Head of Software Engineering

About Payment24 and Role Overview

Payment24, a Cape Town-based company, develops white-label fuel payment, fleet management, and loyalty platforms utilized by prominent clients such as ADNOC, Astron Energy, Standard Bank, TotalEnergies, and others globally. Operating since 2013, the company’s platform supports transactions across five continents through offices including locations in the USA, Geneva, Panama, and Kenya. The technical infrastructure deeply integrates with fuel forecourt site systems, ensuring secure and reliable money movement.

We are seeking a Head of Engineering to lead and transform our engineering department that builds and supports this complex platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior technical representative of Payment24 to high-profile customers, including tier-one banks and fuel majors.
• Lead architecture reviews, solution workshops, and maintain ownership of the technical relationship with clients.
• Manage escalations and conduct due diligence related to selling into regulated financial service markets.
• Oversee the development department comprising technical leads and architects, collaborating closely with the Head of Delivery and Principal Solutions Architect.
• Define and enforce technical standards and ensure delivery commitment adherence.
• Manage SLA obligations for production support effectively.
• Mentor and develop technical team leads to prepare them for leadership roles.
• Be actively involved in architecture decisions and review critical code to ensure technical quality.

Candidate Profile

• Proven leadership experience managing engineering teams of approximately 30-40 professionals across multiple teams with visible positive impact.
• Strong expertise and current experience with the Microsoft technology stack including C#/.NET, SQL Server, and Azure, capable of engaging in and defending architectural decisions.
• Skilled in leading senior technical discussions with enterprise clients, including handling challenging situations.
• Demonstrated success in managing project delivery with real commitments and operating within SLA-driven support environments.
• Reputation for effective people management with former direct reports willing to work with the candidate again.
• Currently located in Cape Town or willing to relocate to Cape Town—office-based role requiring five working days on-site weekly.
• Experience in fintech, payments, banking, or maintaining high-availability enterprise production systems is a significant advantage but not mandatory.

Additional Information

This role involves rebuilding and strengthening the engineering function with full executive support and authority delegated from the CEO. The department is not yet self-sufficient and requires a leader ready to imprint their vision and standards.

Remuneration will be competitive and aligned with senior leadership market benchmarks, tailored based on the candidate’s profile. We commit to transparent and early compensation discussions.