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.
 

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.