Executive Head - Group AI Factory

When it comes to putting people first, we're number 1. 

The number 1 Top Employer in South Africa. 
Certified by the Top Employer Institute 2026.

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

We employ individuals who are as passionate about customers as we are. We are truly Customer Obsessed, which means that we are passionate about exceeding customer expectations; work relentlessly to really understand the customer; look at decisions through the customer’s eyes and take personal accountability for the customer experience. We are looking for exceptional AI technical leader with deep expertise in Big Data Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Automation (IA) and Generative / Agentic AI application to help shape Vodacom’s AI-native future.

The Group AI Factory Executive Head is a senior technical leadership role responsible for steering the design, build, and scalable deployment of AI services across Vodacom Group markets. This role will spearhead the AI Factory — the central engine for delivering reusable, high-impact AI services aligned to Vodacom’s three strategic AI impact pillars: Customer Experience (CX), Monetization, and Productivity — driving measurable impact and positioning Vodacom as an AI-native organisation by 2030.

Your responsibilities will include:

AI Factory Technical Leadership
•    Provide executive technical AI leadership for the AI Factory, setting the vision, roadmap, and delivery priorities for centrally built AI services across Vodacom Group markets.
•    Lead the end-to-end design, development, and operationalisation of reusable AI services in the AI services library, spanning CX, Monetization, and Productivity AI Impact Pillars across domains.
•    Drive alignment of the AI Factory deliverables with Vodacom’s Group AI strategy, the Vodafone Group GenAI framework and Tech enablement strategy for AI.
•    Serve as a senior thought leader, contributing industry insights and shaping Vodacom’s positioning as a pioneer in AI innovation across Africa and the Vodafone ecosystem.

AI Services Design, Build & Reusability
•    Architect and deliver scalable, reusable AI services that can be rapidly adopted and adapted across all Vodacom Group markets, reducing time to value and maximising impact.
•    Establish and maintain a unified AI services repository with robust governance, operational frameworks, and lifecycle management processes to ensure compliance, consistency, and efficiency.
•    Drive tangible efficiency gains through scaled deployments of classical, GenAI, agentic AI solutions in line with Vodacom’s Technology framework.
•    Champion AI Factory best practices across all key business domains including SCM, Technology, Network, CX, CVM, Enterprise, Channels ensuring alignment with strategic AI business cases.

Cross-Market Adoption & Value Delivery
•    Lead successful AI services adoption across Vodacom Group markets — South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique, Lesotho and Ethiopia — to maximise value capture and impact at scale.
•    Work closely with in-market AI and Tech team to ensure effective implementation, localisation, and adaptation of centrally built AI services.
•    Define and track KPIs for AI Factory output, measuring diffusion rates, adoption rates, time-to-value, model efficacy across use case categories.
•    Collaborate with the Group Data and Analytics teams to provide evidence-based insights that drive strategic decisions leveraging new AI technologies.

AI Partnerships, Ecosystem & Innovation
•    Build and manage strategic AI partnerships with Hyperscalers (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Huawei) to strengthen AI delivery capability, accelerate prototype development, and leverage cloud-native AI tooling.
•    Contribute to and leverage the Vodafone Group AI ecosystem, driving synergies, re-use of standardised AI frameworks, and global best practice sharing.
•    Evaluate and integrate emerging AI technologies, including agentic AI, multimodal models, and real-time decisioning platforms, to maintain Vodacom’s competitive advantage.
•    Represent Vodacom Group in AI forums, industry bodies, and partner engagements to build thought leadership and strategic relationships.

People, Culture & Capability Building
•    Lead, inspire, and develop a high-performing AI Factory squads made up of data scientists, AI engineers, MLOps practitioners, and solution architects.
•    Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning, with a focus on responsible and ethical AI development.
•    Drive AI literacy and capability uplift across Vodacom Group markets, enabling broader adoption and embedment of AI in day-to-day operations.
•    Mentor and develop senior data scientists and AI leads within the Group Big Data, AI & IA function.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

•    Bachelor’s degree in  Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics a relevant quantitative field as a minimum qualification (essential) – Master’s degree will be advantageous. 
•    Relevant executive leadership or management certification is advantageous (e.g., MBA or equivalent).

Experience
•    A minimum of 10 – 15 years of progressive experience in AI, Data Science, or related fields, with at least 5 years in a senior technical leadership or executive role.
•    Proven track record of designing and delivering large-scale AI products, platforms, or services in a complex, multinational or multi-market environment.
•    Deep hands-on experience in GenAI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Agentic AI, and real-time AI decisioning systems.
•    Extensive experience building, managing, and scaling AI/ML teams across diverse, cross-functional environments.
•    Experience working with or within Hyperscaler ecosystems (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure) at an enterprise or strategic partnership level.
•    Demonstrated success in driving adoption and commercialisation of AI use cases with measurable business impact (e.g., revenue uplift, cost savings, CX improvements).
•    Familiarity with AI governance, ethics, and regulatory compliance frameworks at scale.

Technical Expertise
•    Expert-level proficiency in Python and/or other relevant AI/ML programming languages (R, Scala, Java).
•    Deep knowledge of machine learning and deep learning frameworks including PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, H2O, and XGBoost.
•    Expertise in LLM architecture, fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) patterns.
•    Hands-on experience with MLOps and LLMOps — including CI/CD pipelines, model versioning, monitoring, and drift detection — using tools such as MLflow, Kubeflow, or SageMaker.
•    Strong cloud-native AI deployment experience across AWS (SageMaker, Glue, Athena, Lambda, OpenSearch), GCP, and/or Azure ML.
•    Proficiency in containerisation and orchestration technologies including Docker and Kubernetes.
•    Experience with real-time and batch inference architectures, recommendation systems, NLP, and computer vision at scale.
•    Working knowledge of data engineering platforms, structured (SQL) and unstructured data tools (PySpark, NoSQL, streaming frameworks such as Kafka or Flink).
•    Familiarity with advanced analytics visualisation tools such as Tableau, Power BI, Apache Superset, Grafana, or Plotly.

Leadership & Behavioural Competencies
•    Exceptional executive leadership presence with the ability to influence and engage C-suite stakeholders, market CEOs, and global partners.
•    Design and systems thinking in relation to AI and Machine Learning ecosystems at an enterprise scale.
•    Entrepreneurial mindset with a bias for action, pace, and delivery in ambiguous, fast-changing environments.
•    Outstanding communication and storytelling skills — able to present complex technical content to both technical and non-technical audiences with impact.
•    Demonstrated ability to build, motivate, and retain high-performing, diverse technical teams.
•    Customer-obsessed approach: passionate about leveraging AI to exceed customer expectations and create genuine user value.
•    High ethical standards with a commitment to responsible AI development, fairness, and transparency.

Closing date for Applications: 05 March 2026

The base location for this role is Midrand, Vodacom Campus. 

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.