Job Description

Company Description
iKhokha is a place where chance-takers become change-makers. At iKhokha, we believe in better. As you'd expect, our pace is fast-moving and ever-changing. We like it that way. As one of the fastest-growing FinTech's in Africa, we've built a team of global change-makers who want to make an impact. If you believe in a better future, be a and help us empower small businesses in South Africa.

Are you a seasoned Mobile Innovator who's designed and built innovative mobile applications from scratch, defined cutting-edge tech stacks, and led engineering teams through successful deployments?
Our iKTribe is looking for a visionary leader ready to showcase their architectural brilliance and elevate our mobile engineering to new heights.
So, what will you do?

• As a Mobile Architect within the iKhokha product team, you will play a pivotal role in designing and architecting core functionality and features for both our Android and iOS iKhokha applications.
• You will work closely with fellow Technical Architects and Product Owners to design solutions in line with business strategic objectives.
• You will be part of an architecture board where you will give input on best practices, assess current technologies used and participate in the proposal/sharing of new technologies that will be of benefit to the company.
• You will be responsible for driving the technical strategy within your teams and to make sure that software deliverables align with company-wide architectural standards.
• You will be responsible for estimating the technical feasibility of high-level backlog items and projects to present to senior management. In addition, you will offer mentoring to engineers.

In addition to the above, you will:

• Define components and modules as needed by following best architecture principles, including interfaces and interactions with internal- as well as external systems.
• Design and contribute highly cohesive and loosely coupled microservices to our existing architecture.
• Research and vet 3rd party tools and services.
• Database modelling and review.
• API design and review.
• Design systems with security in mind from the start (OWASP, secure communication protocols, network architecture).
• Stay up to date with the latest threats and vulnerabilities in the industry.
• Advise on weak-points and areas of improvement within iKhokhas architecture as well as provide solutions.
• Ensure that architecture complies with regulatory requirements (PCI, POPIA, GDPR).
• Front-load design and produce adequate technical documentation for development teams.
• Review documentation from peers.
• Give input on architecture standards and practices, introducing new technologies, tools and practices.
• Give input in scoping and feasibility exercises.
• Make technical dependencies visible to stakeholders.
• Present technical knowledge and material to product team (TED Talk etc).
• Mentor and guide engineers.
• Assist in creating technical roadmap.
• Help set standards around tools and technologies / technical radar.

Qualifications

• A degree or Diploma in Computer Science, Information Technology or Systems Engineering.

Deal Breakers:

• At least 5 years of experience in a technical lead/architect role within a native mobile development space.
• At least 8 years of Software Engineering experience building native mobile apps (Android Java, Kotlin, Swift etc) as well as a high proficiency in programming languages such as Kotlin and Swift.
• Experience building native applications from the ground up, following best practices and principles as well as a strong understanding of mobile architectural patterns (MVC, MVVM, MVP) and familiarity with different integration patterns and protocols (REST, Web Sockets, GraphQL etc).
• Proven track record of improving mobile app performance, including app launch time, memory management, battery efficiency, and network optimization.
• Demonstrated experience implementing mobile app security best practices, including secure authentication, data encryption, and compliance with regulations (e.g., PCI, POPIA).
• Hands-on experience with DevOps practices for mobile, including release automation, phased rollouts, feature flag management, and rollback strategies.

In addition to the above, the experience in the following technologies, domains and best practices will make you a frontrunner for the role:

• Experience working with POS / card acceptance systems will advantageous.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts to different audiences with varying degrees of technical ability.
• Comfortable documenting and diagramming designs according to UML standards (Context, Sequence, BPMn etc).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Pragmatism.

Additional Information
Perks of joining the Tribe?

• Work in a high-growth company with tangible results you're accountable for.
• Enjoy hybrid, remote, and in office work models.
• Competitive remuneration and benefits, including Medical Aid and Group Risk scheme contributions.
• Be guided by visionary leadership.
• Seize the opportunity for study leave.
• Access to on-demand learning and development.
• Experience a friendly, collaborative culture with a team of all-round-lekker humans (its true, we surveyed our Employees and they told us so).
• If you find yourself at HQ, coffee on tap and a selection of hot beverages provided by our very own onsite Barista.