{"id":3628323,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sanlam-senior-devops-engineer-technical-lead","title":"Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead","company":{"id":2194082,"name":"Sanlam","domain":"sanlam.co.za","url":"https://alion.io/company/sanlam-co-za","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"SuccessFactors","truth_index":null},"role":"DevOps","role_family":"DevOps","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":7,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Agile","optional":false},{"name":"Amazon EKS","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure AKS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure DevOps","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"etcd","optional":false},{"name":"ITIL","optional":false},{"name":"Jira","optional":false},{"name":"Karpenter","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"Azure","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-27T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-27","last_verified_at":"2026-11-03T16:56:00Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":7,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":7},"description":"About Sanlam Corporate\nAbout Sanlam Corporate Sanlam Corporate forms part of the Sanlam Life and Savings (SLS) business cluster within the Sanlam Group. We partner with employers, retirement funds and intermediaries across South Africa to strengthen financial confidence through clear advice, responsible decision-making and sustainable long-term value. Our integrated retirement, investment, group risk, healthcare, consulting and advice solutions support financial resilience and wellbeing. Our ambition is to be the trusted partner for digitally enabled financial wellness by 2030, encompassing retirement, health, investments and group risk, complemented by rewards and banking. Combining specialist expertise and innovation with exceptional client and member experiences, we deliver lasting value to organisations and their people. Underpinned by integrity, care, collaboration and innovation, our culture supports professional growth, the development of future-ready capabilities and meaningful contribution\nPurpose of the Role\nThe Senior DevOps Engineer / Technical Lead is responsible for the hands-on design, implementation, operation and continuous improvement of the organisation’s DevOps, cloud and technical agility capabilities. The role provides technical leadership for the DevOps function, manages and develops one DevOps team member, and remains directly involved in engineering delivery, automation, platform support, troubleshooting and incident resolution.\nThe role provides deep technical expertise across AWS cloud-native architectures, Azure DevOps cloud services, CI/CD pipelines, Kubernetes, DevSecOps tooling and developer enablement. The role will also provide technical leadership for the migration to and ongoing operation of Jira Cloud, ensuring appropriate integration with the organisation’s development lifecycle, DevOps tooling, delivery processes and governance requirements.\nThe role is accountable for implementing and maintaining scalable, secure, reliable and compliant engineering platforms and practices, while driving measurable improvements in delivery speed, platform stability, security, developer experience and cost efficiency.\nOverview of Role Responsibilities (Level 1-13)\nSoftware Development- Level 6 - Adaptation\nDevelop existing applications and contribute to development of new applications by analyzing and identifying areas for modification and improvement. Develop new routine applications to meet customer requirements.\nSoftware Maintenance- Level 6 - Adaptation\nMonitor, identify, and correct more complex software defects to maintain fully functioning applications software.\nProgramming Troubleshooting- Level 6 - Adaptation\nManage programming troubleshooting projects, ensuring effective diagnosis of programming issues and the development of effective solutions.\nTesting Information Technology (IT) Performance- Level 6 - Adaptation\nDesign and perform website/applications software tests and respond to user emails to monitor, diagnose, and correct performance issues.\nTechnical Developments Recommendation- Level 6 - Adaptation\nDiscuss and recommend technical developments to improve the quality of the used technology, such as systems, processes, infrastructure, installations and machines.\nRequired Skills\nApplication Development - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to develop software through use of programming languages. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nSoftware Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Techniques - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to understand and apply the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), including requirements analysis, design, development, testing, and maintenance, to effectively develop software that supports modelling activities. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nIT Testing - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to design, execute and report on systems/service tests to ensure that an application functions as specified in the requirements. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nCompiling and Decompiling Code - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to compile and decompile programming code. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nIT Implementation and integration - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to implement, configure and optimize systems and services. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nSystem Design - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to design and implement high-quality and scalable solutions to technical challenges. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nOverview of Responsibilities\nEnsure technical agility domain meets the requirements of all stakeholders to including business change, technology and operations.\nEnsure industry best practice is being adopted and aligned in terms of Infrastructure Architecture; Continuous Delivery and Integration; Deployment; Security and Test automation.\nResponsible for defining the System Development Life Cycle methodology and associated cross-functional tools to ensure adoption and continuous improvement in alignment with SAFE\nDefine and drive adoption of technical agility platform principles / standards - ensuring adherence to blueprints\nPartner with platform owners, Architecture, infrastructure and business Agility to deliver a clear technical roadmap for the platform.\nPromotes, documents, and implements best practices, building tools that allow SC-IT to develop and deploy impeccable software\nCollaborates with the quality assurance department in creating solution designs, capacity planning, and performance optimisation.\nLeverage industry-leading business processes to improve business agility and technical agility for shorter cycle times.\nProactive identification of platform enhancements including non-functional enhancement\nWork collaboratively with business stakeholders and operational teams to support prioritisation of changes and defect backlog prioritisation\nAct as point of escalation for Platform related Defects and Major Incidents resolution\nBuild and maintain a relationship network with key stakeholders in technology and business\nMaintain an understanding of the existing and potential platform capabilities\nDefine target platform structure, drive transformation to reach the target and govern adherence\nEnsure solution design supports the goal of a right first time, reducing time to market / minimises cost to deliver whilst meeting the business requirements\nAct as the final escalation point for platform-related: Major Incidents, Platform defects, Systemic CI/CD failures.\nEnsure high availability, scalability, and performance of Azure DevOps services and agent infrastructure, AWS build and runtime environments\nDeep understanding of Kubernetes control plane concepts, etcd considerations, node lifecycle, autoscaling strategies (Cluster Autoscaler/Karpenter), and capacity planning.\nPractical experience managing container registries\nProvide technical leadership, day-to-day work direction, coaching and performance management for one DevOps team member, while remaining directly accountable for hands-on engineering delivery and platform support.\nProvide technical leadership for the migration to and ongoing operation of Jira Cloud, including configuration, data migration, integrations, workflow alignment, access controls, automation, governance and operational support.\nQualifications & Certifications\nMicrosoft AzureDevOps\nMicrosoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert\nAWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional or Solutions Architect - Associate/Professional\nSAFE for DevOps\nSAFE Practitioner\nRelevant IT certifications (e.g. COBIT, ITIL, JIRA etc.) is advantageous.\nExperience in a Dev Ops environment and leading the development automation\n7-10 years’ experience in DevOps, platform or cloud engineering, including hands-on technical delivery and experience leading, mentoring or managing engineering resources.\nRelevant governance or service management certifications (ITIL, COBIT) are advantageous.\nEducation\nUndergraduate Degree / Honours Tertiary Degree\nDegree or Diploma and the required Certification with 8 to 10 years related experience.\nExperience Required\nDevOps Tooling strategy development and implementation\nStrong analytical, problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.\nProven experience owning enterprise CI/CD platforms at scale\nExperience defining and governing SDLC and DevSecOps frameworks in regulated environments\nHands-on experience with Jira Cloud, Azure DevOps and Agile testing tools, including configuration, integrations, workflow automation, access controls and support for migration from Jira on-premises to Jira Cloud.\nExceptional analytical, conceptual, and problem-solving abilities.\n3-5+ years designing, operating, and governing Kubernetes platforms in enterprise environments (self-managed and/or managed services such as EKS/AKS).\nHighly self-motivated to deliver both independently and with strong team collaboration.\nStrong written and oral communications along with presentation and interpersonal skills.\nWorking knowledge of agile methodology, techniques, and frameworks\nRequired Behavioural Competencies\nEnsures Accountability\nTech Savvy\nManages Complexity\nDecision Quality\nOptimises Work Processes\nBusiness Insight\nTurnaround Time\nThe shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The closing date for this advert is 3 November 2026\nOur Commitment To Transformation\nThe Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. 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