AI Product Owner (Platform)

Recruiter

A 1L Realization (Pty) Ltd

Job Ref

JHB000973/Tshid

Date posted

Monday, June 29, 2026

Location

Johannesburg, South Africa

SUMMARY

Our client in the telecoms sector is seeking a AI Product Owner (Platform) on a contract duration of 6 months.

As the Manager: AI Product Owner (Platform), you will own the vision, roadmap, and commercial outcome of AI platform, ensuring it delivers scalable, reliable, and reusable AI capabilities aligned to business priorities. The role is responsible for prioritising platform capabilities, defining SLAs and KPIs, driving adoption across OpCos and product teams, and tracking value realisation. You act as the primary interface between business demand and AI engineering delivery, ensuring the AI platform evolves as a product not a collection of tools. You will work closely with AI Platform Engineering, AI Stack Architecture, Security & Risk, SRE, Value Realisation, and Business stakeholders, ensuring platform evolution is aligned, funded, governed, and measurable.

POSITION INFO

Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in: Business, Technology, Engineering Information Systems or related fields Experience: 5+ years' experience in: Product management or platform ownership roles Experience owning: Technology platforms (not just end-user products) Proven ability to: Prioritise competing demands Translate strategy into execution Experience in financial services, fintech, telco, or regulated industries is highly advantageous Exposure to AI, data, or digital platforms preferred Competencies: Technical Competencies AI and data platform concepts Cloud and digital platform economics Platform SLAs, SLOs, and consumption models Governance and regulatory constraints Skills Strong stakeholder management and influence Structured prioritisation and decision-making Clear communication at exec and delivery levels Commercial and value-oriented thinking Ability to balance short-term demand with long-term platform health