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.

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Job Summary

In this pivotal role, you will lead the design, implementation, and management of our continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, enabling seamless code releases and infrastructure automation across our organization. You’ll work in close collaboration with development, security, and infrastructure teams to drive digital transformation through advanced DevOps practices, introducing tools and processes that maximize efficiency, security, and performance.

With expertise in cloud environments, infrastructure as code (IaC), and containerization, plays a critical role in supporting our move to cloud-native applications and microservices. Directly contribute to our digital transformation, where automation, analytics, and a DevOps culture are key enablers of our future growth and success.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

CI/CD Pipeline Management

• Build and Optimize Pipelines: Architect and maintain high-availability CI/CD pipelines for multiple applications and microservices, with a focus on automation, efficiency, and minimal downtime.
• Automated Testing Integration: Integrate automated testing frameworks within CI/CD pipelines to ensure quality assurance at every stage, including unit, integration, and security tests.
• Deployment Automation and Canary Releases: Design deployment strategies that allow for rolling deployments, canary releases, and A/B testing, ensuring robust, zero-downtime deployment and rollback capabilities.

Cloud Infrastructure & Containerization

• Cloud Environment Setup and Maintenance: Oversee the architecture, provisioning, and optimization of cloud environments across AWS, Azure, or GCP, focusing on high availability, disaster recovery, and security compliance.
• Microservices and Container Strategy: Define and execute a containerization strategy using Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift, supporting the development of scalable microservices architecture.
• Serverless Architecture: Explore and implement serverless solutions where applicable to further reduce infrastructure overhead and increase development agility.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• Automate Infrastructure Provisioning: Lead the design and maintenance of infrastructure as code (IaC) frameworks with Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation to enable reproducibility, traceability, and efficient resource management.
• Policy as Code (PaC): Implement policy as code to automatically enforce security and compliance requirements across infrastructure resources, using tools like Open Policy Agent (OPA).
• Multi-Environment Management: Ensure consistency and stability across development, staging, and production environments by using version-controlled IaC scripts.

Automation & Scripting

• Advanced Workflow Automation: Develop and maintain scripts and automation workflows to streamline complex infrastructure tasks, from resource provisioning to decommissioning and failover.
• Custom Tooling Development: Build custom scripts and tooling to bridge gaps between existing systems, enhancing DevOps workflows and enabling more efficient cross-functional collaboration.
• Self-Healing Systems: Leverage automation for self-healing capabilities, where systems can automatically respond to issues and incidents without requiring manual intervention.

Digital Transformation & Modernization

• Legacy System Integration: Work with teams to seamlessly integrate legacy systems into a modern DevOps environment, identifying areas where modernization efforts can deliver the most impact.
• API Management and Orchestration: Support API-driven banking initiatives by creating standardized, secure, and scalable deployment frameworks for APIs, allowing for real-time and asynchronous service offerings.
• Data-Driven DevOps: Use data from DevOps metrics, application logs, and monitoring systems to inform continuous improvement and innovation in the DevOps pipeline.

Monitoring, Logging & Observability

• Comprehensive Monitoring Solutions: Design, implement, and maintain observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Datadog) that provide deep insight into application and infrastructure health.
• Proactive Incident Management: Set up proactive alerting systems and incident response processes to minimize downtime, including automated escalation protocols and incident management playbooks.

Security & Compliance

• End-to-End DevSecOps: Embed security measures directly into the CI/CD pipeline, incorporating vulnerability scanning, static application security testing (SAST), and dynamic application security testing (DAST).
• Secrets Management: Design and implement secure secrets management solutions (e.g., HashiCorp Vault) to safeguard sensitive information within DevOps workflows.

Collaboration & Documentation

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with development, security, and infrastructure teams to align DevOps practices with product requirements, security standards, and operational goals.
• Process Documentation and Knowledge Sharing: Create detailed documentation of DevOps practices, infrastructure configurations, deployment workflows, and troubleshooting guidelines, promoting knowledge sharing across teams.

Performance Optimization and Scalability

• Resource Management: Continuously evaluate infrastructure performance and costs, recommending optimizations and implementing auto-scaling policies for resource efficiency.
• Capacity Planning: Conduct proactive capacity planning to anticipate scaling needs for infrastructure, ensuring that resources meet current and future demands.
• Load Testing and Performance Benchmarking: Perform load and stress testing on critical systems to identify performance bottlenecks, implementing optimizations to support peak loads.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation

• Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies: Keep abreast of new technologies and industry trends, evaluating their potential for integration within the bank’s DevOps environment.
• Continuous Process Optimization: Conduct regular retrospectives and DevOps health checks to identify areas for improvement, iterating on processes to enhance speed, reliability, and security.
• AI/ML in DevOps: Explore and implement AI-driven DevOps tools for predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and workload optimization, supporting proactive, intelligent monitoring.

Education And Experience Required

• Education: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: 5+ years of experience in DevOps or related roles, ideally within a highly regulated industry like finance.
• CI/CD Tools: Expertise with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI, or Azure DevOps.
• Cloud Platforms: Deep experience with cloud infrastructure on AWS, GCP, or Azure, including a focus on networking, storage, compute, and security.
• IaC Tools: Proficient in Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation for defining and managing infrastructure as code.
• Containerization: Advanced skills with Docker and Kubernetes, with experience in deploying and managing containers at scale.
• Scripting and Automation: Strong scripting skills in Python, Bash, or PowerShell.
• Monitoring & Observability: Proficiency with monitoring tools like Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, and Datadog.
• Security & Compliance: Knowledge of DevSecOps practices, including vulnerability scanning, secrets management, and secure CI/CD pipeline practices.
• Digital Transformation: Familiarity with digital transformation initiatives, including modern software development practices, microservices, and API-driven architectures.
• Nice to Have:
• Certifications: Relevant certifications like AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Azure DevOps Engineer, Kubernetes CKA.
• AI/ML Knowledge: Familiarity with AI-driven automation tools for predictive maintenance and anomaly detection.
• Financial Regulations: Experience with PCI-DSS, GDPR, or other regulatory compliance requirements.
• ServiceNow Integration: Experience with ITSM integration for automated incident and request management.

Knowledge & Skills: (Maximum of 6)

• Translate Bus Requirements to Tech Solutions ( Solid)
• Strategic Thinking ( Solid)
• ITIL – Governance Framework ( Solid)
• Communication Skills (Written and Verbal) ( Solid)
• Subject matter expertise ( Solid)
• Understand the IT service delivery within a corporate environment ( Advanced)
• Conceptual thinking skills ( Solid)
• Ability to analyse, make decision and initiate act ( Solid)
• Experience with event-driven architectures and streaming platforms such as Kafka.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, such as Terraform and AWS CloudFormation.
• Familiarity with network protocols, firewalls, load balancers, and DNS configurations.
• Experience with ITIL frameworks and service management tools like ServiceNow for incident, problem, and change management.

Competencies: (Maximum of 8 competencies)

• Deciding and initiating action
• Learning and researching
• Entrepreneurial and commercial thinking
• Relating and networking
• Adapting and responding to change
• Persuading and influencing
• Creating and innovating

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Information Technology