Software Engineering Manager

Avatar Recruitment; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Avatar Recruitment in Cape Town seeks a strategic Head of Software Engineering to lead and scale a high-performing team, setting technical direction, standards and delivery practices. The role focuses on building capability, aligning engineering work with business goals, and ensuring code quality and reliable deployments.

You will mentor engineering leaders, drive architecture decisions, manage risk, and partner with product, QA, and finance to deliver valuable software while controlling costs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field; advanced diploma or equivalent with management experience.
• 6–8 years progressive software engineering experience including 2–3 years in formal leadership or management role; informal leadership considered with impact.

Responsibilities

• Leads and manages team performance, coaching, mentorship, and career development while ensuring accountability for delivery commitments.
• Owns delivery outcomes for assigned products/services, managing prioritisation, coordination, and communication with product and technical stakeholders.
• Establishes technical direction and standards, ensuring architectural decisions balance long-term strategy with delivery timelines.
• Translates business priorities into clear technical execution plans with product management and stakeholders.
• Identifies and manages technical risks, including debt, testing gaps, security concerns, and performance issues.
• Coordinates with cross-functional teams to manage dependencies, resolve blockers, and maintain predictable delivery.
• Monitors delivery performance and quality metrics, providing visibility to leadership for data-driven decisions.
• Drives process, tooling, and quality improvements to enhance productivity and reduce manual effort.
• Participates in recruitment, capability planning, and talent management to ensure necessary skills and capacity.
• Collaborates with peer managers and engineering leadership on cross-functional initiatives and standards.
• Owns production responsibility for team services, ensuring operational health and incident readiness.

Skills

Leadership

Team Building

Coaching

Performance Management

Stakeholder Management

Strategic Thinking

Delivery Planning

Agile Methodology

CI/CD

Software Architecture

Code Quality

Technical Debt Management

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

Advanced Diploma or equivalent technical qualification

Job description

Purpose

Leads a software engineering team with responsibility for people leadership, technical direction, and delivery execution. Ensures the team delivers high-quality, maintainable software aligned with business objectives, upholds technical standards, and develops engineering capability to support current and future organisational needs. Location: Cape Town

Role Impact

Budgetary Responsibility

Budgetary Responsibility Moderate - Understands and communicates team-level costs related to infrastructure, licensing, and staffing. Provides input into budget planning and cost-optimisation opportunities. Supports expense tracking and communicates cost considerations to stakeholders.

Financial Impact

Financial Impact Moderate - Decisions influence departmental budgets, resource allocation, vendor spend, and operational efficiencies. Manages and mitigates financial risks within the team's scope.

Commercial

Commercial Ensures delivery of features and products that support business goals and customer needs, while managing team efficiency and cost awareness to maximise value.

Operations

Operations Drives operational excellence by establishing technical standards, code quality frameworks, and deployment processes. Ensures clear communication of commitments and progress to stakeholders.

Delivery

Delivery Owns predictable, high-quality delivery by setting realistic commitments, coordinating with product and quality teams, and maintaining transparent progress visibility.

People

People Builds engineering capability through structured coaching, mentorship, performance management, and fostering an inclusive, growth-oriented team culture.

Innovation

Innovation Identifies and implements improvements in tooling, automation, and engineering practices to enhance productivity and support adoption of emerging technologies.

Capabilities Required

• Education Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field. Advanced Diploma or equivalent technical qualification acceptable with demonstrated management experience.
• Experience 6-8 years of progressive software engineering experience, including 2-3 years in a formal leadership or management role. Informal leadership experience (technical lead, project lead, senior engineer mentoring) considered with strong evidence of team impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Leads and manages team performance, providing coaching, mentorship, and career development while ensuring accountability for delivery commitments.
• Owns delivery outcomes for assigned products/services, managing prioritisation, coordination, and communication with product and technical stakeholders.
• Establishes technical direction and standards, ensuring architectural decisions align with long-term strategy and balance quality with delivery timelines.
• Translates business priorities into clear technical execution plans in partnership with product management and stakeholders.
• Identifies and manages technical risks, including technical debt, testing gaps, security concerns, and performance issues.
• Coordinates with cross-functional teams to manage dependencies, resolve blockers, and maintain predictable delivery.
• Monitors delivery performance and quality metrics, providing visibility to leadership and enabling data-driven decision-making.
• Drives process, tooling, and quality improvements to enhance productivity and reduce manual effort.
• Participates in recruitment, capability planning, and talent management to ensure appropriate team skills and capacity.
• Collaborates with peer managers and engineering leadership on cross-functional initiatives and technical standards.
• Owns production responsibility for team services, ensuring operational health, participating in incident response, and prioritising stability.

Operating Network

• Head of Software Engineering
• Product Management
• Peer Engineering Managers
• Quality Assurance / Testing
• Architects / Technical Leads
• Finance
• Senior Engineers / Technical Leads
• HR
• Infrastructure / Operations
• Customers / Account Management (where applicable)
• Third-party integration partners
• Platform and tooling vendors

Skills Required

• Leadership
• Team Building
• Coaching & Mentoring
• Performance Management
• Conflict Resolution
• People Development
• Stakeholder Management
• Communication
• Influencing
• Decision-Making
• Strategic Thinking
• Prioritisation
• Problem Solving
• Technical Leadership
• Software Architecture
• Code Quality
• Technical Debt Management
• Risk Management
• Delivery Planning
• Project Coordination
• Process Improvement
• Agile Methodology
• CI/CD
• Testing Frameworks
• Accountability
• Resilience
• Adaptability
• Critical Analysis
• Vendor/Tool Evaluation

Knowledge Requirements

Knowledge Requirements Broad knowledge of software engineering practices, team leadership, and delivery management. Advanced proficiency in agile methodologies, code quality frameworks, and technical debt management. Strong capability in coaching, performance management, and building high-performing engineering teams. Extensive experience in delivery management, prioritisation frameworks, dependency management, and stakeholder communication. Demonstrated ability to guide architectural decisions balancing short-term delivery with long-term sustainability. Advanced understanding of automation, AI-enabled tooling, CI/CD, testing frameworks, and modern development practice.