An awesome opportunity is available for a Head of Engineering to join our team in Johannesburg/ Cape Town.
The purpose of this role is to structure, manage and enable delivery teams (consisting of developers and testers) to produce technical products under an Agile (SCRUM) methodology, which meet business needs.
The Head of Engineering reports directly to the Chief Information Officer.
This position is responsible for managing the delivery teams (consisting of developers and testers) and the Agile practitioners (SCRUM masters) who support those teams. The role must ensure the development teams are delivering optimally, and therefore includes defining organogram and reporting structures, and resourcing the organogram (recruitment, succession planning and career path management). Sourcing and managing outsourced development teams to create shorter-term capacity is part of the role. The role must create effective processes and an environment for optimal code delivery. The Head of Engineering liaises extensively with the Head of Technology Solutions, the IT Department Agile Coach, and the Head(s) of Product Domain to ensure that delivery teams are meeting product feature delivery, as well as code quality and solutions architecture requirements.
Internal Liaison takes place with the CIO team. External liaison takes place with 3rd parties.
Duties and responsibilities (include but is not limited to):
- Create an optimal environment for software development and testing
- Create and monitor metrics to gauge the health of the delivery teams
- Work with SCRUM masters to respond to metrics, with changes to improve delivery
- Remove inefficiencies and blockers for the teams, solve technical issues that could be affecting performance (e.g., testing environment issues)
- Empower delivery team leaders to implement the changes they need in their unique teams, whilst creating repeatable, reliable processes across the department
- Make sure that good practices (e.g., code reviews, technical discussions) are happening within the teams and that the quality is consistent across teams
- Ensure that sufficient time is allocated to tech debt, to improve development efficiency
- Manage the overall performance of delivery teams (developers and testers)
- Coach and empower development leadership to coach teams, to hold teams accountable and to implement required changes
- Ensure that teams work with the Technology Solutions team (specifically solution architects) to deliver code which meets good standards and architectural requirements
- Ensure collaboration and teamwork between the different teams in the department
- Regularly meet with PO’s and domain heads to understand team delivery challenges and strengths
- Ensure effective knowledge sharing between teams, and embedding the company culture
- Create and manage necessary constructs for effective team collaboration, for example, Dev summits, hackathons, Dev departmental update meetings
- To manage own professional and self-development
Key Requirements:
- Grade 12 or equivalent (Essential)
- Related tertiary qualification (Desirable)
- People Management qualification (Desirable)
- 10 years’ experience in software delivery (Essential)
- Min 5 years’ experience in managing multiple delivery (developer) teams (Essential)
- Knowledge of the business operations
- Knowledge of business products
- Knowledge of agile methodology
- Knowledge of systems/ technical knowledge
- Knowledge of HR policies and procedures
- Development / coding knowledge
Additional skills:
- Multitasking skills
- Time management skills
- Organizational & administrative skills
- Attention to detail
- Working within a structured delivery environment and in accordance with best practices & standards
- People Management
- Development department organizational design
- Decision making skills
Desired Skills:
- application development manager
- software delivery
- agile
- scrum
- Software Delivery Management
- Resource Management
Desired Work Experience:
- 5 to 10 years
Desired Qualification Level:
- Degree