Head of AI & Technical Operations

We're Hiring: Head of AI & Technical Operations

Location: Sandton, Johannesburg

Job Type: Full-time 

Work arrangement: In-office (Based in Johannesburg,

Who We Are Recruiting For:

Our client is a fast-growing, globally minded fintech and consumer rewards platform that helps everyday people earn more from their daily habits through gaming, surveys, cashback, and smart shopping. Headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg, they are scaling their technology and operations across new international markets, including the United States.

They believe AI isn't a buzzword, it's the next operating system for how businesses run. They are scaling their operations and investing in building a culture where AI tools and automation are embedded into everything they do, from reporting to customer operations to decision-making. Operating at the bleeding edge of modern fintech, this is a hands-on builder's role reporting into the senior team with a direct line to leadership and a clear trajectory into senior global leadership.

Who You Are:

• AI Obsessed: Genuinely excited by AI; someone who experiments constantly with new tools (LLMs like ChatGPT/Claude, agents, prompt engineering), follows the space closely, and spots opportunities everywhere to apply it.
• Engineer at Heart: A systems thinker who naturally thinks in architectures, workflows, and root causes to eliminate manual overhead.
• Analytically Sharp: Love working with medium-to-large datasets, turning raw, messy data into clean, actionable signal.
• A True Builder: Thrives by shipping working solutions rather than writing strategy decks; calm under pressure and energized by ambiguity.
• Highly Reliable: Someone who executes with extreme ownership, possesses a strong bias for action, and communicates in a structured, direct manner.
• Career-Focused: Hungry to step into a launching pad role that fast-tracks into senior leadership owning international AI and operational strategies.

Your Responsibilities:

• AI Strategy & Implementation: Identify, build, deploy, and scale working AI solutions and workflows (using ChatGPT/Claude, AI agents, and automation builders) across reporting, customer support, and decision-making.
• Systems Monitoring & Intelligence: Build and maintain monitoring infrastructure and dashboards alongside AI-assisted alerting and anomaly detection to catch system errors proactively.
• Data & Reporting Pipelines: Architect and manage Power BI reporting infrastructure enhanced with AI-driven insights and forecasting to process clean, trustworthy operational data.
• Automation & Workflow Engineering: Design and re-engineer automation systems using tools like Zapier/Make, Google Apps Script, MessageBird, and ActiveCampaign—supercharged with AI integration.
• Technical Architecture & Integrations: Research, evaluate, and integrate new AI tools, translating core business requirements into technical specs and process architecture diagrams.

• Cross-Team Testing & Support: Run UAT testing for new product features, log/triage bugs with dev teams, and champion internal AI adoption through training and best practices.