Senior Specialist - Technical Lead Technology Information at MTN

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Senior Tech Lead owns the architectural and design decisions for the team / squad. 
• The Senior Tech Lead (STL) is an executor and the visionary force behind the technical solution. 
• The TL values simplicity and is unafraid to challenge technical constraints and procedures to achieve an Agile design. 
• The STL works closely with all team members to create a modular, scalable solution that addresses/incorporates future architectural changes and designs. 
• The STL will drive the teams engineering practices in test driven development, continuous integration, and automated deployment. 
• The STL is a hands-on team member who actively coaches the team to solve complex problems.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Functional Leadership:

• The overall technological design authority of the product with the help of the team/squad
• Responsible for the technical design of the product
• Work with Product Owner to align the roadmap with strengths and opportunities within the technical stack
• Thought partner with the Product owner in story creation and acceptance criteria, and communicate tradeoffs effectively with Designers
• Constantly look for better ways of solving technical problems and designing the solution, not afraid of challenging the status quo
• Provide the team a roadmap for implementing software engineering practices for higher code quality
• Share responsibility with Product Owner for building reusable and scalable components

Strategic input:

• Assist in providing input to the Digital Channels and Services strategy, including the MTN SA Omni-channel digital strategy
• Assist in Identifying key changes to digital systems in the future from technological, commercial, business and consumer behaviour perspectives

Collaboration:

• Guide project teams on technology strategy related to coding practices, continuous integration and automated deployment
• Anticipate & detect upcoming bottlenecks and production issues proactively and consult teams hands-on towards improved technical solutions.
• Work in collaboration across various teams/squads in order to embed Agile ways of working.

Planning & Delivery:

• Develop & manage the timelines of deliverables to ensure efficiency in delivery.
• Articulate and present delivery updates to teams and when required to senior management.

Stakeholders:

• Interface with internal and external industry experts to anticipate customer needs and facilitate solutions development.
• Collaborate across functional teams within the Broader MTN SA team to enable the development of solutions necessary to drive the desired business outcomes for customers.
• Survey developers and technical members of the organization to understand their main pain points in the coding and development process

Governance and Risk Management:

• Participate in the creation and implementation of functional policies, standard operating procedures and best practices that ensure operational efficiency, accuracy, security, integrity and compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Provide insight to the management of partners and ensure all contracts are managed in line with procurement policies and standards, in order to drive compliance to set processes and procedures.
• Ensure compliance of all digital systems with all regulatory, commercial and business requirements (e.g. Security and integrity of banking systems)
• Ensure system documentation is sufficiently detailed and up to date to ensure business continuity and prevent over-reliance on a few individuals

People Leadership and Organisational Capability Building:

• Hold indirect reports accountable for the achievement of business plans and take corrective actions where necessary to ensure achievement of business objectives.
• Instil the Cloud engineering domain knowledge within the technical support team.
• Lead, develop and coach the team
• Act as an ambassador and role model for the Technology by living the brand values and vital behaviours.
• Make environment the best place to work.
• Improve the employee engagement through the GCA/Sentimeter.
• Participate in the attraction, development and retention of Planning and Engineering talent.
• Assist in ensuring a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement.
• Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management.

Financial Management:

• Supporting the head with digital systems expenditures in line with agreed budgets
• Support in obtaining approval for digital systems equipment configurations to be ordered from suppliers including cost control and full lifecycle costing

Support the head in identifying and eliminating non-contributory expenditures

QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum Requirements:

Education:

• B.Sc Computer Science or BEng (Electronic)

Experience:

• Minimum of 5-8years’ experience in area of specialisation; with experience in supervising/managing others
• Experience in Continuous Integration/Delivery
• Proficient in development languages
• Proficient in Mobile Application development
• Experience working in a medium to large organization
• Experience in Agile Development, with specific Solution Architect (or similar) experience preferred
• Understands relationship with Product Owner, Scrum Master, Design Lead and rest of technical team
• Experience in developing and scaling high-quality eCommerce tech platforms in cross-functional product teams

Training:

• Seen as an expert within the technical components of the domains/products/journeys
• Seasoned developer or technical lead with deep insight into newest technologies and trends, Java/JVM, and nice to have experience with functional programming (Scala)
• Can make architecture decisions at a team and product level
• Deep tech knowledge around platform architecture, frontend and backend frameworks and cloud; experience in coaching teams
• Strong communication skills with ability to align the organization on complex technical decisions
• Active coach and mentor whose goals are to grow and maximize the team’s potential
• High energy and passionate individual who inspires teammates to reach their maximum potential
• Excited about trying new solutions outside standard approved
• Embraces a culture of trust, free thought complete transparency
• Brave and rebellious, willing to challenge status quo