Director, Digital Platforms & Engineering (Nairobi Digital Hub) at Palladium International

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