Head of Software Engineering | Technology | Ogilvy Africa

 

Role Summary

The Head of Software Engineering leads the end-to-end software engineering function for Ogilvy Africa, with responsibility for delivering high-quality, scalable and secure software solutions that power our marketing, data, and experience platforms. The role balances hands-on technical leadership with people management, strategic planning and operational excellence. You will: Lead, grow and coach a multi-disciplinary engineering team (web, mobile, backend, data/AI, DevOps); own the software delivery lifecycle for products, platforms and client solutions, ensuring on-time, on-budget and high-quality delivery; partner closely with the CTO, Product, Data, Experience and Client teams to turn business and client needs into robust technical solutions; and drive continuous improvement in engineering practices, tools and platforms, and foster a culture of innovation, experimentation and learning.

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Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing team of software engineers and engineering managers, creating clear goals, career paths and growth opportunities.
• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, psychological safety and continuous learning in line with Ogilvy’s beliefs.
• Ensure effective staffing, capacity planning and succession planning across projects and products.
• Promote a practitioner culture – leading by example with hands-on technical engagement where needed.

Engineering Strategy & Architecture

• Translate the Technology and Ogilvy One strategy into a clear engineering roadmap (platforms, products, tools, architecture).
• Own the technical architecture for key platforms and applications (mobile, web, APIs, integrations), ensuring scalability, reliability, security and cost efficiency.
• Evaluate and select appropriate technologies, frameworks, and third-party services (including cloud, data, martech and AI/ML) aligned to business and client needs.
• Define and maintain reference architectures, coding standards, and best practices across teams.

Software Delivery & Project Governance

• Oversee the full software development lifecycle (discovery, design, development, testing, deployment, operations) for both internal products and client-facing solutions.
• Ensure robust project governance: estimation, planning, resourcing, risk management, change control and progress tracking.
• Drive predictable, high-quality delivery using Agile/Iterative methods (Scrum, Kanban, etc.) and modern DevOps practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability).
• Collaborate with Project Management, Client Services and Product teams to keep delivery on schedule, within scope and to budget, while managing trade-offs transparently.

Cross-Functional & Client Collaboration

• Act as a key technical counterpart to business, product, data, creative, and account leadership.
• Translate non-technical requirements into clear technical specifications and architectures (including UX/UI, data models, integrations and security).
• Support pre-sales and solutioning for key client opportunities: participate in discovery, propose architectures, scope work, and present solutions to senior client stakeholders.
• Build and manage relationships with external technology partners, vendors and delivery partners across the region.

Innovation, Data & Emerging Technologies

• Lead innovation initiatives in software, data and AI/ML aligned to Ogilvy Africa’s ambitions (e.g., personalization, real-time marketing, analytics, content automation, e‑commerce).
• Encourage and oversee proofs-of-concept (PoCs), pilots and experiments; facilitate “fail-fast, learn-fast” cycles and scale successful initiatives.
• Work with Data and Strategy teams to ensure data-driven design, analytics and measurement are embedded into solutions.

Process, Quality & Operational Excellence

• Design, implement and continuously refine engineering processes that improve speed, quality and reliability (SDLC, code review, branch strategy, release management).
• Define and track key engineering KPIs (velocity, lead time, defects, reliability, uptime, incident MTTR, cost efficiency) and drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure robust quality assurance processes including automated/unit testing, integration testing, security and performance testing.
• Establish and enforce security-by-design and privacy-by-design practices, in line with client and regulatory requirements.

Financial & Resource Management

• Participate in budgeting and resource planning for the engineering function (headcount, tools, cloud, licences, third-party services).
• Optimize cost of delivery through effective use of cloud, automation, open-source, and vendor negotiations.
• Contribute to pricing, effort estimation and cost models for software projects and managed services to ensure profitability and sustainable operations.

Reporting & Stakeholder Communication

• Provide regular reporting to the CTO and senior leadership on engineering performance, project status, risks and mitigation plans.
• Communicate complex technical issues and trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Represent the engineering function in internal forums and, where appropriate, in client and industry forums.

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Professional, Technical Skills and Experience Required

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems or a related field.
• Master’s degree and/or relevant professional certifications (e.g., cloud, agile, architecture) are an advantage.

Experience

• 10–15+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, including significant hands-on development experience.
• At least 4–6 years in engineering leadership roles (e.g., Head of Engineering, Engineering Manager, Technical Director) managing multi-disciplinary teams.
• Proven track record of successfully delivering multiple complex software projects (web and mobile) across varied domains; agency, consulting or multi-client environments are an advantage.
• Experience running enterprise-scale projects and platforms, including vendor evaluation, contracting/SLAs, and coordinating with distributed teams.
• Demonstrated experience aligning technology initiatives with business goals and delivering measurable improvements in service delivery, customer experience and operational efficiency.

Technical Skills

• Strong grounding in modern software engineering practices and architectures (e.g., microservices, APIs, event-driven, cloud-native).
• Proficiency in at least one major backend stack (e.g., Node.js, Java, .NET, Python) and modern frontend frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, Vue) and/or mobile (iOS/Android, cross-platform).
• Deep familiarity with cloud platforms and services (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including infrastructure-as-code, scalability and cost management.
• Experience with Agile methodologies and tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps), source control (Git), CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI), and containerization/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Understanding of data platforms, analytics and AI/ML concepts; experience working with data engineers/scientists to deliver data-driven solutions is a strong plus.
• Solid understanding of information security, privacy, compliance and secure coding practices.

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Strong people leadership skills with a demonstrable record of building, coaching and retaining high-performing engineering teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical domains.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; able to manage ambiguity and make sound decisions with imperfect information.
• High level of ownership, resilience and adaptability in a fast-paced, multi-client, multi-country environment.

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OGILVY AFRICA – Company Overview

Ogilvy Africa is the largest network agency on the continent, operating in more than 40 countries with a team of over 900 people across Central, East and West Africa. Our regional office is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where we manage a portfolio of 100+ brands for clients such as AB InBev, Airtel, Bajaj, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Equity Bank, European Union, KFC, Mastercard, NCBA, Nestle, Philips, PWC, Total Energies, UNICEF, Unilever and WWF, among others.

Our proposition is anchored on true shared value – creating human (societal) value, employee value, and commercial value – across four mega-businesses: ABC (Advertising, Branding & Content), Experience (including CRM and e‑commerce), PR & Influence, and Media (focused on performance marketing).

Through our “One Ogilvy” operating model, we simplify complexity for clients and deliver seamless omni-channel experiences, fuelled by the trinity of content, data and technology. In 20+ years in Africa, we have won numerous regional and global awards including Cannes Lions, Clio, Dubai Lynx, SABRE (Global & Africa), Loeries and WARC. Ogilvy is a leading WPP network and was ranked the #1 creative network in the world in the 2023 WARC rankings.

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Ogilvy Beliefs

• People need regular OS upgrades: Even the best OS will be obsolete tomorrow unless it is constantly upgraded. The same is true for people.
• We need more cows than milkmen: We are a culture of practitioners, not managers. We contribute before we comment.
• Creative about creativity: Creativity is, and will always be, our differentiator. Creativity now includes the trinity of Data–Content–Tech.
• Diversity is a competitive advantage: New profiles, new skills and new styles of leadership make us a stronger company.
• Collaborative advantage > Competitive advantage: We partner with those who are best at the skills we need. It’s the only way to scale at speed without pretending to have all the answers.
• Team > Individual: You get a lot more done when everyone stops worrying about who gets the credit at the end. Teams succeed; individuals fail.
• Fail often, fail fast: We see intrapreneurs in all our people and encourage a culture of pilots. Test, succeed and scale; or fail fast, learn, and start something new.