Development Manager - Engineering Leadership

About the role

An established South African technology-enabled services organisation is looking for an experienced Development Manager to take ownership of engineering execution, lead multiple development teams and help build a scalable, consistent and AI-enabled approach to software delivery. The role reports directly to the CTO and leads five Development Leads overseeing 15 multidisciplinary squads. It is not a traditional project management role, and there is a potential succession pathway into the CTO role over the next four to five years.

Key responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop five Development Leads and set engineering standards, performance expectations and development practices across 15 squads.
• Improve delivery predictability through realistic sprint planning, accurate estimation and capacity management, and establish reusable components and frameworks.
• Drive adoption of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, code quality standards and reliable release processes, and reduce technical debt and production issues.
• Stay technically involved, support complex engineering challenges and code reviews, and collaborate with architects on modular, API-first and event-driven architectures.
• Help build a unified internal engineering platform and promote best practices in Java-based development.
• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development tools, set governance around AI-generated code and coach teams in using them effectively.

Required profile

• Ideally 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience with significant leadership responsibility.
• Proven experience leading multiple engineering teams, mentoring technical leaders and building high-performing teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile, sprint planning and delivery management.
• Experience with cloud-based applications, preferably on Microsoft Azure, and exposure to AI-assisted development tools.
• A relevant tertiary qualification is advantageous; strong practical experience and leadership capability are key.

Required skills

• Java and Java frameworks such as Quarkus (highly beneficial)
• Frontend technologies such as Angular (highly beneficial)
• Microservices, APIs, CI/CD, automated testing and secure development
• Building and scaling proprietary software, SaaS platforms or enterprise applications; HR technology, workforce management or payroll software is particularly relevant