Software Engineering Team Lead (Shopfront)

takealot.com, a leading South African online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Software Engineering Team Lead (Shopfront) to join our team in Cape Town. 

We are a young, dynamic, hyper-growth company looking for smart, young, creative, hard-working people to join us. We offer market-related benefits, a great work environment and a promise that you won’t be bored as long as you are prepared for a challenge and want to build something great.

The position reports to the Engineering Director (Shopfront)

We are looking for an experienced Front-end focused software engineering team lead to join a versatile and creative IT management team. Bring your love of all things front-end and that desire to make the best experience for the customer to Takealot.

As the engineering team lead you will lead a group of software engineers constantly striving for quality solutions that are delivered on time, within budget and scope, and drive a culture of quality and personal accountability. The remainder of your time will be split between architectural and strategic planning with peers and senior developers, day-to-day operational running of the team and the people management and development required of a high-performing and successful team. You will be an advocate of Agile engineering practices and you will have prior line management experience with a track record of keeping highly skilled developers motivated. 

You will need a strong understanding of design principles, html/css and have development experience building restful based responsive web solutions using best practice JavaScript techniques. A development background and good understanding of architectural practices is an essential aspect of the role. You'll have a natural affinity for well structured html, css and JavaScript code that enables us to take our site to the next level, including a best practice responsive web front-end that delivers an experience that delights our customer.

Successfully launch new products quickly as well as manage a large existing code base. Although it isn’t the main focus of the role, you should expect to write code, or work with others on your team directly contributing to the production of code. This is an exciting opportunity to lead a growing team of engineers working on Takealot.com's ambitious development roadmap.

Your responsibilities will include the following:

  • Build and retain a high caliber engineering team
  • Build relationships through regular one on one conversations
  • Remove roadblocks and interruptions to help the team perform
  • Work with stakeholders to gather requirements, and manage expectations
  • Support and develop the careers of members of the team
  • Support and give direction to innovation in the team
  • Present practical input for strategic technology decisions
  • Stay up to date with industry trends, and standards
  • Lead the Agile processes within the team
  • Manage the roadmap for the team, playing a key role in prioritization
  • Facilitate discussions in the team
  • Resolve conflict in the team when necessary
  • Promote the achievements of the team
  • Track and ensure team productivity is healthy using a metrics based approach
  • Track and ensure operational excellence in the team using a metrics-based approach
  • Interview candidates for technical and organizational fit
  • Drive innovation, vision and strategy
  • Manage budgets, forecasts, and costs
  • Work with others on your team directly contributing to the production of code

Attributes required: 

  • Excellent problem-solving skills
  • Mentorship and leadership skills
  • Excellent communication and facilitation skills- written and verbal.

Qualifications and experience:

  • Degree in Computer Science or Engineering preferred and/or equivalent experience
  • Post graduate degree preferred
  • 5+ years experience in development experience
  • 2+ years experience leading a team or projects with a focus on a very high quality output
  • Experience mentoring and developing technical teams
  • Experience working within an Agile and DevOps team, and an advocate of that culture
  • An understanding or experience in UI design principles and best practice, including building best practice responsive frontend Html and CSS solutions
  • Experience developing server-side on php/node (or similar) in a test-driven environment 
  • Solid Web and Front-end Development experience Html, JavaScript and related client-side libraries (such as React, Angular, Backbone) against a restful api
  • Technical experience and a proven track record of architectural ownership and understanding.
  • UX and UI design experience
  • An understanding of computer science fundamentals, including object-oriented design and data structures and algorithms 
  • Experience with and an understanding of line management responsibility for a technical team
  • Experience developing software for a highly-transactional retail online platform
  • A thorough understanding of software engineering practices and best practices, including Agile software development, source code control systems and the use of software IDEs and development and testing tools.
  • An understanding of software deployment tools, deployment processes and best practices
  • Additional Experience working with any of the following is advantageous: Languages like Python Java, C, C++, no-SQL data stores like Mongo/Redis, etc., AWS and/or Azure platforms and building Restful API web services

The Environment:

  • takealot.com employees are entrepreneurial and dynamic, smart, customer-centric, fun and have the shared ambition of takealot.com being the leading e-commerce company in Africa.
  • We have fun, work hard, take ownership, work in teams to create solutions, and are always open to direct feedback/new ideas on where we can improve.
  • We are short on ego and high on output.
  • We are doers and not only thinkers, it’s all in the execution after all.
  • We love what we do and what we are creating.

We seek to Employ an Extra Ordinary Mind who

  • is forthright but respectful
  • is an expert at doing, who can not only design but also execute
  • is analytical, able to use data to make decisions
  • is competitive, self-directed and strive to be the BEST (GREAT requires a lot of work and does not only happen during business hours
  • is passionate about the potential of e-commerce and delivering a world-class customer experience
  • is entrepreneurial, thrives under change and accepts it is a constant and always looks for solutions to do something better and faster
  • is able to think about problems from a business perspective using technical and product input
  • is curious and challenge the status quo
  • is innovative and enjoys iteration
  • is collaborative
  • will be at the cutting edge of developing new concepts for takealot.com.
  • thinks like an owner of the business.
  • is SMART, has INTEGRITY and is HARDWORKING

If you meet the above you are an Extraordinary Mind so come and join us!

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from the previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.

Takealot.com is a South African e-commerce company based in Cape Town, South Africa. As the country’s largest online retailer, takealot.com has helped grow online shopping in South Africa, and was the first local retailer to take part in Black Friday.