Software Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 13, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 13, 2026. Sanlam scores A on the Alion truth index.
Who are we?
Sanlam was established as a life insurance company in South Africa but has since transformed into a diversified financial services group that operates across the African continent, India, Malaysia and selected developed markets, with listings on the Johannesburg, A2X and Namibian Securities Stock exchanges. In 2018 the Group celebrated its centenary as well as 20 years since demutualisation and listing in South Africa and Namibia. Sanlam is one of the largest internationally active insurance groups in the world with a presence in 27 countries and has the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.
The Group's four business clusters (Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz and Santam) house the Group's business operations. The Group Office provides strategic direction and support to the four clusters, assisting them in realising their strategies and meeting their business objectives. The Group Office is responsible for governance and for the Group's centralised functions, which include: Group Tecnhnology, Finance, Actuarial, Risk and Balance Sheet Management, Strategy, Human Capital, Brand, Marketing and Corporate Affairs. The Group Office ensures cohesive management across the organisation.
Positions Overview
A Software Engineer that can take responsibility for new features and solve problems in any part of the code.
They typically have 5 years or more of software engineering experience. They may lead a feature
implementation but will need help with strategy and require guidance from mentors and peers. They should
work with Design and Product Management to improve features across the product and troubleshoot any bugs.
What will you do?
Expectations:
- Take ownership of new features and deliver them from concept to production
- Work independently and create solutions without constant direction
- Effectively collaborate with the team to bring out the best in others
- Focus on operational and code excellence during code reviews and feature development
- Improve the team's development, testing and operational practices
- Begin to work with Product Management and Design teams to understand business context
- Participate actively in on-call rotations and handle incidents effectively
- Identify and address small pieces of technical debt within their work scope
- Demonstrate growing influence beyond individual tasks to impact the broader team
Qualification and Experience
- Relevant Degree or Diploma in Bsc in Computer Science and IT
- 5+ years of experience in Software Engineering
Programming Languages & Coding
- Despite our language agnostic approach, proficiency in languages used in full-stack / back-end Software Development (Python, Java, C++ etc for example) is required
- Proficiency at reading, reviewing, understanding code
- Ability to articulate language differences, implementation and the build & execution process: For
example strongly vs weakly typed, static vs dynamic, compiled vs interpreted
Data Structures, Algorithms & Algorithmic Problem Solving
- Ability to articulate the pros / cons of relevant data structures for the use of minimum memory space
and execution in the shortest possible time. This includes situations in which a data structure would
be applicable, and why
- Ability to suggests possible / relevant algorithms when developing and optimising solutions for time
and space complexity. This includes the ability to discuss options and trade-offs; also in instances where
scope increases and solutions have to adapt
Engineering & Operational Excellence
- Understanding of scalability, robustness, operational visibility and agility
- Understanding of distributed systems and designing these solutions
- Experience working on projects involving the design and implementation of scalable systems
- Knowledge of services like AWS VPC, Auto Scaling, serverless computing, storage (EBS, S3),
containers,DNS, etc) is preferred yet not a prerequisite. All experience with relevant Cloud-based
technologies are beneficial in this role.
- Understanding of / experience in monitoring, metrics, visibility, health, fault tolerance
- Experience with / understanding of load balancing and health checking
- Experience with / understanding of APIs, auth
- Experience with / understanding of databases and persistence
- Experience with / understanding of scalable architecture for systems implementation
What will make you successful in this role?
- Gain a solid understanding of design principles and how to apply them
- Develop the ability to lead small projects or components with minimal supervision
- Enhance problem-solving skills and technical knowledge across the codebase
- Contribute to improving team practices and processes
- Show skill in coaching junior engineers and providing constructive feedback
- Start scaling through others by guiding other team members and delivering through them
- Deepen understanding of business objectives and how technical work supports them
Knowledge and Skills
IT Data Analysis
IT product enhancements
Software design and deployments
Platform management and integration
Business Requirements Definition
Personal Attributes
Interpersonal savvy - Contributing through others
Decision quality - Contributing through others
Plans and aligns - Contributing through others
Optimises work processes - Contributing through others
Build a successful career with us
We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future - your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth.
Through its five business clusters - Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office - the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.
Core Competencies
Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others
Customer focus - Contributing through others
Drives results - Contributing through others
Collaborates - Contributing through others
Being resilient - Contributing through others
Turnaround time
The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.
Our commitment to transformation
The 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. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.