Lead Cloud/Platform Engineer

Company Description

Andile, a specialist financial services technology and solutions firm in Rosebank, Johannesburg, seeks to employ a Lead Cloud/Platform Engineer. Andile operates within the Corporate and Investment Banking environment and our focus is on providing solutions to the complex financial services industry by using suitable technologies, including leading vendor applications, custom builds, and business intelligence, thereby fulfilling the space between Business and Technology. We focus on the implementation, customisation, and development of Treasury and Trading technology solutions.

Role Description

As the Lead Cloud/Platform Engineer, you will be the cornerstone of our infrastructure strategy, responsible for driving the technical vision, design, and deployment across our high-performance platforms. This role has a strong focus on Amazon Web Services (AWS) but also involves managing other core infrastructure elements (including on-premise and third-party integrations). You will lead by example, guiding and mentoring technical teams, establishing best practices for Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC), and ensuring our environment is secure, scalable, and highly available. Your leadership will be crucial in accelerating our product delivery and operational efficiency. 

The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include the following (but not be limited to):

Platform Strategy and Architectural Leadership:

• Lead the development and implementation of the overall infrastructure strategy, with a focus on designing and deploying solutions that adhere to AWS Well-Architected Framework principles.
• Drive the solution design process, including the creation of technical specifications and architectural blueprints for highly available, resilient, and scalable systems on AWS and hybrid platforms.
• Consult on all aspects of AWS and other cloud infrastructure offerings (e.g., Google cloud) to ensure optimal service selection, cost optimization, and adherence to established standards.
• Establish and enforce cloud security standards, procedures, and controls across the platform, managing identified Information and Cyber Security vulnerabilities and risks.

Technical Execution and Governance:

• Engineer, manage, and support codified cloud infrastructure stacks (using IaC) that meet the needs of application engineering teams.
• Manage shared cloud infrastructure services such as AWS, local services providers, and in-house infrastructure (e.g., on Nutanix).
• Oversee day-to-day operational maintenance, support, and upgrades for all platform elements, including operating systems and servers.
• Develop and implement a schedule of system backups, database archive operations, and comprehensive data/media recoverability solutions.
• Act as the technical gatekeeper for new requests, allocating tasks and driving the day-to-day management of the Platform Services team.

Mentorship and Operational Excellence:

• Provide hands-on technical coaching and mentorship to accelerate cloud infrastructure learnings and adoption across the organisation.
• Lead optimisation and enhancement initiatives for current systems, ensuring the platform remains at the forefront of innovation.
• Manage monthly patch and maintenance planning, along with comprehensive monitoring and reporting across the environment.
• Develop, implement, and promote standard operating procedures, policies, and configuration guidelines for the platform.
  

Minimum Requirements:

• Experience: 5 to 7+ years of proven, hands-on experience in a Software/Platform/Cloud Engineering role, with significant time spent on architecting and managing scalable infrastructure. Experience in a lead or senior capacity is strongly preferred.
• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Cloud Expertise (AWS Focus): Deep, demonstrated expertise in AWS is mandatory.
  • Required Certification: Must hold a current AWS Professional-level certification (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional or AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional).
  • Extensive experience with core AWS services (VPC, EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, RDS, EKS/ECS) and advanced architectural concepts.
• Platform & DevOps Skills:
  • Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC): Mastery of a tool like Terraform or CloudFormation.
  • CI/CD: Proven experience designing and maintaining continuous integration and delivery pipelines.
  • Scripting/Coding: High proficiency in scripting languages for automation (e.g., Python, Bash) or procedural languages like Golang.
  • Extensive experience in designing/implementing distributed applications and cloud computing.
• Soft Skills:
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication and presentation skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
  • Strong analytical and reasoning skills with an exceptional ability to visualise complex technical processes and desired outcomes.
  • Ability to learn quickly and adapt to new and radically changing environments and technologies.