Cape Town: Lead Developer (Hands-On) (Head of Technology) Cape Town (Hybrid: 3 days in office – Woodstock, 2 days remote) posted by DataFin Recruitment

ENVIRONMENT

Our client is a well-established digital agency working with world-class luxury travel and hospitality brands. After years of rapid growth and innovation, they are entering a phase where execution, stability, and delivery excellence are the priority.

They are seeking a hands-on Head of Technology / Developer Team Lead, someone who is technically strong, people-focused, and calm under pressure. This role is not about being distant or purely strategic. Its about leading from the front, owning delivery, and building a stable, high-performing engineering function in a fast-paced agency environment.

This is a Cape Townbased hybrid role (3 days in office, 2 days remote) and is suited to someone who enjoys agency velocity, cares deeply about quality, and knows how to lead without ego.

THE ROLE

You will act as the technical anchor and team lead for a group of Full Stack Developers, owning both technical delivery and people leadership.

This role has historically been difficult to fill, not because of culture, but because it requires a rare balance of:

• Strong technical capability
• Emotional intelligence
• Calm, credible leadership
• Comfort with agency pace and accountability

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Hands-On Technical Leadership

• Remain close to the code and delivery, providing technical direction and unblockers
• Lead and mentor Full Stack Developers while maintaining technical fluency
• Set and uphold standards for code quality, architecture, security, and reliability
• Guide development across web platforms, CMS builds, APIs, and infrastructure
• Own production stability and technical outcomes across client and internal platforms

Delivery, Infrastructure & Reliability

• Oversee hosting environments, deployments, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring
• Ensure security best practices, backups, documentation, and incident readiness
• Reduce operational risk through systems, validation, and preventative improvements
• Lead infrastructure upgrades and platform evolution pragmatically (no rebuild-for-ego)

Architecture & Platform Ownership

• Guide architectural decisions with a focus on maintainability, performance, and scale
• Manage technical debt sensibly while keeping delivery moving
• Partner with leadership on internal platforms and proprietary tooling (Next.js-based)
• Balance short-term agency delivery with long-term platform health

People & Culture Leadership

• Build a calm, accountable, execution-focused tech culture
• Mentor developers and help them grow without micromanaging
• Encourage autonomy while maintaining high standards
• Collaborate closely with Marketing, Client Experience, Ops, and Leadership
• Lead with credibility, emotional intelligence, and trust

Commercial & Leadership Contribution

• Act as the senior technical voice in leadership discussions
• Support accurate scoping, estimation, and delivery planning
• Protect margins through sound technical decisions and realistic timelines
• Partner closely with the CEO on technology direction and resourcing

REQUIREMENTS

Essential

• 8+ years experience in full-stack web development, with deep hands-on experience in JavaScript / Next.js, CMS platforms (WordPress, Payload), REST APIs, and cloud infrastructure, this is not a people-only leadership role.
• Proven experience leading developers in a delivery-focused environment
• Strong JavaScript foundations (Next.js or similar)
• Experience with CMS-driven and custom web platforms (WordPress, Payload, etc.)
• Solid understanding of APIs, CI/CD, version control, and cloud environments
• Strong grasp of security, reliability, and operational risk
• Experience in agency, SaaS, or high-output delivery environments
• Based in Cape Town and open to hybrid work (3 days in office)

Nice to Have

• Experience with DigitalOcean or similar cloud providers
• Exposure to performance optimisation, CRO, and SEO from a technical perspective
• Experience contributing to internal platforms or proprietary products
• Familiarity with headless CMS and API-first architectures
• Experience inheriting and stabilising existing systems rather than rebuilding

ATTRIBUTES (IMPORTANT)

• A hands-on technical leader, not a distant manager
• Calm, grounded, and confident, no ego, no insecurity
• People-focused with strong EQ and ethical leadership
• Comfortable owning imperfect systems and improving them steadily
• Thrives in fast-moving agency environments
• Commercially aware and understands the impact of tech decisions
• Motivated by execution, stability, and team success, not novelty