Questions & model answers
Answer out loud first, then open the card. Model answers are outlines to adapt with your own stories and numbers, not scripts.
Questions from the job offer
Each question comes straight from a line of the CESA 2 CTO job description, not from the offsite discussions. The answers are framed through Miraj's vision: good to great in absolute numbers, trusted first, outcomes not projects, platforms with one owner, data over adjectives, and saying what you stop.
Platform tooling landscape
What each solution in the platform tooling landscape does and how teams use it, plane by plane. The chart is a menu, not a shopping list: a platform usually picks one or two tools per box and wires them together.
Source of the chart: "Platform tooling landscape" by Platform Engineering (platformengineering.org). Descriptions are general; they don't say which tools Ecobank uses today — ask before assuming.
Mock interview with scored feedback
Pick a question, type the answer you would give, and get feedback scored against the five things Miraj looks for. Each feedback request uses your own Claude usage.
Self-check while you wait, or if feedback isn't available here:
Tips
How Miraj runs an interview, what to bring, and how to answer.
How he is likely to interview
- He probes. "I'm a critic all the time… I will never be satisfied." Expect two or three follow-ups on each answer.
- He wants numbers. Generic statements read as "marketing gimmick" to him. Data wins arguments when trust is low.
- He values brevity. He trained his team on the 30–60 second elevator pitch.
- He wants ownership. "You are in charge of your own destiny." Blaming business or vendors costs you.
- He welcomes disagreement when it is respectful: "I would love to see conflict of ideas."
Bring these (tick as you prepare)
How to answer
- Number first, then method. "Availability went from X to Y because…"
- Use STAR for stories: situation, task, action, result — with the metric that moved.
- Always say what you'd stop, retire or eliminate. The role measures technology eliminated, not only delivered.
- Show both hats. For each answer, say what it means for CESA 2 and for the Group platform.
- Open topics: give two options and a decision criterion, then your recommendation.
- Use the house vocabulary naturally: outcomes not projects, trusted, one platform, at speed, two in a box, good to great.
Watch-outs
- The 6 strategic priorities were proposed, not yet validated at the offsite. Present them as "the direction you set".
- Two in a box is settled, but who owns each platform, where operations sit, the PMO's place and which platforms regional CIOs take are still open. Good ground to show judgement.
- Don't promise to fix stability with an outside firm: he rejected that (D-13).
- Don't present a big-bang programme: he prefers phased tranches and "fail fast, fail safe, fail less".
- Never hide an incident or a failed change in a story. Integrity is his one zero-tolerance rule.
Since the KPI session (21 Oct, afternoon)
- Cyber + stability & resiliency is the top priority. Expect "what's your contribution?" — have an overlay KPI ready.
- 2026 is a soft-KPI year; hard KPIs start in 2027. Present 2030 north stars and yearly steps.
- He favours collective accountability on hygiene and shared business/tech ownership of stability.
- Talent is a big theme: diamond-shaped structure, graduates, good attrition, titles that state expectations.
- Open: eProcess as a company or a department, and how it charges affiliates.
Since the platforms session (21 Oct, 16:31)
- Two in a box is now mandatory for every platform: one business owner, one tech owner (D-26). Name both in every answer.
- Platform map, "for now": all consumer digital under one owner; corporate is a separate vertical; lending + cards; customer platforms (onboarding, identity, engagement) together.
- Regional CIOs get a dual role: own a group platform + light local interface. Come with your CESA 2 platform pick — the room had reservations, so show how you avoid "shifting the problem".
- His hot topics: no enterprise payments engine ("our biggest weakness"), onboarding as a compliance platform, no location strategy, weak night-time cover, too many partners, SOC kept in-house.
- Skill gaps he named: solution architecture, deep engineering, testing. Separate skill from scale.
From the 22 Oct morning session
- Purpose being refined: "trusted technology partner", "customer value at speed"; "drive" preferred to "powering"; "drive" vs "deliver" still open.
- His writing rules: max three adjectives (power of three), max two joined statements, ~15–20 words. Apply them to your pitch.
- Platform owners: audit your platform, own the roadmap, go and sell in the countries — "move away from order taker".
- He likes "invisible banking" but wants the risks understood (product vs distribution powerhouse).
- Live issue: a regulator demanding local processing — know the options.
Know the Francophone ground
- Confirm the exact list of CESA 2 Francophone affiliates and their regulators before the interview.
- Know each country's rules on data residency, IT outsourcing, cyber and incident reporting.
- Local instant payment schemes and mobile money interoperability. The offsite noted six CEMAC affiliates hold a mobile money/wallet licence by default.
- Affiliate IT skills gaps were named as a blocker to decentralisation: have a capability plan.
- Be ready to switch to French with Country MDs and regulators.
Questions to ask Miraj at the end
- Which platform would I own, and what is its health baseline today?
- How are the regional and platform scorecards weighted?
- Where does decision authority sit between me, the Country MDs and the platform tribe?
- Which of the open offsite decisions do you expect me to help close first?
- Which group platform do you see CESA 2 owning, and who would be my business counterpart in the box?
- What would make you say after 12 months that this was a great hire?
Definitions
Terms from the job description and from the offsite. Be ready to define each in one sentence and give the target you'd set.
Reads
Short list, chosen for this role. Each one has a full-page takeaway and the interview questions it helps with. If time is short, start with the starred ones.
First 90 days — a plan to present
A one-page plan answers "what changes in your first 90 days?" before he asks. Adapt it, keep it to one page, and attach numbers you can defend.
Listen and baseline
- Meet each Country Technology Head, Country MD and the platform tribe; agree what "great" means for each.
- Baseline: availability, transaction success, P1/P2 and repeat incidents, MTTD/MTTR, EOL/EOS exposure, backup and DR status.
- Instrument the top 10 customer journeys end to end.
- Inventory applications and spend for the region and the platform.
- Review host-to-host and API security posture.
Stabilise and decide
- Propose SLOs per service tier and an error-budget policy.
- Agree your 2030 north star, 2027–2030 steps and your overlay KPI for cyber + S&R.
- Launch problem management on the top 5 recurring failure modes.
- Run one DR test and one restore test; publish the RTO/RPO achieved.
- Publish a stop/retire list (apps, gates, duplicate tools) with savings.
- Set the scorecard for each Country Technology Head.
Commit and show
- 2–3 year regional roadmap and platform roadmap, in overlapping waves.
- First retirements done and counted as "technology eliminated".
- Investment case in tranches, partly self-funded by rationalisation.
- Talent plan: critical roles, succession, cross-country sharing.
- Quarterly business review rhythm with CCB and CIB.
Dual scorecard to bring (fill your baseline and target)
| Scorecard | Measure | How to define it | Baseline | 2027 target |
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