Development Practice Lead

**Purpose of the Job**:
As a recognized DevOps authority with effective leadership capability the Development Practice Lead is responsible to lead and drive DevOps practices across all of Shoprite’s development teams, continuously improving the DevOps standards and ways of working. The Development Practice Lead role is responsible to create, lead, manage, and mentor a practice of highly skilled DevOps Engineers across the delivery organization

**Job Objectives**:
**Manage and Lead the continuous improvement to the DevOps standards and best practices for Shoprite
Define the DevOps standards and Best Practices for Shoprite

Ensure the standards and best practices are effectively communicated to all necessary stakeholders

Drive the adoption of the Standards and Best Practices in the development teams

**Lead the establishment and growth of DevOps Communities of Practices (CoP).
Establish CoPs and membership as required for DevOps practices.

Ensure CoPs operate effectively with sustained participation and membership.

Define and set up interaction and knowledge sharing processes across the various CoPs.

Facilitate knowledge sharing between and across the various discipline streams to nurture best practice and help us get to the next level of technical excellence.

**Regularly measure the DevOps maturity of the development teams and put in place the actions necessary to take the team to the next level of maturity**

Regularly maintain and improve the DevOps maturity assessment template and process

Conduct regular DevOps maturity assessments across all teams

Establish improvement actions for each team and assist the teams to reach the next level of maturity

**Recruit and onboard DevOps engineers and provide coaching, mentoring and training to continuously improve their skill levels**

Identify all job roles required to effectively implement and manage DevOps pipelines for Shoprite.

Create Job Descriptions for each job role.

Mentor senior DevOps engineers, helping them grow in expertise and experience new areas.

Identify the skills gap and training needed by the DevOps Engineers.

Form partnerships with recruitment agencies and companies that provide skilled DevOps Engineers

Assist with the Recruitment of DevOps Engineers required by the development teams

**Qualifications**:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Management Information Systems or a related field, or equivalent work experience

Certification in Azure DevOps

**Experience**:
Working experience within the IT industry

10+ Years

Hands on Experience implementing and managing complex DevOps Pipelines

5+ years

Experience with implementing complex DevOps Pipelines using Azure DevOps

2+ years

Experience with recruiting talented team members

2+ Years

Experience with creating career development paths and managing career development of individuals.

2+ Years

Experience in Identification and formulation of Language Standard, Artifacts, Tools, and Processes

3+ years

3+ years

Experience with all aspects of IT projects from business analysis, architectures, system analysis, and design through development, testing, implementation, and production (SDLC) and how DevOps interact with this in the Cloud. (desirable)

3+ years

Retail industry experience with an understanding of retail business processes would be advantageous. (desirable)

2-3 years

**Knowledge and Skills**:
In-depth knowledge of the Systems Development Life Cycle

Advanced influencing, interpersonal and communication skills are required to contract with, engage and influence senior leaders and technical specialists, as well as coordinate complex initiatives across a number of teams

Proven ability to establish and manage relationships with various individuals at differing levels of the business. These include, but are not limited to senior leaders, technical specialists and support staff

Ability to build effective relationships and build a strong and positive team

Developed people management skills are critical to service a number of cross-functional needs, including people with strong academic backgrounds and technical skills

Strong analytical, problem-solving and logical skills with attention to detail

Excellent team-working, interpersonal skills

Delivery of compelling presentations to all levels of stakeholders and excellent communication and relationship-building skills

Develop proposals and excellent written communication & presentation skills

Excellent organization and facilitation skills

Strong conflict management skills

Ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously

Focused on doing things correctly rather than quickly.

Minimum of 2 years management or other equivalent leadership experience of technology teams

**Applicant Feedback Policy**: