Primary Responsibilities:
Portfolio Leadership and Team Management
Lead and scale the Nairobi Digital Hub as a multidisciplinary engineering organization (software, data, DevOps, cloud, QA, security, UX)
Provide executive oversight for major digital and platform implementations, balancing innovation, delivery discipline, risk, and financial performance
Represent Palladium as a senior digital and engineering leader with clients, funders, governments, and private sector partners
Balance innovation with delivery discipline, risk management, and financial performance
Ensure projects align with Palladium's platform strategy and Digital Hub delivery model
Recruit, mentor, and retain high caliber engineering and product talent, building sustainable delivery capacity
Foster a builder culture emphasizing ownership, accountability, learning, and delivery of excellence
Establish clear career pathways for engineers, architects, and technical leaders within Palladium
Technical Strategy and Execution Oversight
Define and own Palladium's digital platform strategy, including interoperable architectures, opensource and global public goods ecosystems, data platforms, analytics, and AI enablement
Establish and enforce engineering excellence standards across architecture, coding practices, security, scalability, documentation, and DevOps
Oversee the design, build, and operation of shared digital platforms, accelerators, and reusable components
Champion product and platform-oriented delivery models, moving beyond project-by-project implementations
Ensure adoption of modern software engineering practices (Agile, CI/CD, cloud native, API first, modular architectures)
Serve as a senior technical authority on platform architecture, integration, and interoperability across sectors
Ensure platforms are secure, scalable, and compliant with donors, regulatory, and data protection requirements
Develop and maintain reference architectures, blueprints, and reusable assets for global use
Growth and Business Development
Originate and close digital business opportunities, including platform build and scale and managed services for both public and private sector clients, supporting diversification of revenue beyond traditional donor funded work
Lead or significantly contribute to deal shaping, solution design, pricing models, and commercial structures including authoring and reviewing technical and management sections of proposals
Translate complex technical concepts into clear business and impact value propositions
Build and maintain strategic partnerships with technology firms, startups, investors, and delivery partners to support cocreation, co-investment, and platform adoption
Essential Criteria:
15+ years in software engineering, digital platforms, or technology leadership roles
Proven experience leading engineering teams and growth of digital platform engineering teams at scale; experience leading a P&L with accountability for revenue growth, cost management, and profitability preferred
Strong understanding of: Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP); Modern software architectures (microservices, APIs, event-driven systems); Data platforms and analytics
Demonstrated success in business development or commercial technology roles including selling, deal shaping, or partnerships
Experience working across public sector, development, and/or private sector technology environments
Track record of delivering complex digital solutions in multi-stakeholder environments