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Clicks Group LimitedActive opening

Managed API Services Technical Lead

Cape Town, WC, ZAFound today
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Listing reference: 028011 Listing status: Online Apply by: 16 November 2026

Position summary

Industry: Wholesale & Retail Trade Job category: IT and Telecommunications Location: Cape Town Contract: Permanent EE position: Yes

About our company

Clicks Group

Introduction

To provide hands-on technical leadership and first-line people management for a team of Junior, Intermediate and Senior Backend Service Developers. The role is accountable for the design, development, quality, delivery and operational support of secure RESTful services and microservices in a containerized environment, primarily using .NET and C#. The Technical Lead balances approximately 60% hands-on solution design and development with 40% team coaching, management and leadership, ensuring that delivery commitments, engineering standards and employee development are managed effectively.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

========================

Hands-on Technical Design and Development - Approximately 60%

  • Lead the detailed technical design of backend services, RESTful APIs and microservices within approved solution architecture and enterprise standards.

  • Remain hands-on in developing, reviewing, testing, troubleshooting and improving .NET and C# services, particularly for complex or high-risk components.

  • Decompose solution designs and business requirements into implementable technical tasks, service boundaries, interfaces and acceptance criteria.

  • Guide the implementation of containerised services using Docker and approved orchestration and deployment platforms.

  • Ensure services meet non-functional requirements for security, resilience, scalability, performance, supportability, observability and maintainability.

  • Define and enforce engineering practices covering coding standards, API design, automated testing, version control, branching, documentation and secure development.

  • Lead peer reviews of code and technical designs and ensure that material defects and technical risks are resolved before release.

  • Work with Solution Architects, integration specialists, DevOps engineers, security teams, analysts, testers and product stakeholders to deliver end-to-end solutions.

  • Contribute to CI/CD pipelines, release automation, environment configuration, operational readiness and production-support practices.

  • Lead diagnosis and resolution of complex defects and production incidents, including root-cause analysis and preventative improvements.

  • Identify technical debt and recommend practical remediation, modernisation and continuous-improvement actions.

  • Evaluate relevant frameworks, libraries, platforms and development approaches through controlled technical assessments or proofs of concept.

Team Leadership and First-line Management - Approximately 40%

  • Lead, coach and manage Junior, Intermediate and Senior Backend Service Developers, setting clear expectations for delivery, quality and professional conduct.

  • Allocate work according to delivery priorities, developer capability, development needs and available capacity.

  • Monitor work progress, remove impediments, manage dependencies and escalate delivery, quality, capacity or people risks early.

  • Conduct regular one-on-one discussions, provide timely feedback and support individual development plans and career progression.

  • Manage performance objectives and formal performance-review activities in accordance with organisational processes.

  • Manage day-to-day people administration, including leave planning and approval, attendance, team coverage and workload balancing.

  • Support recruitment, technical assessment, selection, onboarding and probation activities for backend development roles.

  • Create mentoring, pairing and knowledge-sharing opportunities across junior, intermediate and senior levels.

  • Promote an inclusive, accountable and collaborative engineering culture focused on learning, quality and continuous improvement.

  • Participate in sprint and capacity planning and provide transparent reporting on delivery status, risks, resource needs and team health.

  • Address performance or conduct concerns fairly, consistently and promptly, engaging Human Resources and the line manager where required.

  • Support succession planning and development of future senior developers and technical leaders.

Minimum requirements

Job Related Knowledge

  • Advanced knowledge of C#, .NET, ASP.NET Core and object-oriented software development.

  • Strong knowledge of REST API design, HTTP, OpenAPI, service versioning, error handling and backward compatibility.

  • Strong understanding of microservices, distributed systems, service boundaries, resilience patterns and asynchronous processing.

  • Practical experience with Docker and working knowledge of Kubernetes or an equivalent container-orchestration platform.

  • Software architecture and design principles including SOLID, dependency injection, domain modelling and common enterprise patterns.

  • API and application security, including OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, JSON Web Tokens, OWASP principles, secrets management and least-privilege access.

  • Relational database design, SQL, transactions, indexing and data-access frameworks such as Entity Framework Core.

  • Automated testing approaches including unit, integration, contract, API, performance and regression testing.

  • CI/CD, source control, pull-request workflows, release management and DevSecOps practices.

  • Observability practices including structured logging, metrics, tracing, correlation, alerting and production diagnostics.

  • Agile delivery, estimation, work planning, risk management and the software development lifecycle.

  • First-line people-management practices including performance management, coaching, leave administration, recruitment and employee development.

  • Working understanding of architecture governance and the respective accountabilities of Enterprise Architects, Solution Architects and Technical Leads.

Job Experience

  • 10 or more years of software development experience, preferably with a substantial focus on backend services and enterprise application development.

  • At least 5 years of strong practical experience developing backend services using .NET and C#.

  • Proven experience designing and delivering RESTful APIs, microservices and containerised services in production environments.

  • Experience acting as a Technical Lead, Lead Developer or equivalent, with accountability for technical design, code quality and delivery outcomes.

  • Practical experience coaching developers and coordinating technical work across mixed levels of seniority.

  • Previous formal line-management experience is advantageous; candidates must demonstrate readiness to perform first-level managerial responsibilities.

  • Experience with production support, root-cause analysis and remediation of complex service issues.

  • Experience collaborating with architects, product or business stakeholders, security, quality assurance, DevOps and operational teams.

  • Experience with cloud platforms, container orchestration, API management, event-driven architecture or messaging is advantageous.

Education

Essential

  • Bachelor's degree or diploma in Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant professional experience.

Preferred

  • Relevant Microsoft .NET or cloud certification.

  • Leadership or people-management training.

  • Certification or formal training in Kubernetes, secure software development, Agile delivery or DevOps is advantageous.

Job Related Competencies

============================

Technical Competencies

  • Technical design and hands-on backend development

  • REST API and microservices engineering

  • Containerised application delivery

  • Code quality and engineering governance

  • Secure software development

  • Troubleshooting and technical decision-making

  • DevOps, CI/CD and operational readiness

  • Technical risk and dependency management

Leadership and Management Competencies

  • People leadership and coaching

  • Performance and development management

  • Work allocation and capacity planning

  • Decision-making and accountability

  • Constructive feedback and conflict resolution

  • Stakeholder communication and influence

  • Planning, organising and delivery management

  • Building team capability and succession

Behavioural Competencies

  • Leads by example

  • Balances delivery urgency with engineering quality

  • Creates psychological safety for learning and challenge

  • Communicates clearly and transparently

  • Acts fairly and consistently as a people manager

  • Maintains composure under pressure

  • Demonstrates business and customer awareness

  • Promotes continuous improvement

Desirable Skills

====================

  • Azure, AWS or another enterprise cloud platform.

  • Kubernetes and service-platform operations.

  • Event-driven architecture and messaging using Kafka, RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus or similar technologies.

  • API gateways and API management platforms.

  • Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, Bicep or equivalent.

  • NoSQL databases, distributed caching and high-volume service design.

  • Application performance monitoring and observability platforms.

  • Experience supporting enterprise architecture standards and solution-governance reviews.

Key Success Measures

========================

  • Predictable delivery of backend services that meet agreed functional and non-functional requirements.

  • Consistent adherence to coding, security, testing, documentation and deployment standards.

  • Reduction in escaped defects, recurring incidents and unmanaged technical debt.

  • Effective team capacity, leave coverage, work allocation and delivery visibility.

  • Completion of performance reviews, development plans, coaching and people-management activities within required cycles.

  • Measurable growth in developer capability, autonomy and succession readiness.

  • Positive collaboration with architecture, product, delivery, security, DevOps and operational stakeholders.

Career Development

======================

This role provides a progression path toward Software Development Manager, Engineering Manager, Principal Engineer, Solution Architect or other senior technical and people-leadership roles. Development should balance increasing accountability for people leadership with continued depth in backend service architecture, engineering governance and enterprise delivery.

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