Group Chief Information Officer - Fintech

Chief Information Officer

One of the leading South African fintech and payments
solutions companies specialising in payment collections, payroll processing,
financial transaction management, and data-driven automation services is
recruiting for a group CIO

Purpose of the job

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for
defining and executing the technology strategy that enables secure, scalable,
and compliant payment services within the South African fintech ecosystem. The
role ensures that technology platforms support rapid innovation while
maintaining resilience, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence.

The CIO will lead the design and delivery of payment
infrastructure, digital platforms, and data capabilities that enable real-time,
API-driven financial services across merchants, banks, and digital
ecosystems.  The CIO will the responsibilities of the enterprise
technology strategy, regulatory technology compliance, vendor and cloud
economics, enterprise data and AI strategy, and risk, security, and resilience
for the company.

The role requires deep understanding of the South African
National Payment System (NPS), payment rails, and regulatory frameworks
overseen by the South African Reserve Bank and PayInc. These bodies
regulate clearing, settlement, and participation in the payment ecosystem to
ensure the safety and stability of the financial system. 

Reports to: Chief
Executive Officer (CEO)

Location: Pretoria,
South Africa

Activities

• Technology Strategy &
  Architecture
  
• Define and execute the company’s
  technology vision
  
• Architect scalable payment
  platforms supporting current platforms including: real-time payments,
  digital wallets, digital customer and merchant onboarding, embedded
  finance, open banking APIs, agentic payments and biometrics and
  digital identity
  
• Ensure technology architecture
  supports high availability, real-time processing, and horizontal
  scalability.
  
• Lead adoption of modern
  technologies including cloud-native infrastructure, microservices
  architecture, event-driven systems, API-first design, Mobile applications
  design and development and Artificial Intelligence
  

Key Deliverables 

• Scalable payment processing platform
  
• Secure real-time payments infrastructure
  
• API-enabled partner ecosystem
  
• Resilient cloud infrastructure
  
• Regulatory compliant technology stack
  
• Industry-leading fraud and identity
  capabilities
  

Payments Infrastructure Leadership

Own the design and delivery of
payment capabilities across multiple rails including Instant payments, Card
processing, EFT and debit orders, Voucher rewards and payments, QR and mobile
payments, Crypto currencies, Digital identity and authentication Cross-border
payment infrastructure

Ensure platforms integrate
with national payment and wider payments ecosystem where appropriate to support
the company Strategy. South Africa’s payment ecosystem includes multiple
payment streams managed within the National Payment System and settled through
the central bank infrastructure. 

Regulatory Compliance & Governance

National Payment System Act
and Authorisation Framework, SARB Prudential Authority operational resilience
expectations, Financial crime legislation (FIC Act) and Data protection
regulations (POPIA)

Security, Risk & Operational Resilience

Implement enterprise cyber
security frameworks

Accountable for meeting
board-approved operational resilience tolerance levels for critical payment
services

Ensure 24/7 availability of
payment systems

Design business continuity and
disaster recovery capabilities

Oversee fraud prevention and
transaction monitoring platforms.

Oversee the development of an
effective Risk Management Strategy     

Platform Engineering & Delivery

Lead high-performing
engineering teams responsible for payment processing platforms, customer and
merchant APIs, mobile and digital applications, data platforms and analytics,
cloud infrastructure and DevOps, cloud cost optimisation (FinOps), vendor concentration
risk, contractual SLAs with banks, schemes, processors

Ensure best practices in CI/CD
pipelines, platform observability, site reliability engineering (SRE), secure
software development

Technology Financial
Stewardship of Cloud spend optimisation and chargeback models, strategic vendor
management and substitution planning and commercial support to procurement and
legal teams

Data & AI Strategy

Develop the organisation’s
data strategy including real-time payment analytics, fraud detection, credit
and risk scoring, payment
insights, data lineage and quality controls and AI governance forums.

Ensure data architectures support emerging payment
standards such as ISO 20022, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, etc, which enables richer
data exchange and interoperability across financial institutions.  

Ecosystem &
Industry Engagement

Represent the company in industry forums and working
groups where applicable across banks, regulators, payment schemes and fintech industry bodies

Collaborate with regulators and innovation bodies
shaping fintech policy and experimentation environments.

Requirements