Head of Engineering

About Our Client

Our client is a well‑established and fast‑growing digital agency based in Cape Town, delivering high‑quality technology solutions across web, mobile, platform engineering and financial technology. They are a creative, people‑first organisation that invests deeply in craft, quality and the growth of their team. As they scale, they are looking for an exceptional engineering leader to step into a newly created role and take full ownership of their engineering function.

This is a newly created senior leadership position, which means the successful candidate will have the rare opportunity to shape the role, the team structure and the engineering culture from the ground up. You will lead a multi‑disciplinary engineering team spanning full stack development, backend and CMS engineering, QA, delivery operations and fintech and you will be the most senior engineering voice in the business.

You will report directly to the executive leadership team and work closely with account management, marketing & design, strategy and project management to ensure engineering capability is always aligned to business ambition and client delivery.

This is not a purely technical role. Our client is looking for someone who leads with both technical authority and people intelligence — someone who can set direction, grow a team and hold the bar high across everything that gets built.

• Full Stack Development
• QA, Scrum and Engineering Operations
• Backend and CMS Engineering (Umbraco / .NET)
• Fintech and Financial Technology

• Set and own the technical direction, engineering standards and architectural principles across all disciplines within the engineering function
• Drive best practice across the team including clean code, version control, code reviews, security standards, documentation and CI/CD workflows
• Lead architectural decision‑making ensuring solutions are scalable, maintainable and aligned to client and business requirements
• Champion innovation by actively tracking emerging technologies and AI‑assisted development tools and bringing relevant insights back into the team’s practice
• Build and maintain the engineering identity of the organisation — shaping how the team works, what it stands for and how it is perceived internally and externally

• Directly manage a team of senior direct reports across full stack, backend, QA, fintech and engineering operations disciplines
• Conduct regular one‑on‑ones, monthly performance check‑ins and annual reviews in line with the organisation’s structured performance framework
• Identify development focus areas for each team member and co‑create actionable growth plans
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, psychological safety, continuous learning and shared accountability
• Lead the onboarding of new engineering hires and maintain effective handover processes as the team evolves
• Actively support recruitment and team growth as the engineering function scales

• Oversee end‑to‑end engineering delivery across client and internal projects, ensuring work is delivered on time, within budget and to the quality standards expected by the business and its clients
• Monitor billable time targets across the engineering team and take proactive corrective action where targets are at risk Review and sign off on technical proposals, solution architectures and development scopes before client submission
• Identify and resolve delivery bottlenecks, technical debt, scope creep and workflow inefficiencies before they impact output
• Ensure thorough brief interpretation and structured QA processes are embedded in every delivery workflow

• Take accountability for the engineering function’s contribution to business financial performance including billable output, delivery efficiency and cost management
• Contribute to business development through technical input on proposals, client pitches and solution scoping
• Implement engineering efficiencies that reduce rework costs, improve delivery speed and minimise unnecessary external expenditure
• Track and report on engineering…