Specialist Product Engineer

What will you do?

Job Purpose 

The Specialist Product Engineer (GPA) will be responsible for building high performing, scalable, enterprise grade applications. This includes but is not limited to applying critical thinking, design thinking and problem-solving skills in an agile team environment to solve complex technical problems (Frontend, Backend and Integration) with high quality solutions & leading all phases of the development lifecycle to deliver. This role will be residing at the Glacier Office in Rosebank, Johannesburg, reporting directly to the Development Technical Product Lead in GPA.  

Key Outcomes

The following outcomes will be expected to be achieved by Specialist Product Engineer

DevOps: 

• Apply critical thinking, design thinking and problem-solving skills in an agile team environment to solve complex technical problems (Front End, Back End and Integration) with high quality solutions leveraging C# (.NET), SQL Server, JavaScript/Typescript, ReactJs, Jenkins, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, Git
• Determine operational feasibility of solutions by evaluating analysis, problem definition, business requirements, solution development and proposed solutions
• Develop high quality software / application design and architecture
• Be able to work in a team to quickly produce well-organised, optimized, and documented source code to deliver technical solutions
• Leverage troubleshooting skills and underlying knowledge of technology to solve technical challenges during the design, implementation and support phase of the project.
• Ensure designs & solutions support the technical organisation principles of self-service, repeatability, testability, scalability & resilience
• Apply general design patterns and paradigms to deliver technical solutions
• Create & Maintain Sophisticated DevSecOps CI/CD Pipelines (authoring & supporting CI/CD pipelines in Jenkins and AzureDevOps for deployment to multi-site environments – supporting and managing your applications all the way to production).
• Use & configure modern observability techniques to provide a deeper understanding of the application using AppDynamics, Instana and OpenTelemetry.
• Automate tasks through appropriate tools and scripting e.g. Docker, Ansible, Kubernetes, Powershell, Groovy
• Debug existing source code and polish feature sets.
• Work with guilds and other technical SMEs to improve and evolve technical products and services
• Apply unit testing frameworks and perform integration, validation and verification testing using Moq and MsTest
• Managing branching and merging in support of project delivery. Setup quality gates to ensure conformance to team best practices
• Align all application development & development process to Group Architecture, Security & Infrastructure guidelines
• Work with project & program teams (when required) to plan & manage the development lifecycle e.g. releases, risk management, testing, integration etc.
• Conduct reviews, performance monitoring & ongoing optimization and maintenance on applications
• Stay ahead of the curve on emerging technologies and development practices e.g. scripting languages, containerization etc.

People Responsibilities

• Team Collaboration: Conduct peer reviews, testing, and problem-solving activities across teams; Foster collaboration within the broader engineering team; and Support team development by sharing expertise.
• Training and Development: Contribute to team development plans; and Provide input for skill-building initiatives across the engineering team.
• Change Adoption: Assist in designing and implementing adoption processes for customers, employees, and third-party stakeholders.
• Performance Management: Monitor team performance and address concerns; and Escalate performance-related issues, as necessary.

Technical Responsibilities

• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate technical risks during all stages of deployment (pre, during, and post-deployment).
• Documentation: Update or create application documentation adhering to technical standards and risk/governance frameworks.
• Solution Design and Governance: Develop technical solution as per specifications; and align solutions with governance requirements (e.g., CTO approvals).
• Incident Management: Participate in incident resolution and disaster recovery (DR) activities; and utilize critical thinking and technical expertise to resolve major incidents.
• Delivery Management: Ensure timely and cost-efficient delivery of projects; and maintain alignment with organizational goals and budgets.

Qualifications and Experience

• Relevant qualification in IT
• 5 to 8 years’ experience in development lifecycle
• Experience in an agile environment
• Experience in coaching and mentoring other engineers
• Experience in reading code written in C#, Sql Server, Javascript/Typescript, Groovy, JSON/YAML
• Experiencing in translating business problems into technical solutions
• Understanding of relational databases including stored procedures and ETL
• Understanding of modelling language such as UML and BPMN
• Experience in investments/LISP would be advantageous

General Competencies

• Technical Expertise: Deep understanding of product engineering, including modern frameworks, tools, and best practices; and ability to function as a technical authority.
• Problem Solving: Analytical and critical thinking skills for resolving complex technical issues.
• Communication: Strong interpersonal skills to collaborate with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
• Adaptability: Flexibility to work on diverse projects and address evolving business needs.
• Business Knowledge: Familiarity with investments and LISP will be considered advantageous.

Attributes

• Positive, enthusiastic attitude
• Teamwork
• Ability to work under pressure
• Honesty, integrity and respect
• Self-starter and self confidence

What will make you successful in this role?

Qualification and Experience

Knowledge and Skills

Personal Attributes

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

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