Engineering Manager

At Scrums.com (formerly SovTech), we believe the future of software lies in the talent, innovation, and creativity found on the African continent. For over a decade, we have been pioneering world-class software development for a global audience. We are the leading custom software development company from Africa that, like any great tech company, was founded in a garage. Scrums.com has now grown to more than 350 of the best AI-powered software engineering experts, building world-class platforms for growing businesses across four cities on three continents.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to growing Africa's tech ecosystems. Africa is home to the world's youngest population, with over 50% of Africans under the age of 25. Recent estimates indicate there are over 700,000 professional software developers across Africa today. That number is projected to double by 2025. We believe in the future of African tech talent and the impact it will have on scaling global companies.

Position details:

We are on the lookout for a passionate and dynamic Engineering Manager to lead the charge in driving technical excellence across our diverse range of projects and teams. In this role, you will be at the forefront of innovation, overseeing groundbreaking initiatives and ensuring each one not only meets but exceeds the highest standards of technical success. If you're a strategic thinker, a hands-on leader, and thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, we want you on our team!

Technical Leadership and Strategic Guidance

1. Provide technical direction and leadership to an engineering team, ensuring alignment with company goals and technical strategy.
2. Serve as a subject matter expert in web application development, frameworks, and technologies.
3. Oversee the architecture, design, and implementation of complex, scalable, and maintainable software solutions.
4. Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, designers, and stakeholders, to define technical strategies and ensure successful project delivery.
5. Assess the quality of incoming projects to Scrums.com on the above.

Team Management and Mentorship

1. Lead and manage multiple teams of engineers, setting clear goals, expectations, and priorities.
2. Facilitate effective collaboration and knowledge sharing among engineers of varying skill levels.

System Architecture and Development Oversight

1. Drive the design and architecture of robust software solutions according to the Scrums.com approach that balance performance, scalability, and maintainability.
2. Ensure the development team adheres to best practices, coding standards, and technical excellence.
3. Conduct architectural reviews and support the team in making critical technical decisions.

Collaboration and Stakeholder Management

1. Act as a bridge between engineering, product, and design teams, ensuring clear communication and alignment on objectives and deliverables.
2. Assist in refining project requirements, timelines, and resource allocation to meet business goals effectively.
3. Foster a collaborative environment that encourages innovation and team engagement across departments.

Technical Innovation and Process Optimisation

1. Stay updated on emerging industry trends, technologies, and best practices, and evaluate their potential application to existing processes.
2. Champion initiatives to implement new tools, frameworks, and methodologies to improve development efficiency and product quality.
3. Lead efforts to optimize engineering processes, enabling faster development cycles and better outcomes.

Problem-Solving and Troubleshooting

1. Provide technical guidance and support to the team to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues.
2. Lead efforts to identify and mitigate risks, bottlenecks, or challenges in the development process.
3. Act as a technical escalation point for troubleshooting critical system issues.

Education and Experience

1. Diploma, Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field is a plus, but not a requirement.
2. Proven track record in software development, with several years of experience in project or company leadership roles.
3. Demonstrated success in delivering complex web-based applications and managing full-stack development projects.

Technical Expertise

1. Expertise in multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, Java, or C#.
2. Strong background in front-end and back-end technologies, including frameworks like React, Angular, Node.js, and Django.
3. Strong experience with database systems (SQL, NoSQL), data modeling, and performance tuning.
4. Strong grounding in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and microservices architecture.

Leadership and Communication

1. Ability to lead and inspire engineering teams while fostering a positive, collaborative environment.
2. Experience conducting code reviews, providing feedback, and ensuring adherence to coding standards.

Architectural and System Design

1. Significant experience in designing scalable, secure, and maintainable system architectures.
2. Solid understanding of software design patterns, architectural principles, and best practices.
3. Ability to identify areas for technical improvement, driving system and process optimizations.

Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking

1. Advanced problem-solving skills with a track record of resolving complex technical challenges.
2. Thoughtful and analytical approach to diagnosing and mitigating technical risks and defects.

Advantageous

1. Strong mentorship skills with a demonstrated ability to support career growth and development for team members.
2. Strong DevOps experience for medium/large agency environments is a plus.

Our Interview Process:

1. Application Stage: Share your profile with us. Share your info with us and our culture team will do a preliminary assessment on YOU. If we think it’s a good match, we’ll set up a technical & culture screening.
2. Technical & Culture Screening: Get to know each other. Depending on what you do and what you send us, we’ll look for ways to showcase your skills internally to the teams looking to hire you.
3. Technical Assessment: Prove your abilities. You will be assessed according to the role applying for.
4. Interview: Technical interview to understand your abilities. A technical interview designed to assess your skills and capabilities. You'll meet with the client to discuss the project and determine if there is alignment between your expertise and the project requirements.
5. Meet our Hiring Managers: We love getting to know people!

Why Join us:

We love autonomy

We build our culture around enabling people to not only decide what the best tech stack is for a product or how best to run user testing, but also how to be a part of and contribute to our cultural evolution.

Annual Foos-Fest ️
We hold an annual Foosball Festival across all our Guilds. Winners get a ridiculous trophy. Second place is an even funnier one. Scrums.com employees playing foos.

Our AI 24 hour - Hackathons
Join a team near you and build a product business in 24 hours. Live bands, DJ’s, friends and family- everyone’s involved!

Annual year-end retreat ️
Every year we go away together as a company. We’ve been doing it for 10 years, and counting.

Permanent Employee Benefits

1. Medical aid, brought to you by Discovery (the best!).
2. Get a half-day on your Birthday. Enjoy your lunch!
3. Our own rewards currency that you can redeem for goodies.
4. Internal AI platforms available for use
5. Access to Udemy courses

If you are passionate about Software development, enjoy working with cutting-edge technologies, and want to be part of an inspiring team, Scrums.com is the place for you. Join us as we shape the future of software innovation.