Group Chief Technology Officer (CTO) - Sandton

As Group Chief Technology Officer, you will be the commercial technology partner to the Group Chief Executive, Exco and divisional MDs. Your mandate is to define and execute a three to five year technology strategy that directly supports growth, margin improvement and customer advantage.

Key focus areas include:

• Leading the Group's enterprise wide AI strategy to drive operational efficiency and productivity.
• Establishing and scaling TourTech as a commercial technology business.
• Delivering the Group's FinTech ambition on a secure, compliant platform.
• Turning data and insights into governed, commercially valuable assets.
• Owning enterprise architecture, cloud strategy, information security and data governance.
• Improving return on technology spend and leading tech due diligence for acquisitions.

This is a permanent, full time executive role based in Sandton, Johannesburg. You will work across a multi entity, multi country business in the travel, tourism and retail sector.

• A relevant degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems or a related discipline.
• A minimum of 15 years' experience in technology, with at least 5 years in a Group, divisional or enterprise level technology leadership role.
• Experience in a multi entity, multi country business environment.
• A demonstrable track record of leading large scale technology transformation to completion, including delivery, adoption and measured benefit realisation.
• Experience in travel, tourism, hospitality, retail, or a comparable high volume, transaction intensive, customer facing sector.
• Proven experience consolidating fragmented technology estates, including ERP and core system rationalisation.
• Hands on accountability for information security and cyber resilience at enterprise level, including PCI DSS environments and board level cyber risk reporting.
• Demonstrable experience designing and delivering enterprise wide AI and automation programmes with measured efficiency gains.
• Experience establishing or leading the commercialisation of a technology product or business, including go to market and P&L accountability.
• Experience in FinTech, payments or financial technology, including regulated or partner led environments.
• A track record of building data platforms and turning data into commercial products within privacy and regulatory constraints.
• Experience with technology due diligence and post acquisition integration.
• Experience operating across global markets with infrastructure, connectivity, currency or regulatory constraints.
• Experience building and leading multi disciplinary technology teams and managing significant outsourced delivery partners.
• Knowledge of enterprise architecture, integration and API led design; modern cloud platforms (AWS and/or Azure) and hybrid infrastructure.
• Knowledge of information security frameworks and standards (ISO 27001 principles, NIST, PCI DSS).
• Knowledge of South African regulatory context: POPIA, Companies Act, King IV technology governance, exchange control, GDPR where applicable.
• Knowledge of AI and machine learning, including generative AI, automation, MLOps and responsible AI frameworks.
• Knowledge of B-BBEE, ICT sector transformation and skills development considerations.

• Develop and execute a three to five year Group technology strategy aligned to growth, margin and customer strategy, with a funded roadmap and benefit tracking.
• Define and lead an enterprise wide AI strategy and operating model, prioritising high value use cases and tracking realised benefit against cost to serve, margin and productivity targets.
• Set the Group AI governance framework covering model risk, ethics, privacy, security and human oversight.
• Lead the establishment of TourTech as a commercial technology business, including its mandate, commercial model, legal structure, funding and product roadmap for internal and external clients.
• Realise the Group's FinTech ambition in partnership with Group Financial Services and the CFO, defining product and platform strategy across payments, foreign exchange and travel money, ensuring regulatory compliance including exchange control, FICA, AML and PCI DSS.
• Establish and own Group enterprise architecture, integration standards and technology reference stack, and lead modernisation and consolidation of core operating systems.
• Own the Group cloud strategy and hybrid infrastructure estate, delivering resilient, cost managed infrastructure and driving cloud cost optimisation.
• Own the Group information security strategy, controls and maturity roadmap, ensuring PCI DSS compliance and reporting cyber risk position to the Audit & Risk Committee.
• Ensure tested continuity and disaster recovery arrangements for business critical systems, validated against peak season trading conditions.
• Establish Group data governance, a single trusted data source and a practical analytics capability, and build data products that can be commercialised through TourTech and partners.
• Set commercial, ethical and privacy rules (including POPIA consent, anonymisation and data sharing terms) for data monetisation.
• Improve digital experiences across booking engines, self service, mobile, loyalty and payment journeys to grow direct and digitally originated revenue.
• Implement a King IV aligned technology governance framework and ensure compliance with POPIA, GDPR, exchange control, financial services obligations, PCI DSS and airline, airport and IATA requirements.
• Own the Group technology operating and capital budget, delivering a transparent view of total technology cost and improved return on technology spend.
• Lead technology due diligence on acquisition targets, quantify integration cost and risk, and deliver post acquisition technology integration.
• Improve the Group's ability to attract and retain scarce technology skills and deliver a credible succession and skills development pipeline.
• Ensure every major technology investment is accompanied by training, change management and measurement to realise the intended benefit.