Lead - Enterprise Cloud, IOT & Security

What we’re looking for;

In keeping with our current business needs, we are looking for a person who meets the criteria indicated below

Reporting to the Chief Enterprise & Public Sector Officer, the role purpose is as highlighted below;

The role provides enterprise-wide leadership across cloud platforms, security, data centres, applications, digital marketplaces, and strategic technology partnerships. The role oversees the modernization, resilience, and efficiency of data centres, ensuring scalable, compliant, and energy efficient infrastructure. It drives lifecycle management of enterprise applications, promoting cloud native architectures, DevSecOps, automation, and secure system integration aligned to business needs. The Lead - Cloud, IOT & Security leads the development of a cloud marketplace, enabling third party solutions, API ecosystems, secure onboarding, monetisation, and seamless customer experiences.

A core responsibility is shaping and executing a multi year cloud strategy across hybrid and public environments, ensuring governance, cost optimisation, and adoption of advanced cloud capabilities such as containerization, serverless computing, and AI/ML platforms. The role provides end to end leadership of enterprise security, covering cyber defence, threat intelligence, zero trust frameworks, compliance, and secure by design engineering practices. Additionally, it builds and manages high value partnerships with hyperscalers, cybersecurity vendors, cloud integrators, and ecosystem innovators, driving co creation, GTM alignment, regulatory engagement, and capability uplift.

Thus, the Lead - Cloud, IOT & Security is strategically accountable for

• Data Centres: Lead and modernize enterprise and edge data centres to ensure resilient, scalable, secure, compliant, automated, and high availability infrastructure operations that support business continuity and hybrid cloud evolution.
• Applications: Provide strategic leadership for enterprise applications by driving cloud native transformation, lifecycle optimisation, security governance, integration excellence, DevSecOps adoption, and the creation of digital experiences that enhance business and customer value.
• Marketplace: Develop and grow a secure, compliant, API driven cloud marketplace that enables partner innovation, digital service monetisation, seamless onboarding, and strong enterprise adoption through effective go to market and operational governance.
• Cloud Strategy: Define and execute a comprehensive hybrid cloud strategy that accelerates digital transformation through cloud modernisation, FinOps optimisation, platform reliability, advanced technologies adoption, and strict regulatory and security compliance.
• Security: Provide enterprise wide security leadership by implementing zero trust architecture, strengthening cyber defence operations, ensuring regulatory compliance, securing all platforms and data flows, and embedding a secure by design culture across the organisation.
• Partnerships: Build and govern strategic partnerships with hyperscalers, integrators, cybersecurity vendors, and industry bodies to drive co innovation, policy influence, commercial value, compliance, and long term capability growth across cloud, IoT, and security ecosystems.

This role ensures Safaricom delivers responsible, profitable, and sustainable digital growth by powering enterprise and public sector transformation through secure, scalable cloud capabilities that protect long term value creation.
 

Key accountabilities and decision ownership:

Data Centres

• Lead the overall strategy, design, and evolution of enterprise and edge data centres to ensure high availability, resilience, and operational excellence.
• Oversee capacity planning, infrastructure scalability, and lifecycle management across all data centre environments.
• Implement energy efficient and sustainable data centre architectures aligned to global best practice.
• Drive automation, observability, and predictive maintenance to minimise downtime and improve reliability.
• Ensure compliance to regulatory, security, and governance requirements across all hosting environments.
• Manage vendor and colocation partner performance against SLAs and operational KPIs.
• Champion infrastructure modernization including hybrid cloud, virtualization, and software defined infrastructure.
• Own disaster recovery strategy, business continuity readiness, and multi site redundancy plans.

Applications

• Provide strategic direction for enterprise applications, ensuring alignment to business needs and digital transformation initiatives.
• Oversee application lifecycle management, modernization, API enablement, and migration to cloud native architectures.
• Ensure application reliability, performance tuning, and continuous improvement across critical systems.
• Drive adoption of microservices, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and automation across engineering teams.
• Govern application security, access controls, compliance, and secure coding standards.
• Lead rationalization and consolidation initiatives to eliminate technical debt and reduce cost.
• Partner with business units to co create digital products that improve customer and employee experience.
• Ensure robust system integration, interoperability, and data flow across the enterprise stack.

Marketplace

• Lead the development of a scalable cloud marketplace offering digital services, APIs, SaaS, and partner solutions.
• Define product portfolio, pricing models, and go to market strategy for marketplace offerings.
• Ensure seamless onboarding, certification, and governance of third party solutions on the marketplace.
• Build a robust API ecosystem enabling developers and enterprises to innovate on top of the platform.
• Drive marketplace monetisation through subscription models, usage based billing, and cross sell opportunities.
• Ensure security, compliance, and data privacy across marketplace transactions and integrations.
• Establish operational processes for marketplace support, SLAs, and service assurance.
• Work with marketing and commercial teams to position the marketplace as a leading digital platform for enterprises.

Cloud Strategy

• Develop and execute a multi year cloud strategy covering hybrid, private, and public cloud models.
• Lead cloud transformation initiatives, including infrastructure migration, application modernisation, and cloud native adoption.
• Define cloud governance frameworks covering cost, performance, security, architecture, and compliance.
• Optimize cloud spend through FinOps practices, automation, and predictive capacity management.
• Oversee cloud platform engineering, ensuring reliability, observability, and scalability.
• Drive adoption of containerization, serverless computing, AI/ML platforms, and distributed cloud solutions.
• Partner with business units to accelerate digital product delivery using cloud capabilities.
• Ensure all cloud implementations meet regulatory, cybersecurity, and data sovereignty requirements.

Security

• Provide executive leadership for enterprise security strategy, architecture, and operations.
• Oversee cyber defence, threat intelligence, SOC operations, vulnerability management, and response readiness.
• Implement zero trust frameworks, identity and access management, and secure network segmentation.
• Ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, and industry security standards.
• Drive continuous improvement in security posture through automation, analytics, and AI powered detection.
• Oversee security of cloud platforms, applications, APIs, and data flows across the enterprise.
• Lead employee awareness, secure by design culture, and engineering security practices.
• Manage third party risk, vendor security assessments, and supply chain security.

Partnerships

• Build and manage strategic partnerships with hyperscalers, cybersecurity vendors, cloud integrators, and technology providers.
• Establish co innovation models, joint GTM strategies, and ecosystem collaborations to accelerate digital transformation.
• Negotiate commercial agreements, governance models, and partnership performance metrics.
• Drive partner led solutions that enhance cloud, security, and marketplace capabilities.
• Engage in industry alliances to unlock thought leadership, funding, and technology accelerators.
• Ensure partner compliance with enterprise security, architecture, and operational standards.
• Collaborate with regulators and industry bodies to shape national digital and cloud policy.
• Foster a partner ecosystem that creates long term commercial and capability uplift.

Leadership & Talent Development

• Coach, mentor, and empower the leadership team to drive strategic excellence, collaboration, and disruptive thinking. 
• Drive diversity, inclusion, and leadership bench strength, ensuring succession readiness for pivotal roles within the function.
• Build critical capabilities through targeted hiring and continuous learning programs. 
• Institutionalize a functional Academy - develop playbooks, methodologies, and training for execution, and digital-first innovation models.
• Embed OKRs and a performance-driven culture, aligning incentives to strategic impact, and innovation. 
• Champion cross-functional collaboration across Safaricom to ensure integrated delivery of products.
• Lead change management for major shifts (new operating models, and innovation platforms) with clear narratives, stakeholder engagement, and adoption tracking. 
• Foster a culture of agility and experimentation, encouraging teams to pilot emerging technologies, new business models, and disruptive solutions.
• Model ethical leadership and values, reinforcing integrity, transparency, and responsible innovation in all strategic decisions. 
• Ensure governance and compliance in all initiatives, safeguarding organizational reputation and stakeholder trust.
• Champion adoption of emerging technologies (AI, IoT, cloud, blockchain) to enable disruptive innovation and digital transformation.

Must have technical / professional qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Telecommunications, Cybersecurity, or a related technical discipline, with strong foundational knowledge of ICT infrastructure, cloud technologies, and digital systems.
• Master’s degree in ICT Management, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Engineering Management, Digital Transformation, or an MBA with a strong technology focus, demonstrating advanced capability in leading large scale technology environments will be an added advantage
• Minimum of 12–15 years’ progressive leadership experience in ICT operations, cloud engineering, IoT ecosystems, digital platforms, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, and large scale infrastructure transformation within telecoms, technology, financial services, or other highly regulated industries.
• Proven experience architecting and managing hybrid, private, and multi cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), including cloud migration, cloud native modernization, containerization (Kubernetes), DevSecOps, and enterprise cloud governance frameworks.
• Extensive experience deploying and operating large scale IoT platforms, including device management, connectivity technologies (NB IoT, LTE M, 5G), IoT security, data ingestion pipelines, edge computing, digital twins, and integration with enterprise systems and APIs.
• Demonstrated leadership of enterprise grade ICT infrastructure, including data centres, networks, storage, compute, virtualization, systems integration, disaster recovery, and high availability architectures supporting mission critical operations.
• Advanced cybersecurity expertise, including zero trust security models, identity & access management (IAM), SOC operations, vulnerability management, regulatory compliance, cloud security, incident response, and governance of third party security posture.
• Strong background in enterprise architecture and technology strategy, with the ability to link ICT, cloud, and IoT capabilities to business needs, drive digital transformation, optimize cost-to-serve, and lead end to end technical roadmaps.
• Strong commercial, financial, and analytical acumen, including cloud cost optimization (FinOps), technology investment analysis, vendor/partner management, large-scale CAPEX/OPEX planning, and building performance frameworks (KPIs, SLAs, SLOs).
• Relevant professional certifications such as AWS/Azure/GCP Architect, CCSP, CISSP, CISM, TOGAF, ITIL, PMP, or IoT specific certifications—demonstrating mastery of cloud architecture, cybersecurity, ICT management, and digital infrastructure leadership

How to apply If you feel that you are up to the challenge and possess the necessary qualification and experience, kindly click on the apply button. Remember to attach your resume
 

Safaricom is the leading technology company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 60 million customers connected across Kenya and Ethiopia, and play a critical role in the society, supporting over 1.13 million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 1.1 trillion ($ 8.5 billion) for the 12 months through March 2025.

Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 388 billion as at March 2025, Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology. Our 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G network in aggregate covers over 99% of Kenya’s population.

We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering millions of customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to 84.8% of the adult population in 2024, from a low of 26.7% in 2006, and generated over KES 161 billion in revenue as at FY25.

Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia, has deployed world class network and services to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.