{"id":3628311,"url":"https://alion.io/job/sanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation","title":"Tech Lead Engineering - AI & Automation","company":{"id":2194082,"name":"Sanlam","domain":"sanlam.com","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":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","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":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"AWS","optional":false},{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Java","optional":false},{"name":"LLM Guardrails","optional":false},{"name":"LLMOps","optional":false},{"name":"Power Automate","optional":false},{"name":"Prompt Engineering","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"RAG","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"UiPath","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-30T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-30","last_verified_at":"2026-11-04T10:08:06Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":5,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":5},"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 Tech Lead Engineering - AI and Automation is the technical anchor for how Sanlam Corporate designs, builds and runs AI and automation solutions. Leading a team of engineers, this leader is responsible for turning AI and automation opportunities into secure, production-grade solutions that remove manual effort, improve client and member experience, and lift the productivity of our people.\nKey responsibilities include setting the engineering standards, reference architectures and reusable patterns for generative AI, AI agents, intelligent document processing and process automation. The tech lead stays hands-on: designing solutions, reviewing code, unblocking engineers and taking ideas from proof of concept to scaled production with the right evaluation, monitoring and controls in place.\nIn addition to delivery, this role acts as a trusted technical partner to business, product, architecture, data, risk and Group AI teams, helping to shape and prioritise the AI and automation backlog based on value, feasibility and risk. The tech lead ensures that solutions align with the Sanlam Corporate and Group technology strategy and meet our obligations around responsible AI, data privacy (POPIA) and regulatory requirements.\nUltimately, the Tech Lead Engineering - AI and Automation serves as the engine room of the AI rollout, building the capability, platforms and engineering culture that allow Sanlam Corporate to adopt AI safely and at scale.\nKey Responsibilities\nLeads, coaches and grows a team of AI, automation and software engineers, including recruitment, performance management and skills development.\nDefines and maintains engineering standards, reference architectures and reusable components for AI and automation solutions.\nDesigns and builds solutions using large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents and integrations with enterprise systems and APIs.\nDrives intelligent automation of business processes, including workflow automation, RPA and intelligent document processing across administration, claims, underwriting and client servicing.\nTakes solutions from proof of concept to production, ensuring they are secure, scalable, observable and supportable.\nEstablishes MLOps/LLMOps practices, including CI/CD, model and prompt versioning, automated evaluation, monitoring and cost tracking.\nEmbeds responsible AI controls such as human-in-the-loop design, guardrails, accuracy and bias testing, explainability and audit trails, in line with Group AI governance, POPIA and regulatory requirements.\nPartners with business units and product owners to identify, size and prioritise AI and automation use cases based on value, feasibility and risk.\nWorks with enterprise architecture, data, security and infrastructure teams to ensure solutions integrate cleanly with core systems and cloud platforms.\nCollaborates with Group AI and other Sanlam clusters to reuse shared platforms and patterns and avoid duplication.\nEvaluates AI and automation tools and platforms, and manages relationships with technology vendors and partners.\nTracks and reports on delivery progress, adoption and benefits realised (for example hours saved, turnaround times and cost).\nBrings in outward trends in AI and automation to influence business and technology strategy.\nBuilds AI literacy and engineering capability across IT through communities of practice, demos and mentoring.\nOverview of Role Responsibilities (Level 1-13)\nEnterprise Architecture- Level 6 - Adaptation\nMaintain an established set of enterprise architecture artifacts.\nEnterprise Infrastructure Modernization- Level 6 - Adaptation\nDeliver digital solution architecture services as assigned, preparing conceptual and logical architecture diagrams to align technical direction and document future-state architectures.\nBusiness Requirements Identification- Level 6 - Adaptation\nCollect business requirements using a variety of methods, such as interviews, document analysis, workshops, and workflow analysis, to express the requirements in terms of target user roles and goals.\nAnalysis of \"As Is\" and \"To Be\"- Level 6 - Adaptation\nDocument \"as is\" and \"to be\" processes and describe the changes required to migrate to the \"to be\" capability to record accurately the change required.\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.\nMinimum Requirements\nDegree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related field is advantageous.\n8+ years’ software engineering experience, including at least 3 years in a technical lead or team lead role.\nProven experience delivering AI/ML or generative AI solutions into production.\nExperience delivering process automation (RPA, workflow or low-code platforms).\nCloud certification (e.g. Azure or AWS) is advantageous.\nFinancial services or insurance industry experience is advantageous.\nTechnical Competencies:\nStrong software engineering skills in Python and at least one of C#, Java or TypeScript, including API design and microservices.\nHands-on experience with LLMs and generative AI: prompt engineering, RAG, vector databases, agent orchestration and evaluation frameworks.\nExperience with automation and orchestration platforms (e.g. UiPath, Power Automate or similar).\nCloud-native development and AI services on a major cloud platform, including containers, DevOps and CI/CD.\nData engineering fundamentals: data pipelines, data quality, and working with structured and unstructured data.\nSecurity and governance for AI, including identity and access, data protection, model risk and POPIA.\nSolution architecture and design, with sound judgement on build, buy and reuse trade-offs.\nLeadership experience in managing cross-functional engineering teams and influencing senior management and key stakeholders\nBehavioral Competencies\nCollaborative and open minded.\nHands-on leader who leads by example and is comfortable in the code.\nPragmatic and outcome-focused: delivers value in small increments and learns fast.\nHas integrity and delivers on committed tasks and initiatives.\nGood communicator who can explain AI concepts to non-technical audiences, verbally and visually.\nSound ethical judgement on the responsible use of AI and data.\nInquisitive about technology trends and self-motivated to continuous learning and personal development.\nAbility to take ambiguity and clarify for self and others.\nInvests in coaching and mentoring others to grow the team’s capability.\nRequired Skills\nArchitecture - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to design architectures, incorporating system/service requirements. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nEnterprise application integration - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to integrate different software systems and platforms within an organization, enabling seamless data exchange and communication between various applications to improve operational efficiency and data consistency. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nNetwork/IT security - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to maintain system/service and information security, integrity, compliance and continuity. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nBusiness Requirements Analysis - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to express user needs in terms of business requirements, identify current capability of the business to deliver, conduct build or buy analyses, and recommend preferred approach. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nAnalyze Current State/AS-IS State - Advanced\nWorks at an advanced level to understand business context, needs, rules, and architecture, as well as organizational structure, cultures, capabilities, and processes to document the current state of processes and the business. Typically works independently and provides guidance.\nDefine Future State/TO-BE State - Fully Competent\nWorks with full competence to envision and document the future state of processes and products by identifying the solution scope, potential value of the future state, and the changes to the process, products, organization infrastructure, capabilities, and technology necessary to achieve the desired future state. Typically works without supervision and may provide technical guidance.\nRequired Behavioural Competencies\nManages Complexity\nOptimises Work Processes\nTech Savvy\nBusiness Insight\nDrives Results\nTurnaround times\nThe 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. Closing date is 6th Nov 2026\nOur aim is to help you build a successful career with us\nWe’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 business clusters - Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Corporate Santam, Miway, as well as the Group Office - the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.","description_format":"text","description_chars":10403,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":8,"management_years_min":3,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":true},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Continuous learning"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Artificial Intelligence","Property & Casualty Insurance","Asset Management & Funds","Life Insurance & Annuities"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-02T20:16:23Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":36,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.754,"p_room":0.473,"age_days":5,"expected_fill_days":3,"reasons":["conf:1","velocity","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-11-04T06:34:25Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/sanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/sanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-04T12:38:01Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":19002,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-05T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":2194082},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=2194082"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fsanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fsanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fsanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/sanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fsanlam-tech-lead-engineering-ai-automation"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3628311}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"sanlam.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3628311},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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