The PEGroup is scaling automation and AI across payroll public sector and SaaS. We need a Lead AI Automation Engineer to own the automation roadmap end-to-end — not simply to build what they are handed but to decide what gets built ship it and prove the return. This person designs and delivers AI-assisted automations internal tools websites and backend services and makes our business systems — CRM (HubSpot/Zoho) finance collaboration and internal payroll/contractor platforms — operate as one connected system. The gap this closes automation ideas currently queue behind other priorities and depend on someone else to scope sequence and champion them. This hire takes the problem defines the solution builds it measures it and raises the standard for everyone else doing automation work. Must-Have Ownership and initiative. A track record of spotting the problem scoping it and shipping it without being managed into it. Comfortable telling the business what should be built and why. Automation delivery at depth. Production-grade workflows in n8n (self-hosted or cloud) or an equivalent orchestrator including AI agent steps retries idempotency queuing and human-in-the-loop approvals. Ships real software not just flows. Backend APIs and services in Node.js/TypeScript or Python and working websites/front-ends deployed and maintained in production. Fluent with AI development tools — Claude / Claude Code Codex Cursor Lovable or equivalents — with shipped work to show for it. We treat AI-assisted delivery as the default way of working not a novelty. Practical LLM engineering. Prompt design structured outputs tool/function calling retrieval (RAG) evaluation of model output and the judgement to know when a deterministic script beats a model. API integration depth. REST GraphQL OAuth2 webhooks pagination rate limits idempotency keys retries and graceful failure. Confident reading unfamiliar API docs and getting to a working call fast. Custom software and CRM systems. Configuring extending and integrating platforms such as HubSpot and Zoho (CRM/Deluge) — objects pipelines custom fields native workflows and their APIs — and knowing when to extend a platform versus build outside it. Data handling. JSON and SQL data mapping and transformation and system-of-record discipline (clarity on which system owns which field). Security and compliance mindset. Safe handling of PII secrets and credential management least-privilege access and auditable execution. Engineering fundamentals. Git code review CI/CD and environment promotion between dev and production. Communicates with non-technical stakeholders. Can run a discovery conversation with Finance Ops or a client-facing team and return with a workable spec — and can explain trade-offs without jargon. Nice to Have Experience leading or mentoring engineers or being the first technical hire in a function. Docker and Linux for self-hosted infrastructure practical DevOps (monitoring alerting backups cost control). Vector databases and RAG at scale agent frameworks or MCP-based tool integrations. Finance and operations stack exposure Xero Wise Airtable Notion Slack Google Workspace Microsoft 365. Domain exposure to payroll umbrella recruitment tech or contractor onboarding. Rapid prototyping and design sense — able to put a usable interface in front of a stakeholder in days not weeks. Location Remote (global) with meaningful overlap to WAT/UK working hours. Contract 6 months (project temp) with strong potential to convert to permanent. Team Leads the automation practice works alongside an Automation Specialist and a Zoho Developer reports to the Head of Technology (Engineering). AI tools (licensed and expected to be used daily) Claude / Claude Code Codex Cursor Lovable and comparable AI development tools. Automation & orchestration n8n (self-hosted and cloud) with Make/Zapier where appropriate webhooks scheduled jobs and queues. Build stack Node.js/TypeScript Python REST/GraphQL APIs modern web front-ends Docker/Linux Git and CI/CD. Business systems HubSpot Zoho (CRM/Deluge Projects) Xero Wise Airtable Notion Slack Google Workspace Microsoft 365 LinkedIn/social APIs and internal payroll/contractor systems. Data & AI LLM APIs structured outputs and tool calling vector search/RAG evaluation frameworks and MCP-based integrations. Security NDA required least-privilege access secret management and audit logs. AI tool use must follow our data-handling policy — no client PII into unapproved models. Applying we would rather see what you have built than read about it. Include links to live automations repositories sites or products and be ready to walk us through one in detail. Pay R100 00000 - R200 00000 per year Work Location Remote