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Norman Roberts

@normanroberts

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Platform engineering leader at Prescient and ayoba, built AWS platforms serving 35M+ monthly active users.

South Africa

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At ayoba, I designed, implemented, and optimised the AWS infrastructure behind a super app serving 35M+ monthly active users. I stayed hands-on in architecture and operations after becoming Technical Operations Manager.

At Simfy Africa, I built and led an 18-engineer function across DevSecOps, SRE, and Cloud Support, while partnering with ayoba’s product leadership on platform priorities.

As Prescient Investment Management’s first CTO, I designed and built its AWS data platform and Terraform foundation. I also shipped a Flask and PostgreSQL service for the firm’s AI use-case workflow, with governance aligned to FSCA and POPIA requirements.

I’ve moved from NOC engineering to CTO without leaving the build. I bring platform decisions from executive discussions into hands-on delivery, including cloud infrastructure, data platforms, and AI governance.

Experience

Work history, roles, and key accomplishments

Current

Chief Technology Officer

Current

Prescient Investment Management

Jun 2025 - Present (1 year 4 months)

First CTO hire, owning technology strategy and personally delivering core platform builds. Designed and implemented a Medallion data lake on AWS, stood up Terraform foundations, and led AI platform strategy and governance.

AWS Terraform Python Flask PostgreSQL Docker Nginx OpenMetadata GitHub Enterprise Jira AI Governance FSCA POPIA

Technical Operations Manager

Simfy Africa

Mar 2022 - Jun 2025 (3 years 3 months)

Promoted from Senior DevOps Engineer to lead the platform behind ayoba, a pan-African super app, serving 35M+ monthly active users. Built and led an 18-engineer DevSecOps, SRE, and Cloud Support team while remaining hands-on in architecture and operations.

AWS Terraform Docker Kubernetes CI CD Observability DevSecOps SRE High Availability Cost Optimization

Senior DevOps Engineer

Old Mutual

Apr 2021 - Dec 2021 (8 months)

Led on-premise to AWS migrations using CloudFormation and directed the TFS to Azure DevOps migration. Guided delivery teams on project strategy and reliable operations.

AWS CloudFormation Azure DevOps Migration CI CD

DataOps Developer

DigiOutsource

Jul 2020 - Apr 2021 (9 months)

Built Python tooling and managed data ingestion into the ELK stack for Data Science teams. Developed metric-driven Python test-automation frameworks and trained engineers on Python and Linux.

Python ELK Linux Testing Automation Data Pipelines

DevOps Engineer

Bidvest Data

May 2016 - Jun 2020 (4 years 1 month)

Designed an AWS-integrated hybrid datacentre with strong security controls and AWS Well-Architected Review compliance. Streamlined C#/.NET delivery pipelines while leading a multidisciplinary team.

AWS C#.NET Security Well Architected Reviews Hybrid Infrastructure

Senior NOC Administrator

WebAfrica

Sep 2013 - Apr 2016 (2 years 7 months)

Administered cPanel, Helm, and Plesk hosting platforms plus physical and private server deployments. Implemented mail-fraud detection, remediated compromised sites, and trained the team on vulnerability management.

CPanel Helm Plesk Security Vulnerability Management