Software Development Team Lead

Are you passionate about driving innovation through technology? Do you thrive in leading high-performing development teams and shaping scalable, future-ready solutions? We're looking for a dynamic Software Development Team Lead to join our Continuous Improvement & Innovation team.

STADIO Higher Education is on an exciting growth journey, and we're looking for an experienced Software Development Team Lead to lead our software development initiatives. This is more than just a job—it's a chance to build a long-term career and make a meaningful impact in South Africa and beyond.

Why this is an exciting opportunity

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Strategic Influence:

Work directly with the CIO and Head: Continuous Improvement & Innovation to lead the successful implementation of a forward-thinking software development roadmap.

·      
Team Leadership:

Lead a talented team of developers and build a software development unit from the ground up.

·      
Innovation at Scale:

Drive the development of modern, scalable solutions that support STADIO's mission to empower students and transform higher education.

Background

A key strategic imperative for STADIO is operational excellence. Consequently a Continuous Improvement and Innovation team was established to unlock operational excellence across the group. The team is dedicated to harnessing the power of technology-driven innovation and process optimisation to help the STADIO group achieve its strategic imperatives.

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced software developer to join our dynamic team as Software Development Team Lead to lead the development, integration and continuous improvement of the various business systems used by STADIO.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, testing, and maintenance of scalable business systems.
• Lead and mentor the software development team to deliver high-quality, scalable solutions aligned with the strategic development roadmap.
• Collaborate closely with the Chief Information Officer and Head: Continuous Improvement & Innovation to translate strategic goals into technical execution.
• Own and drive the technical design, architecture decisions, and solution reviews to ensure robust and maintainable systems.
• Establish and evolve a robust Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework tailored to our innovation goals.
• Mature and optimise the development and deployment pipelines, ensuring efficiency, reliability, and continuous improvement.
• Promote best practices in coding, testing, and DevOps across the team.

What We're Looking For

• Proven experience in leading software development teams, ideally within innovation or digital transformation environments.
• Strong technical background in software architecture, design patterns, and scalable systems.
• Hands-on experience with modern development stacks, CI/CD pipelines, and agile methodologies.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• A strategic mindset with the ability to balance innovation with operational excellence.

Qualifications & Technical Experience Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent work experience).
• Experienced software developer with at least 2+ years experience as a team lead

We're looking for someone with hands-on experience and leadership across our core technology stack:

• Experience in .NET Framework and C#
• Experience in Laravel Framework and PHP
• Blazor and/ or Flutter experience an advantage.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 – Familiarity with customisation, integration, and solution design within the Dynamics 365 ecosystem.
• Experience with CI/CD tools, version control (e.g. Git), and cloud platforms.
• Integrations through Service Bus & APIs: Design and integration of services across ecosystems.
• Strong Database Design skills in MS SQL, MySQL and PostgreSQL; normalization, indexing, and optimization.

Why Join Us?

• Be at the forefront of digital transformation and innovation.
• Work directly with executive leadership to shape the future of our technology landscape.
• Lead a team that values creativity, collaboration, and continuous learning.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary in line with relevant experience.
• Generous leave to support work-life balance.
• Opportunities to continue your studies at any institution in the group after 1 year of employment.
• Professional Growth: Exposure to enterprise-level systems and modern development practices, with opportunities to grow your technical and leadership skills.
• Purposeful Work: Contribute to meaningful transformation initiatives that not only directly supports the organisation's mission and long-term success, but also has a meaningful impact on South Africa through the widening of access to quality higher education.