Head of Software Development

ABOUT US

HyperionDev is the largest provider of software development education in Southern Africa, and one of the largest globally. Counted among the top education technology startups in EMEA with headquarters in Cape Town and London, we support learners from over 40 countries in changing into fulfilling tech careers. We are dedicated to closing the global tech skills gap and we achieve this by integrating tech education with human mentorship and expert code review, lowering the cost of accessing tech careers.

In 2017 we won first prize in Facebook's Innovation Challenge, with Facebook selecting us as the most socially impactful startup operating in Africa and financially backing us, alongside Google. In 2020-21, we closed one of the largest Series A fundraises in South Africa with nearly 1500 investors backing us in the biggest crowdfunding round in history for an Africa-linked startup.

We were originally launched from the University of Cambridge, and our leadership team consists of world-leading talent from companies such as Google, 2U, and Zando. We are looking for team members who are ambitious, motivated and have a track record of over-achieving and exceeding targets.

Join us at a time when we are reinventing tech education and how technology can drive higher quality education at scale for markets that have some of the most underperforming tertiary institutions and schools globally.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As the Head of Software Development at HyperionDev you will take ownership of our talented team of software engineers. Our Head of Software Development will be someone who can take a step back, look at the big picture and lead a team to achieve a common goal but also someone who can get stuck in and do hands-on development when needed. In leading this team, you will be responsible for providing strategic direction, and initiating, planning and executing on all aspects of our bespoke software platforms, including but not limited to:

- Our student portal
- Our mentor portals
- Our placements portal
- Our website and payment gateways
- Our sign up flows
- Our data analysis platforms

Our tech stack consists primarily of Python, Django, AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, Lambda, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, Route53), PostgreSQL, and Ubuntu. We don't require a perfect match with our tech stack, so a solid background in similar languages like Java, and frameworks like Spring, will transfer easily into our environment. It's more about understanding the fundamentals of the web and databases, than specific tech stacks.

To make a success of this position you will need to be a creative problem solver, have advanced technical skills, be adaptive, have high standards and the ability to communicate effectively with multiple stakeholders - technical and non-technical. You will report to the CEO and work closely with the Head of Product.

Depending on applicant preference, this job can be fully remote.

RESPONSIBILITIES
- Planning, building, and execution
- Work closely with the CEO and Head of Product to break down product specs into technical tasks
- Estimate and plan sprints by collaborating with developers and stakeholders
- Guide developers during sprints, making sure they're not stuck or off-track
- Lead by example, by designing and writing code at an elite level
- Optimisation
- Always be on the lookout for ways to improve processes, tools, communications, designs, and codebases
- Develop design and coding guidelines to assist developers
- Amplify the performance of your development team by direct mentoring, as well as building frameworks and repeatable designs to guide them
- Coaching
- Coach developers using the frameworks and guidelines built above, and by having effective 1-on-1s and code reviews
- Strategic
- Be able to take a step back to see the bigger picture and work on designing and prioritising strategic projects in cross-functional teams

**REQUIREMENTS**:
Minimum
- 6+ years of experience in hands-on software development
- 1+ years of experience in a management or lead position, leading a team of developers
- Experience with Python, Django, Postgres and AWS, or similar stacks like Java/Spring
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- An interest in the future of developer education, assessments, tooling and placements.

Preferred
- 3+ years of experience leading a software development team specifically at a fast growing tech startup
- Experience in scaling a rapidly growing a development team
- Interest and experience in machine learning and natural language processing
- Interest in recent pedagogical advances in computing and online education
- Experience in R&D projects related to code review / similar space
- Masters degree in AI

**BENEFITS**:

- Equity_: As a senior leadership role within the company, you may be eligible for direct ownership in the business through our stock option scheme. The company has been approached for acquisition by a number of billion-dollar leaders in the tech education space an