Platform Architect

About

Softsure is the technology company behind Dotsure, one of South Africa's leading pet insurance providers. For 15 years, our platform has processed policies, claims, payments, and integrations. It works. But it's a VB.NET monolith with a single SQL Server database, and it's reaching the limits of what that architecture can support.

We're not throwing it away. We're modernising it piece by piece using the strangler fig pattern: new capabilities in C#, Blazor, and Azure services, gradually replacing the legacy code while the system keeps running. By 2030, we'll have a modern, event-driven, API-first platform that other business units can build on.

Squad B is the team that makes this happen. These six roles form the platform engineering capability that will build the foundations: the data platform, the CI/CD pipelines, the API layer, the AI integrations, and the developer experience tooling.

What We're Looking For

Every role requires experience migrating legacy systems to modern architectures. We don't need people who've only worked on greenfield projects. We need people who understand the messiness of real systems: the undocumented business rules, the integrations that nobody remembers building, the edge cases that only appear in production.

We need people who can look at a 15-year-old codebase and see both what it is and what it could become.

We're not looking for someone to maintain the status quo. We're looking for an architect who can look at a VB.NET monolith that's been running for 15 years and see the modern, event-driven, cloud-native platform it needs to become. If you've done this before and you're ready to do it again with full backing from leadership, keep reading.

About This Role

Softsure is the technology engine behind Dotsure, one of South Africa's leading pet insurance providers. We process millions of rands in premiums, handle thousands of claims, and integrate with banks, reinsurers, and Group systems daily. Our platform works. But "works" isn't good enough for 2030. We're embarking on a five-year modernisation journey, and we need someone to own the technical vision and make it real.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the target architecture for our entire platform, from database to UI
• Lead our strangler fig migration strategy, identifying which parts of the monolith to tackle first and how to do it safely
• Establish clean architecture patterns, domain boundaries, and coding standards that the team will follow for years
• Make the hard calls on build vs buy, which frameworks to adopt, and when to take on technical debt (and when to pay it down)
• Create Architecture Decision Records so future engineers understand why we made the choices we made
• Design event-driven patterns that decouple our systems and enable real-time data flows
• Work hands-on when needed. This isn't a PowerPoint role. You'll be in the code, reviewing PRs, and unblocking the team
• Present technical roadmaps to senior leadership and translate complex decisions into business terms
• Mentor a team of engineers who are hungry to learn modern practices

Requirements

• You've migrated at least one legacy monolith to a modern architecture. Not in theory. In production. You have the scars and the stories
• 10+ years of software development, with at least 5 years making architectural decisions
• Deep .NET expertise (C#, ASP.NET Core). Our legacy is VB.NET/WebForms, our future is C#/Blazor
• You understand clean architecture, DDD, CQRS, and event sourcing, and you know when each pattern actually makes sense
• Strong Azure experience (App Services, Functions, Service Bus, SQL, Event Hubs)
• You can explain complex technical concepts to non-technical executives without dumbing it down or losing them
• You're opinionated but not dogmatic. You'll fight for the right approach, but you'll also listen

Education

• Degree or Diploma in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Postgraduate qualifications in architecture, cloud computing, or business (advantageous)
• Relevant certifications in cloud architecture and enterprise architecture (Azure preferred) are strongly advantageous.
• Equivalent practical experience designing and delivering large-scale, modern platform architectures will also be considered.

Nice to Have

• Insurance or financial services experience
• Experience with Blazor
• TOGAF or similar enterprise architecture background
• You've built platform engineering teams from scratch before

Why Join Us

• Full executive backing for a genuine transformation, not a side project that gets deprioritised
• Greenfield opportunity within a brownfield context. Best of both worlds
• A team that wants to learn and is tired of fighting the legacy system
• Direct impact on a platform that serves real customers every day
• Competitive salary and the chance to build something you'll be proud of

Location & Work Arrangement

This is an in-office role based in George, Western Cape, South Africa. We believe the collaboration and mentorship required for a transformation of this scale happens best when the team is together.