Software Development Manager (South Africa Based)

Software Development Manager (South Africa Based)

We will be opening a hub in Q3 2027 in Cape Town so will consider all locations in South Africa with the agreement that relocation would happen upon the opening of our Hub. Until that point the role would be fully remote.

Summary

Lead Forensics is a rapidly growing, leading SAAS company with products in the B2B sales and marketing space. We’re seeking a Software Development Manager within our engineering department that builds our customer facing products. You will be responsible for the performance and personal development of a section of our engineering department.

You will need to be highly competent in our tech stack our modern tech stack (NestJS/NodeJS, Vue, Redis, SQL Server and Snowflake), able to get down into the code when required to critique and drive the quality of the code created, as well as drive efficiencies in speed at which it is created.

This is a role that would suit someone with a very strong development background, with expertise in creating clean code following DevOps practises and strong interpersonal skills, who has moved into a management career path.

Key Responsibilities:

Performance Management

·       Set, monitor, and evaluate performance metrics for developers, ensuring that productivity and quality targets are met.

·       Be the owner of and guardian of the standard of the asset being created, ensuring it is optimal for productivity and our long-term engineering performance.

·       Provide constructive feedback and guidance to developers, helping them overcome performance challenges and achieve their goals.

·       Implement and refine performance management processes that promote accountability and transparency across teams.

People Management

·       Line management of a section of our engineering department, driving personal development and performance management for line reports.

·       Lead and mentor developers, fostering a positive and collaborative environment.

·       Conduct regular 1:1s and performance reviews to support individual career progression, skills development, and job satisfaction.

·       Identify training and development needs within the department, facilitating access to learning resources and opportunities and organising or delivering new training solutions.

Recruitment and Retention

·       Support recruitment processes by identifying talent needs, participating in interviews, and helping select candidates who align with team culture and values.

·       Drive retention initiatives to keep high-performing team members engaged and motivated, supporting employee satisfaction and reducing turnover.

Continuous Improvement

• Foster and drive a culture of continuous improvement within engineering teams, where team members are motivated to share ideas and improve processes.

• Identify and implement best practices for team productivity and well-being, keeping abreast of industry trends and tools that can enhance team performance.

• Facilitate retrospectives and other reflective activities to gather insights on team performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

Culture and Engagement

• Actively promote and build a Actively promote a high‑trust, high‑collaboration engineering culture with excellent communication and collaboration within engineering teams.

• Champion and model company values, acting as a role model for team members and fostering a healthy work culture.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Significant experience in a SaaS environment of rapid and efficient software development with clean code, SOLID principals and design patterns, and building the competency for this in teams.

·       Experience of monitoring engineering performance and driving continuous improvement of performance.

·       A strong general aptitude for programming and problem solving.  You’ll need to pick up new tools and techniques quickly and use them to solve problems.

·       Significant previous experience as a hands on software engineer working with mature DevOps practises, and to have maintained the skills required to get down into the code when required.

·       A strong understanding of what is required to create and operate maintainable systems.

·       Experience with automated testing and quality assurance

·       An understanding of how to build systems that perform well at scale

·       Enthusiasm for building secure systems and implementing security best practices

·       Experience of leading engineering teams building complex/distributed systems

·       Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills

·       A degree in Computer Science or related field from a recognised university with a strong academic reputation, ideally completed with strong academic performance or distinction.

What we offer in return;

·       Employment with a fast-growing UK SaaS company; initially remote working whilst we work on our plans to establish our first South Africa office in Cape Town.

·       Competitive salary and benefits.

·       Be part of a fantastic company culture; we all display our Company DNA’s, foster a “One Team” and ‘Growth’ mentality.

Give back to the wider community with volunteer days, fundraisers and charity events.