Head of Engineering
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- C level
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Not specified
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Proven experience in a senior engineering leadership role within a digital agency, technology consultancy or product environment
- A strong hands-on engineering background, ideally across full stack development with exposure to backend, CMS and/or fintech disciplines
- Demonstrated ability to manage, mentor and grow a multi-disciplinary team of mid-to-senior level engineers
- Deep understanding of software engineering best practices including architecture, clean code, version control, security, QA and documentation
- A track record of delivering complex digital projects on time and within budget
- An entrepreneurial mindset, with a track record of spotting commercial opportunities and taking initiative to grow a business, not only a team
- Experience contributing to new business, whether through client relationships, pitching or shaping new offerings
- Comfort operating at the intersection of technical leadership, people management and business strategy
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage confidently with both technical teams and non technical stakeholders
- Experience with structured performance management and people development frameworks
- A growth mindset and genuine curiosity for emerging technologies, including AI assisted development
Full description
Head of Engineering
Digital Experience & Innovation Agency | Cape Town
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About Our Client
Our client is a well established and fast growing digital agency based in Cape Town, delivering high quality technology solutions across web, mobile, platform engineering and financial technology. They are a creative, people first organisation that invests deeply in craft, quality and the growth of their team. As they scale, they are looking for an exceptional engineering leader to step into a newly created role and take full ownership of their engineering function.
The Opportunity
This is a newly created senior leadership position, which means the successful candidate will have the rare opportunity to shape the role, the team structure and the engineering culture from the ground up. You will lead a multidisciplinary engineering team spanning full stack development, backend and CMS engineering, QA, delivery operations and fintech, and you will be the most senior engineering voice in the business.
You will report directly to the executive leadership team and work closely with account management, marketing and design, strategy and project management to ensure engineering capability is always aligned to business ambition and client delivery.
This is not a purely technical role. Our client is looking for someone who leads with technical authority, people intelligence and commercial instinct; someone who can set direction, grow a team, spot opportunities and hold the bar high across everything that gets built.
Who You Will Lead
You will lead a team of direct reports across disciplines including, but not limited to:
- Full Stack Development
- QA, Scrum and Engineering Operations
- Backend and CMS Engineering (Umbraco / .NET)
- Fintech and Financial Technology
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership
- Set and own the technical direction, engineering standards and architectural principles across all disciplines within the engineering function
- Drive best practice across the team including clean code, version control, code reviews, security standards, documentation and CI/CD workflows
- Lead architectural decision-making ensuring solutions are scalable, maintainable and aligned to client and business requirements
- Champion innovation by actively tracking emerging technologies and AI-assisted development tools and bringing relevant insights back into the team's practice
- Build and maintain the engineering identity of the organisation — shaping how the team works, what it stands for and how it is perceived internally and externally