Engineering Lead (Integration) at Virgin Active South Africa

Your Purpose…

• As we transform into a Social Wellness Club, we’re redefining how we approach technology by building globally scalable solutions. A key part of this transformation is consolidating our core member engagement platform (our Mobile App and related services) under a central team. This team will own a unified codebase, enabling faster, more consistent feature rollouts across multiple countries.
• We’re looking for an Integration Engineering Lead to drive the architecture, design, and development of our mobile app and backend integration services. You’ll be a hands-on technical expert, guiding the team on complex problems, setting coding standards, and ensuring high-quality, reliable software delivery.
• Working closely with Product Managers and stakeholders, you’ll own key technical initiatives and make critical decisions that align with our product and business goals.

Your Duties and Responsibilities...

Leadership & Management

• Lead design and architecture discussions for backend systems, integrations, and APIs.
• Set coding standards, conduct code reviews, and promote best practices for C#, .NET, and Azure development.
• Act as the primary technical point of contact for complex integration and backend challenges.
• Mentor engineers on technical skills, architecture, integration patterns, and problem-solving.
• Contribute hands-on to backend and integration development, ensuring high-quality, maintainable, and secure code.

Technical Execution

• Own delivery of integration and backend initiatives from design through deployment.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Architects, and Operations to align technical priorities with business goals.
• Ensure system reliability, performance, scalability, and security of integration solutions.
• Oversee backlog prioritization and guide the team to deliver efficiently on integration projects.
• Drive continuous improvement in backend architecture, integration processes, and code quality.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Product, Operations, Data, and other engineering teams to define and execute technical roadmaps for integration services.
• Communicate technical progress, risks, and trade-offs to leadership and stakeholders.
• Advocate for integration best practices, system reliability, and maintainability in solution planning.

Our Minimum Requirements...

We can't live without...

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent professional experience in software engineering and team leadership.
• 8+ years of professional software development experience, with at least 3+ years leading people and teams as an Engineering Lead / Tech Lead, guiding technical direction and delivery.
• Proven ability to lead and coordinate a team of engineers (ideally 5+ developers) while remaining hands-on in backend and integration development.
• Strong hands-on engineering skills with deep expertise in C#, .NET, and Azure cloud services.
• Strong architectural thinking, capable of designing scalable, performant, and maintainable backend and integration systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing and maintaining RESTful APIs, microservices, and integration solutions.
• Solid understanding of integration patterns, messaging systems, and cloud-based API design.
• Experience mentoring engineers, conducting code reviews, and guiding technical best practices.
• Excellent problem-solving, debugging, and communication skills, with the ability to influence peers and stakeholders effectively.
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, monitoring, and DevOps practices.
• Experience with Azure integration services (Service Bus, Logic Apps, Functions, Event Grid).
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum delivery frameworks and best practices.
• Experience contributing to scaling backend/integration systems.
• Prior experience working with distributed, remote, or hybrid engineering teams.
• Knowledge of enterprise integration patterns and asynchronous messaging systems (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ).

Core Interpersonal Skills:

• Emotional Intelligence- proven ability to anticipate the needs of others before they are voiced
• Active Listening- Able to genuinely hear concerns with the ability to defuse tense situations and ensuring members and staff feel heard and valued
• Cultural Awareness and Fluency- understand international norms, etiquette and diverse backgrounds to provide a welcoming environment for our international and VIP members
• Empathy – be able to understand, or and be aware of, someone else’s feelings especially during stressful situations, such as travel delays or billing disputes

Operational & leadership Skills Required:

• Attention to Detail, noticing the small things
• Resilience and Composure, be able to remain calm and optimistic under extreme pressure, during peak or periods or system failures
• Problem solving and conflict resolution – be able to turn challenges into opportunities by thinking and acting quickly to resolve issues before they impact a member’s experience
• Adaptability: be flexible to handle unpredictable shifts in processers, resource changes, last minute VIP guest arrivals, or sudden changes in event plans.
• Relatability – the capacity to connect with diverse stakeholders across all backgrounds
• Situational Awareness – constantly monitoring the environment to identify members who need support or help
• Curiosity- the ability to seek out and transform standard transactions into personalised stories and memorable experiences
• Time Management – the ability to efficiently meet stringent deadlines while maintaining a relaxed and unhurried demeanor for guests.
• Digital Fluency – must be proficient in new age technology and systems