Director, Digital Platforms & Engineering (Nairobi Digital Hub)
Nairobi
Posted 18 March, 2026
Deadline 01 April, 2026
0
Information TechnologyFull-TimeSenior-level(6+ yrs)
Job Description
Palladium develops and delivers solutions that create positive impact for communities, businesses, societies and economies. We transform lives and create enduring value by working with governments, corporations and non-profit organisations. The Director will lead and scale the Nairobi Digital Hub as a multidisciplinary engineering organization, defining and owning the digital platform strategy while driving growth and business development.
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.
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.
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.
Interested and qualified candidates should apply online through the Palladium International career portal by visiting: Apply for Director, Digital Platforms & Engineering. This link will redirect you to the official application platform at palladium.csod.com.
