Technical Lead

**Purpose of the Job**:
The purpose of the **Team Lead** is to **lead the systems development team and drive systems software development solutions that** enable a high-performing IT operations infrastructure within Shoprite IT technical services. This role leverages **advanced software development experience and knowledge** of highly complex, large-scale systems to provide **technical leadership, team coaching, **and** mentorship** to a team of Programmers, ensuring high-quality software development practice and performance in delivering solutions for various technical services requirements (I.e., developing for systems integration, APIs, platform monitoring tools, SaaS, IaaS, etc.), whilst driving efficiency of system software development efforts, improvements and technological advancements for new and existing systems.

Furthermore, this role reports to the Team Manager, providing support with people management, team, and systems planning, and strategic execution, whilst **overseeing** the team's collaboration in solution design, development, and deployment, technical support, escalations, and project engagements with the broader IT teams and relevant business stakeholders.

**Job Objectives**:
**Systems Development and Technical Leadership**:
Plan and manage all activities within the systems development team as leading software solution development efforts and collaboration with Architects to plan, design, develop, test, and maintain solutions.
Manage the collection and documentation of solution/user requirements, development of user stories, estimates and work plans.
Manage the creation of technical specifications and/or support documentation for system support and reference.
Drive the lifecycle of a solution from design through to development, testing, deployment, and training.
Manage the technical design/architecture of various solutions and the full systems development life cycle (SDLC) within area of function.
Define, develop, document, and optimize technical processes, standards, frameworks and best practice for solution development (I.e., design, coding, unit testing, etc.) within the team, ensuring alignment with the broader Shoprite IT software development practice.
Drive quality assurance within the team through peer-reviews of solution designs and related code.
Manage the packaging and support for deployment of releases and oversee team engagements with end user training on deployed solutions.
Manage, analyze and resolve technical problems, and ensure availability of technical support and system administration services within the area of systems development or technology as per established SLA timelines.
Plan and manage the execution of systems development, processes, tools and lifecycle management, including researching a variety of software development technologies and/or ways of work to recommend and improve software delivery.
**Team Leadership**:
Lead, coach and mentor the systems development team to ensure high competence and delivery of individual and team output, removing impediments and ensuring the team is motivated to achieve individual and collective objectives.
Drive overall team maturity and adequate resourcing to efficiently deliver on objectives, identifying and encouraging areas of growth and/or improvement.
Maintain high standards of technical support facilitation by establishing good practice and cohesiveness.
Initiate or participate in the team capacity planning, staff requisition and recruitment processes, including the new team member onboarding and stakeholder introductions.
Partner with the Team Manager and internal People Partner (HR) teams to manage team performance, driving training and knowledge sharing for and within the team.
**Projects, stakeholder and technology partner engagements**:
Plan and manage all deliverables for systems or process improvement projects, including the management of release and change management processes.
Manage projects within the scope of systems development ensuring collaboration with relevant business stakeholders and teams.
Oversee and guide team engagement with internal teams and external vendors in the resolution or restoration of services as necessary.
**Reporting**:
Report to management on overall team performance, projects, and partner/or stakeholder engagements according to agreed standards and timelines.

**Qualifications**:
Degree/Diploma in IT, Information Systems, Computer Science or related field - (essential).

**Experience**:

- **+2 years experience in a team leadership capacity** or similar **with** solid experience** leading and efficiently managing software development solutions from technical design through to deployment of solutions
- **Extensive experience **with various **(two or more)** programming languages I.e., C#, Java, Python, PHP, Perl, NodeJS, etc., and SQL databases
- Solid experience with solution/systems integration and design, including defining, developing testing, and deploying various types of APIs