Tech Lead at Absa

Accountability:

• Product & Service Direction Setting, Solution Design & Performance Management
• Work with the CI& business product owners tdefine the product & technical strategy (Full Stack – End tEnd)
• Act as the single point of partnership & assume responsibility for managing the senior business interface (product owner) relationship
• Assume one stop shop accountability for the delivery of the product & solutions (risk cannot be outsourced tvendors)
• Apply design thinking practices tdeliver architecturally sound technical product & service solutions (and explain / guide / coach others on this architecture holistically and technically)
• Lead & facilitate the design of the product & or service solution blueprints aligned tthe organization strategy (Short, Medium & Long Term)
• Collaborate across the tech value chain (CSO, CTO, etc.) tguide the business on the appropriate technical solution (cost tvalue) & the range of strategic technical choices tbe made
• Lead the detailed scoping, prioritisation & integration planning for the design & deployment of products & services with & across multiple stakeholder groups (Front End, Back End & Integration) – (aligned tsolution blueprints)
• Meaningfully contribute & ensure solutions align tthe design & direction of the Group Architecture standards, principles, preferences & practices. Short term deployment must align tstrategic long term delivery.
• Meaningfully contribute & ensure solutions align tthe design and direction of the Group Infrastructure standards and practices e.g. OLA’s, IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, Containerisation etc.
• Strategically & operationally monitor the performance of products and services (all applications) – ensuring ongoing optimization & cost tvalue for our businesses (think bank wide)
• DevOps (with deep knowledge & understanding of context within which we develop architecturally & infrastructurally)
• Leverage the required expert level (own) skill & knowledge in architecture & Infrastructure, design and manage all development & development practices & outputs across squads (apply knowledge on virtualization, containerization, automation, storage & serverless technologies (e.g. AWS, Azure, Google, & on prem-Cloud, etc.)
• Ensure the most optimal design & deployment of technical products and services in the organization (via pipeline – not manually)
• Design & Implement Automation Testing, Continuous Integration & Continuous Delivery Strategies & frameworks across squads for effective solution development & deployment (understand and apply expert knowledge in e.g. Kubernetes, Jenkins, TeamCity, Arifactory, MS Powershell, Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) Tools, APM Tools (e.g. NewRelic & Splunk) etc.
• Ensure solution designs deliver on the key technical principles of: self-service, repeatability, testability, scalability & resilience
• Guide code development practices and processes through an understanding of complex concepts and developmental practices such as threading, parallel processing, asynchronous programming, domain driven design, lambdas etc. & coding language expertise (e.g. Java, C++, Groovy, Python, Bash, Perl, Ruby etc.)
• Guide & ensure the delivery of quality development (code) based on own experience in developing across a range of applications including but not limited to: server side, client side, web (SOAP, REST, JSON), socket based programming, batch & real time, building architectural patterns, security / security domains)
• Effectively manage the DevOps pipeline & associated releases for maximum customer impact & minimum business risk
• Manage the maintenance & optimization of applications, products & services as a ‘way of doing things / culture’ within the development teams. You are fully accountable for the longevity of applications aligned tGroup Architectural practices.
• Coach & Mentor senior developers across squads on the technical competencies teffectively deliver on DevOps solutions (see Dev competency model in skills & competencies section). Tdthis, display proficiency in the Senior level competency requirements.
• Delivery Management (where there is a specific product / service you manage)
• With fluency in the deployment of agile methodologies, resource & manage the appropriate number and nature (skill & capability) of squad based teams texecute on both Run & Change elements of delivery
• Work in collaboration with transformation & change teams for effective resourcing and delivery management of various programmes at all levels (SI, BU etc.)
• Ensure agile practices are implemented and sustained for effective delivery tbusiness e.g. RETRO’s etc.
• Positively & proactively manage product owner relationships including building product owner technical capability tenable balanced & best fit decision making
• Proactively engage with & partner CTO, CSO, SE, Risk and broader enablement functions tdrive alignment & leading practice in technology design & deployment
• People
• Set & Cascade Product & Service direction across squads
• Proactively attract, recruit, develop, retain, reward & deploy a diverse resource base aligned tan ever
• evolving tech environment (ahead of demand)
• Build a high performance team environment through self-directed teams by driving performance management & measurement that is aligned with agile working practices (including daily, weekly, etc. sprint routines, regular & honest feedback etc.)
• Accountable for the right people in the right teams tdeliver on our tech strategy (always!)
• Leverage coaching techniques in all squad related activity tdrive a higher quality design and deployment of technical products and services
• Financial & Vendor Management, Risk & Governance
• Carry the ‘one stop shop’ accountability for all risk associated with technical decision making (from ideation tdeployment)
• Manage & Apply the organization risk & governance frameworks
• Ensure decisions on infrastructure & product design are aligned tchapter & guild guidelines & are sustainable for the enterprise
• Proactively involve / engage chapter & guild leads in product design & infrastructure decision making, applying an enterprise wide lens tproduct & service development
• Manage all vendor selection processes & take full accountability for all related commercial impact
• Negotiate best fit contracts for the organization at an enterprise level and align decision making tour key business principles of scalability, resilience, captivity etc.
• Deliver on time & on budget (always)

Role/Person specification

Education and experience required

• 8-10+ years + experience
• Relevant B-Degree in Computer Science OR; equivalent level of industry certification in Technical field & essential if minimum requirements of experience & practical application in the following is evident:
• Cross domain knowledge
• Architecture
• Infrastructure Solutioning
• Testing
• Web Applications
• Service Side
• Influencing
• Automation
• Messaging
• Integration
• Solutioning
• SSL Security
• CI/CD etc.
• Experience & proven track record defining enterprise wide technical strategies single / limited product /. Service environment
• Experience in leading small – medium sized multifaceted teams
• Experience as an agile practitioner and knowledge or experience of other delivery methodologies e.g. Kanban, RUP etc.
• Excellent communication, analytical skills and decision making ability in collaborative environments
• Excellent understanding of specific coding / scripting languages e.g. Java, C#, Python, Perl, JavaScript
• Solid understanding of Object Oriented Design and ability tproperly apply general design patterns and paradigms
• Experience with test-driven development and domain driven design
• Solid understanding of messaging protocols and web services like SOAP and REST
• Experience with open-source relational databases
• Knowledge of application server containers: Tomcat, Jetty, JBoss, NodeJS, IIS, .Net Core etc.
• Good understanding of frameworks and libraries like JavaScript, jQuery, TypeScript, HTML, CSS
• Experience with CI / CD tools (like Jenkins, Bamboo, TFS, Azure Devops) and Artifact Management (preferably Nexus),
• Containerisation technologies like Docker & or orchestrators like Kubernetes
• Competencies: (Maximum of 8 competencies)
• Developing Strategies
• Exploring Possibilities
• Making Decisions
• Convincing People
• Directing People
• Embracing Change

Hands-on software engineering experience including:

• Operating Systems
• Windows, Linux
• Front-end Development
• Angular
• PrimeNG
• NGRX
• HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, JQuery or REACT.
• Workflow & Business Rules engines
• Activiti, Flowable or other
• Events
• Kafka
• Back-end Development
• Java EE (EJB, JPA, JSF, CDI) Java SE
• Spring Boot & Spring Cloud
• Integration
• ESB
• SOA
• API Connect
• Microservices
• Using technology such as Spring Cloud
• Databases
• Any or multiple of these. Postgress , SQLServer and Oracle preferred
• DevOps
• CI/CD using tools such as Jenkins
• Platforms
• OpenShift, Rancher, Docker, Kubernetes
• Security
• Spring Security, KeyCloak, AD. Good knowledge of Secure coding, Thread modeling, Configuration management, Platform security, Network security and Cryptography
• Operations:
• Logging such as ELK
• Monitoring Tools such as New Relic
• User management
• Performance
• Infrastructure automation
• Run book
• Basic UI/UX  design principles and skills.
• Mobile App Dev (Advantageous)
• Ways of Working Methodologies:

Agile either SCRUM, KANBAN, SAFE, LESS, DAD, “Spotify model”… better yet, individuals whcan chose which of these is appropriate, Tailor them or even use waterfall where the task calls for it.

• Waterfall