Jobs in Centurion

Gauteng.Net advises that Centurion houses the South African Mint Company, and for this reason is literally the place in the country where the money is made. While visitors to the town are not able to investigate the Mint’s inner workings for security reasons, it is possible to check out the Coin World museum – which offers incredible exhibits relating to the way in which the Rand developed and came into being. Additionally, you could invest in an iconic Krugerrand containing one troy ounce of pure gold or, alternatively, in one of the fractional Krugerrands of a ½ oz or a ¼ oz.

Just a few of the leisure activities that residents of the town can choose to take part in, include:

• a browse at the lakeside Centurion Mall, with its colourful dancing fountains (see shopping malls, below);
• a visit to the Smuts House Museum, which was the original home of General Jan Smuts, a respected politician and former prime minister of South Africa. It, and its bountiful garden, are located in the suburb of Irene;
  • a 2.3km walk on the Oubaas Trail, which winds through dolomitic grasslands and ends at the top of Smuts Koppie;
• a cricket match at Centurion’s SuperSport Park;
• game viewing, hiking, birding, or horse riding at the Rietvlei Nature Reserve, or a little kayaking/sailing on the Rietvlei dam;
• a game of golf and a round of beers or cocktails at the Irene or Centurion Country Clubs;
• a browse for bric-a-brac, antiques, curios, handcrafted soaps, jewellery, clothing, and arts and crafts at the 300 stalls of the Irene Village Market, each first and last Saturday of the month.

API Property Group suggests that Centurion’s convenient location makes it a hotspot for commerce in the Gauteng province. The Gateway Industrial Park is considered a leading industrial area, with a heavy focus on engineering; while the Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) is considered a leading entity, with the composites, titanium, and other lightweight components it produces – with the assistance of AI – for use by advanced high-tech manufacturing companies. Other significant industries and companies with head offices and branches in Centurion, include Aerosud, Accenture, Denel Dynamics, Siemens, SAAB Grintek Technologies, and Telkom.

Wikipedia reports that the CAV was formally established in 2006, to create a supplier park where industrial anchor firms could position themselves at the centre of the aerospace cluster – with support from small and medium-sized producers.

Mirroring similar international parks, such as Silicon Valley, California, and Toulouse, France, the CAV was made possible by financial input from the EU and the SA government, via the Sector-Wide Support Enterprise, Employment and Equity Programme (SWEEEP).

Located on state-owned land, in Pierre van Ryneveld Park, the CAV and its economic driver, the Aerosud entity, are favoured by the Department of Trade and Industry  – and incredible industrial breakthroughs are expected in the space.

An average annual salary of R294k can be secured in Centurion, but significantly more can be brought home in sought-after software development roles (up to R628k per annum), operations manager roles (up to R1m per annum), accountant roles (up to R620k per annum), project manager roles (up to R840k per annum), and mechanical engineering roles (up to R743k per annum).

The town’s most popular employers, according to Payscale, are the likes of Momentum, Outsurance, Ampath, Absa, Dis-Chem, Sanlam, TransUnion, Alexander Forbes, Tiger Brands, African Bank, Dimension Data, MiWay, and Saab Grintek Technologies.

If you’re a seasoned user of the Executive Placements job portal, you’ll know how easy it is to apply for industry-relevant contracts and positions, once you’ve loaded your CV. True to the powehouse economic nature of Centurion, there are usually at least 10 pages of jobs which interested residents  – and those considering relocation to the area – can apply for.

Read the descriptions of medical jobs, such as a medical sales representative; legal jobs, such as a commercial litigation attorney, or legal secretary; engineering jobs, such as an engineering quality officer, or engineering manager; and marketing jobs, such as a group marketing manager, or brand and marketing assistant.

Be sure that your qualifications are a good fit, and that your experience matches what your prospective employer requires. Lastly, ensure that the salary of the position is realistic in light of your current standard of living, before you click “apply”.

TripAdvisor lists the region’s top three malls as follows:

• Irene Village Mall, which has a little French cafe feeling in its walkways, and tables outside to facilitate the enjoyment of food and drink;
• Centurion Mall (as is mentioned above), which is slick, polished, and ultra-modern;
• Eco-Boulevard Shopping Centre, which fuses natural tones with a sustainable design so that you can shop in the safety of a mall but also enjoy an open-air feel.

Gauteng.Net advises that the two primary schools to consider in the suburbs of Centurion, are:

• Wierdapark Primary, at R19k per year, which is well known for its high-quality education and its wide variety of extracurricular activities;
• Laerskool Hennopspark, at +/-R20.5k per year, with its envious sporting programmes and its keen focus on academics.

When it comes to secondary schooling options, SchoolParrot provides a two-page list for your perusal, some with informative parent reviews.

Our friend on Google, the AI bot, advises that Miss South Africa 2009, Nicole Flint; radio personality Gareth Cliff; and rugby union players Ryno Eksteen and Christiaan de Bruin are just a few of the celebrities who have called the town their home. Others include pro golfer Jaco Ahlers; cricket umpire Lauren Agenbag; and the actress of Flatland and Wild is the Wind, Izel Bezuidenhout.

First up, Wikipedia says that fossils found at a World Heritage Site less than 50km from Centurion, i.e. the Sterkfontein Caves, show clearly that hominids lived in the vicinity of the town between two and three million years ago.

The next most historical evidence of human habitation in the area is, however, much more recent – African tribes who settled in the vicinity around 1200 AD, to cultivate land and graze their cattle. Evidence of earthenware containers and molten iron are just a few of the artefacts that have been discovered from that era.

Centurion also has a vast number of different suburbs, approximately 46 in total. Despite this, none begin with the letters F, J, Q, U, X, and Y.

When putting down roots in this highveld town (and especially if you have moved here from a different province), you will need to get used to the – rather pleasant – climate.

This consists of dry, sunny winters, and warm to hot summers tempered with late-afternoon (thunder) showers. Temperatures in winter range from a minimum of 5°C to a maximum of 20 °C, while summer’s range is a balmy mid-20s to a sweaty mid-30s.

If your new home is situated on the Hennops River, you may have to contend with occasional flooding after heavy summer rainfalls.

In general though, the reasons to live in Centurion are plentiful, with the Seeff blog mentioning the town’s prime location, countryside feel, proximity to nature via the Rietvlei and Groenkloof Nature Reserves, security, affordability, wide range of restaurants, quality healthcare, and excellent infrastructure.

BusinessTech reported in 2023 that a big shift up to the R5-million mark was being seen in the Pretoria surrounds, including Centurion. Gerhard van der Linde, from Seeff Pretoria East, advised that property remained a strong and stable investment, and was outperforming numerous other asset classes; with Tiaan Pretorius from Seeff Centurion enthusing that Centurion remains “an active spot up to R4.5 million… There is active movement in the sub-R2-million range, and [plenty of demand] for high-end estates valued at between R2.8 and R3.5 million”.

An indication of property prices at the time, were as follows:

• a two-bed townhouse at approximately R1 150 000;
• a three-bed free-standing house at approximately R2 700 000;
• a five-bed free-standing house at approximately R4 900 000.