Job Summary
Reporting to the CEO, PAPSS, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will provide strategic leadership, direction, and execution of all technology initiatives supporting PAPSS’s mission. The CTO will be responsible for designing, building, and operating robust, secure, scalable, and innovative technology platforms that enable high-volume, real-time, cross-border payments across Africa.
The role oversees the entire technology function, including software engineering, solution architecture, DevOps/DevSecOps, testing and quality assurance, and future-oriented technology innovation, while ensuring alignment with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and industry best practices.
Key Responsibilities
Technology Strategy & Leadership
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Define and execute a forward-looking technology vision aligned with PAPSS’s strategic objectives.
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Champion digital innovation and technology-driven transformation to provide PAPSS with a competitive edge across the African financial ecosystem.
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Ensure strong alignment between technology delivery and broader business goals through continuous strategic planning.
Software Development & Engineering
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Oversee end-to-end software development lifecycle, from solution architecture and design through development, testing, and deployment.
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Enforce high standards of software engineering best practices, secure coding, and clean architecture.
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Ensure all solutions are scalable, maintainable, highly available, and capable of handling large-volume concurrent transactions with required throughput.
Solution Architecture
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Design, review, and approve scalable, resilient, and secure architectures for all PAPSS platforms.
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Ensure seamless interoperability and integration with regional and national payment systems.
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Evaluate, select, and adopt technologies aligned with business objectives and industry standards.
DevOps / DevSecOps
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Build and maintain modern CI/CD pipelines to accelerate delivery while reducing operational risk.
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Embed DevSecOps principles across the development lifecycle to ensure security by design.
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Automate deployments, infrastructure provisioning, monitoring, and incident response.
Testing & Quality Assurance
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Establish quality assurance strategies, testing frameworks, and automated testing pipelines.
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Ensure all platforms meet rigorous standards of performance, reliability, scalability, and security prior to release.
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Foster a culture of continuous testing, improvement, and quality excellence.
Innovation & Product Enablement
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Collaborate with Product Development and Executive Management to identify innovative solutions and impactful use cases with central banks, commercial banks, and fintechs.
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Monitor emerging technology trends and introduce modern tools, platforms, and practices where appropriate.
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Lead the exploration and adoption of emerging technologies such as AI/ML, blockchain, and advanced analytics.
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Enable rapid, secure product development and launch in collaboration with product and business teams.
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Explore partnerships with fintechs, startups, and research institutions to accelerate innovation.
Qualifications & Experience
Minimum Qualifications
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Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field.
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Master’s degree and/or relevant professional certifications in related disciplines from a recognised institution.
Years & Nature of Experience
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Minimum of 12 years’ professional experience, with at least 10 years in senior technology leadership roles within banking, payment switches, or fintech environments.
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Strong experience in cross-border payments for trade and services, preferably at a regional or continental level.
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Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; knowledge of French or Arabic is an added advantage.
Technical Expertise
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Deep practical experience with payment schemes and systems, including Instant Payments, SEPA/SCT Inst, FPS, RTGS, BACS, CHAPS, SWIFT, and similar platforms.
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Mandatory in-depth understanding of ISO 20022 payment messages, including detailed knowledge of message structures and field usage.
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Strong API design and integration experience, including use of Postman and SOAPUI.
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Proficiency in high-level programming languages and frameworks such as Java, C#, .NET Core, JavaScript (Angular/React).
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Full software lifecycle experience, including workflow automation and modern business analysis and testing practices.
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Strong knowledge of Agile methodologies and industry initiatives impacting instant payments.
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Experience using UML modelling techniques (sequence diagrams, state diagrams) and modelling tools (e.g., Visio).
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Proven experience delivering instant payment platforms or large-scale software delivery projects.
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Hands-on knowledge of iPaaS, middleware technologies, Spring Boot/.NET, JBoss, IBM Integration Bus, MQ, Kafka, Oracle, PostgreSQL, AIX.
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Strong experience working in cloud environments, particularly AWS (mandatory).
Technical Competencies
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Strong architectural modelling and documentation skills.
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Advanced problem-solving and analytical capabilities.
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Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business insights.
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Strong leadership, stakeholder management, and team-building capabilities.