Head of Software Engineering

ATS Client; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

ATS Client is seeking a Hands-on Head of Software Engineering to own the full SDLC and drive a mature DevOps culture across a mix of legacy and modern platforms in Johannesburg. You will lead a ~12-person team including developers, QA, a scrum master, and an implementation specialist, while still contributing technically through code reviews and standards setting.

You will architect and evolve CI/CD pipelines, improve release management, and embed testing as a core practice to ensure

Qualifications

• 9+ years in software development with progression into technical leadership.
• Experience building SDLC processes and mature DevOps practices.
• Proven track record across legacy and modern codebases.

Responsibilities

• Own the full SDLC from planning through development, QA, release and support.
• Provide clear reporting across delivery, quality and support to show system health.
• Design and enhance CI/CD pipelines for automated build, integration and deployment.
• Drive release management with predictable, low-risk deployments and robust change control.
• Champion a DevOps culture with automation-first practices and shared ownership.
• Establish and embed unit testing as a core engineering practice.
• Define and implement a comprehensive test strategy including automation.
• Lead QA resources and integrate quality gates into the pipeline.

Skills

Software development

Technical leadership

SDLC processes

DevOps

CI/CD

C#/NET

Cloud migration

Test strategy

Education

Tertiary qualifications

Tools

.NET/C#

Job description

Hands‑on Head of Software Engineering with full SDLC ownership and a strong DevOps focus. Responsible for leading and evolving end‑to‑end development across internal and customer‑facing systems, spanning both legacy and modern platforms. This working leadership role manages a team of ~12 (developers, QA, scrum master, and implementation specialist) while remaining technically involved—reviewing code, setting standards, and driving automation and best practices. A key opportunity to bring structure, consistency, and a mature DevOps culture to a .NET/C# environment and elevate overall engineering capability.

Responsibilities

• Own the full SDLC from planning and requirements through development, QA, release, and ongoing support.
• Provide clear, consistent reporting across delivery, quality, and support to ensure full visibility of progress and system health.
• Design, build, and continuously enhance CI/CD pipelines to automate build, integration, and deployment.
• Drive mature release management with predictable, low‑risk deployments, rollback capability, and robust change control.
• Champion a DevOps culture focused on shared ownership, automation‑first practices, and strong feedback loops across teams.
• Establish and embed unit testing as a core engineering practice.
• Define and implement a comprehensive test strategy covering unit, integration, regression, and automation.
• Lead QA resources and integrate quality gates into the pipeline, ensuring testing is continuous rather than a final step.

Qualifications

• Tertiary qualifications
• 9+ years in software development with a demonstrable progression into technical leadership.
• Hands‑on experience building SDLC processes from an immature baseline into a repeatable practice.
• Experience with .NET/C# ecosystems, across both legacy and modern codebases.
• Strong DevOps background: CI/CD pipeline design, release automation and configuration management.
• Cloud experience is highly beneficial, particularly the ability to plan and lead a migration.
• Demonstrated experience defining and implementing test strategy, including unit testing and test automation.