Senior Director of Software Engineering

ATS Client; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

ATS Client is seeking a Head of Software Engineering in Cape Town to lead our software development efforts and drive technical excellence across engineering teams. Reporting to the CIO, you will shape the technology roadmap, guide cloud-native and microservices architectures, and transform legacy systems while building high-performing teams.

You will oversee CI/CD, security, and reliability initiatives, and partner with product, design and security teams to deliver scalable software solutions

Qualifications

• Honours degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electronic Engineering or related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute comprehensive technology roadmap aligned with business objectives and market opportunities.
• Drive design decisions for cloud-native applications, microservices and distributed systems.
• Establish technical vision for scalable, secure and maintainable software platforms.
• Lead digital transformation initiatives and modernisation of legacy systems.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies to maintain competitive technical advantages.
• Implement robust software development processes.
• Establish and enforce coding standards, code review protocols and automated testing frameworks.
• Oversee CI/CD pipeline architecture, infrastructure as code and deployment automation.
• Drive quality assurance processes, performance optimisation and system reliability initiatives.
• Manage technical debt reduction and continuous improvement programs.
• Build and lead a team of software engineers and technical leads.
• Recruit top-notch engineering talent and establish clear career development pathways.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration and technical excellence.
• Conduct performance reviews, provide mentorship and drive professional growth.
• Create inclusive engineering culture that promotes diversity, learning and continuous improvement.
• Collaborate with other technology and business teams to ensure seamless system integration.
• Work with design and UX teams to deliver exceptional user experiences.
• Coordinate with security teams to implement robust cybersecurity measures and compliance standards.
• Present technical strategy and progress updates to executive leadership and stakeholders.
• Ensure on-time delivery of high-quality software products and features.
• Manage engineering resources, project timelines and risk mitigation strategies.
• Establish and monitor KPIs for productivity and quality.
• Drive incident response, post-mortem analysis and system reliability improvements.
• Optimise development velocity while maintaining code quality and system stability.

Skills

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Microservices architecture

CI/CD pipelines

Frontend frameworks (React/Angular/Vue

Backend technologies

Security best practices

Observability tools (DataDog/New Relic

Education

Honours degree in Computer Science / Software Engineering / Electronic Engineering or related field

10+ years software development experience

Minimum 5 years in engineering leadership roles (15+ engineers)

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CloudFormation

DataDog

New Relic

AppDynamics

Git

Job description

ATS Client is seeking a Head of Software Engineering in Cape Town to lead our software development efforts and drive technical excellence across engineering teams. Reporting to the CIO, you will shape the technology roadmap, guide cloud-native and microservices architectures, and transform legacy systems while building high-performing teams.

You will oversee CI/CD, security, and reliability initiatives, and partner with product, design and security teams to deliver scalable software solutions