is a permanent, onsite role offering a salary of up to R1.5mil per annum salary negotiable based on experience. E-mail Nokuthula on e-Merge.co.za or call her for a chat on 011 463 3633 to discuss this and other opportunities.

Are you ready for a change of scenery? E-Merge IT recruitment is a niche recruitment agency. We offer our candidates options so that we can successfully place the right people with the right companies, in the right roles. Check out the e-Merge IT website www.e-merge.co.za for more great positions.

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Posted on 17 Feb 14:01, Closing date 18 Apr