Lead Developer (Hands-On) (Head of Technology) Ca

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. It’s 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 Town–based 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
• Collabo
  
  https://www.executiveplacements.com/Jobs/H/Head-of-Technology-Cape-Town-1258840-Job-Search-02-04-2026-01-00-16-AM.asp?sid=gumtree