Software Development Manager

Lead Forensics

Software Development Manager overseeing engineering department performance in SAAS company. Recruiting, developing talent, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration during transition to Cape Town office.

Posted 5/13/2026full-timeCape Town • 🇿🇦 South AfricaMid-LevelSeniorWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed SystemsTypeScript

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Set, monitor, and evaluate performance metrics for developers, ensuring that productivity and quality targets are met.
Be the owner of and guardian of the standard of the asset being created, ensuring it is optimal for productivity and our long-term engineering performance.
Provide constructive feedback and guidance to developers, helping them overcome performance challenges and achieve their goals.
Implement and refine performance management processes that promote accountability and transparency across teams.
Line management of a section of our engineering department, driving personal development and performance management for line reports.
Lead and mentor developers, fostering a positive and collaborative environment.
Conduct regular 1:1s and performance reviews to support individual career progression, skills development, and job satisfaction.
Identify training and development needs within the department, facilitating access to learning resources and opportunities and organising or delivering new training solutions.
Support recruitment processes by identifying talent needs, participating in interviews, and helping select candidates who align with team culture and values.
Drive retention initiatives to keep high-performing team members engaged and motivated, supporting employee satisfaction and reducing turnover.
Foster and drive a culture of continuous improvement within engineering teams, where team members are motivated to share ideas and improve processes.
Identify and implement best practises for team productivity and well-being, keeping abreast of industry trends and tools that can enhance team performance.
Facilitate retrospectives and other reflective activities to gather insights on team performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Actively promote and build a high‑trust, high‑collaboration engineering culture with excellent communication and collaboration within engineering teams.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Significant experience in a SaaS environment of rapid and efficient software development with clean code, SOLID principles and design patterns, and building the competency for this in teams.
Experience of monitoring engineering performance and driving continuous improvement of performance.
TypeScript skills and a strong general aptitude for programming and problem solving.
Significant previous experience as a hands on software engineer working with mature DevOps practices, and to have maintained the skills required to get down into the code when required.
A strong understanding of what is required to create and operate maintainable systems.
Experience with automated testing and quality assurance.
An understanding of how to build systems that perform well at scale.
Enthusiasm for building secure systems and implementing security best practices.
Experience of leading engineering teams building complex/distributed systems.
Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills.
A degree in Computer Science or related field from a recognised university with a strong academic reputation, ideally completed with strong academic performance or distinction.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Be part of a fantastic company culture; we all display our Company DNA’s, foster a “One Team” and ‘Growth’ mentality.
Give back to the wider community with volunteer days, fundraisers and charity events.

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

TypeScriptclean codeSOLID principlesdesign patternsDevOps practicesautomated testingquality assurancemaintainable systemssecurity best practicescomplex/distributed systems

Soft Skills

interpersonal skillscollaboration skillsmentoringperformance managementconstructive feedbackteam leadershipcontinuous improvementemployee engagementcommunicationproblem solving

Certifications

degree in Computer Science