Head Of Engineering - Sandton at Catch

POSITION OVERVIEW

• Our client is looking for a Head of Engineering to lead the technical direction of our software engineering team. Reporting to the Head of Tech, you’ll be the most senior technical voice in the team and play a key role in how we design, build, and scale our platforms.
• This is a leadership role, but it is technical first. You’ll spend your time shaping architecture, setting engineering standards, guiding technical decisions, and supporting the growth of the developers around you. You’ll also stay close to the code when it matters, helping the team solve complex problems and deliver high-quality solutions.
• We’re looking for someone who has earned the right to lead through strong technical depth, sound judgement, and a genuine passion for building excellent software.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead architecture and technical direction across the software engineering team, setting clear standards, patterns, and technical guardrails.
• Guide the evolution of our platform, making thoughtful, evidence-based decisions about how our systems should grow and scale.
• Champion engineering quality through test-driven development, strong code review practices, automation, and modern development standards.
• Coach and mentor senior developers, helping them grow their technical confidence, ownership, and influence.
• Provide guidance across the broader technology stack, not just within a single platform or area of expertise.
• Work closely with the Head of Tech, product, and business stakeholders to turn business goals into strong technical outcomes.
• Support a collaborative engineering culture built on curiosity, ownership, constructive challenge, and continuous improvement.
• Stay curious about new technologies, including AI enabled engineering practices, and help the team apply them in practical, valuable ways.

WHAT YOU BRING

EDUCATION:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field, with a strong academic record.

EXPERIENCE:

• 8+ years’ experience in software development, with a track record of shaping how teams build, not only shipping code.
• 5+ years of hands-on Java experience in production environments.
• 3+ years of hands-on Salesforce / Apex experience preferred.
• Experience leading architecture across multiple developers or teams, ideally in a growing environment.
• Hands-on experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and deployment workflows on GitHub.
• Strong experience with modern engineering practices, including code reviews, test-driven development, automation and maintainable system design.
• Experience mentoring and developing developers across seniority levels.

SALESFORCE CERTIFICATIONS

• Platform Developer I strongly preferred.
• Platform Developer II, Application Architect, System Architect or Technical Architect preferred.

COMPETENCIES:

• Strong technical judgement and the ability to make clear, practical architecture decisions.
• Ability to communicate complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A collaborative, team-first mindset with the confidence to challenge constructively when needed.
• Strong ownership, accountability, and follow-through.
• A passion for developing people and raising the technical standard of the team.
• Curiosity about new technologies and a practical understanding of how they can improve engineering outcomes.

BONUS POINTS:

• Experience with penetration testing or security-conscious engineering.
• Front-end development skills.
• Experience designing RESTful APIs and integration architecture at scale.
• Agile / Scrum leadership or facilitation experience.
• Experience using AI tools to improve software development workflows.