Location: South Africa (Johannesburg or Cape Town)
Work model: Hybrid and highly flexible (output-driven).
Salary: R120 000 - R150 000 CTC

Why you’d want to work here

Outcome-driven flexibility (low bureaucracy, high trust)
Proper ownership and autonomy — you’ll genuinely shape how engineering runs
Performance-based bonuses (after probation)
Startup energy: efficient, low-drama, get-things-done culture
Big runway for growth (including a clear path towards CTO)

About our client
Our client is building a new kind of mobile operator and fintech platform in South Africa — blending device financing, telco services, and cashflow underwriting into one tightly integrated system. They’re scaling, moving fast, and solving properly interesting problems across fintech, telco integrations, retail distribution, and real-world customer environments.

They’re looking for a Head of Engineering (with the potential to grow into a CTO role) to partner closely with the CTO/founder and progressively take ownership of technical leadership. This is a hands-on leadership role — not a “strategy-only” seat.

What the job involves

Owning end-to-end engineering delivery across multiple workstreams
Scaling the engineering team (from a small team towards ~10–25 over time)
Introducing and formalising dev processes: standards, velocity, accountability, release discipline
Establishing strong delivery/PMO rhythm: roadmaps, timelines, ownership, unblocking
Owning architecture and system design across key platforms (payments/billing, credit/underwriting, telco provisioning & SIM lifecycle, device management, retail/in-store tools)
Staying hands-on when needed: coding, reviewing PRs, guiding implementation, solving hard technical problems
Coaching, mentoring, and raising the bar across backend, frontend, QA, and infrastructure
Working closely with product and business stakeholders to translate priorities into clear technical execution
Reducing dependency on the CTO for day-to-day coding, QA oversight, and technical gatekeeping
Leading a distributed team (with many engineers currently offshore)

What you need to be considered

8+ years in software engineering
3+ years in a senior leadership role (Lead / Head of Engineering / CTO / similar)
Proven experience scaling engineering teams and building high-performance engineering culture
Strong delivery mindset — you can build process without creating pointless bureaucracy
Strong backend engineering capability (Python preferred)
Solid experience with modern architectures (APIs, microservices, event-driven systems)
Strong fundamentals across Postgres/data, AWS/cloud infrastructure, scalability and performance
Confidence operating in a fast-moving startup environment — sleeves rolled up, calm under pressure
Comfortable leading distributed/offshore teams (or ready to learn fast)

Bonus points if you

Have fintech, payments, telco, or high-throughput consumer platform experience (Yoco/Stitch-style environments are a great reference point)
Have built systems that bridge “digital + physical” environments (stores, agents, real-world ops)
Are excited by the trajectory towards CTO and building the full engineering function over time