Technical Lead

TECHNICAL LEAD, DEPLOYMENT (WORKFORCE)

THE ROLE

We’re looking for a Technical Lead to lead the people, engineering and delivery of our Deployment team – the team supporting the operational elements of every Nandoca’s working life, from getting scheduled and showing up, to learning and developing in role.

You’ll own how the team runs and delivers, including stand-ups, planning, backlog, architecture and solution design , while also line-managing, coaching and developing our engineers.

This is a hands-on leadership role . You’ll stay close to the code through reviewing, pairing and tackling the harder engineering problems, while owning the bar for quality, resilience and security across everything the team ships.

Coaching and growing engineers is central to the role. You might already be leading a team, or you might be a senior engineer with a strong track record of mentoring and coaching who is ready to step into formal team leadership.

What matters most is that you can build a team that is kind, high-performing and safe to be honest in .

THE DEPLOYMENT TEAM

Our remit is the operational backbone of every Nandoca’s working life – from scheduling and shift management through to learning, development and reward.

We own the Labour Engine and Employee Services API , our integrations with Rotageek for scheduling and Workday to help ensure Nandocas are paid on time, as well as the services behind Thrive that support learning and skills development.

We’re also actively refactoring and redesigning our Careers Site , working closely with the Customer Web Experience team to improve our employer value proposition.

Our current stack includes:

- TypeScript and Node

- Bun, Koa and PostGraphile

- Google Cloud Run and Cloud Functions

- Postgres via Cloud SQL

- Terraform

- React and Next.js

- Vercel

• Integrations with Workday and Okta

We hold our tools with strong opinions, loosely held . We choose what is right for the job and are always open to moving the team’s thinking forward.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING

Running the team and delivery

• Own how the team runs, including stand-ups, planning and backlog management.

• Take accountability for the team’s overall delivery.

• Spot blockers early, balance scope and make the calls that keep delivery moving.

Technical direction and architecture

• Own the technical direction of our Deployment products.

• Lead architecture and solution design decisions.

• Keep our products healthy, scalable and maintainable.

• Understand how our services connect with Workday, Okta and the wider Nandoca ecosystem.

• Bring considered recommendations on new tools and engineering approaches.

Quality, resilience and security

• Own the bar for engineering quality, reliability and security.

• Design for failure and keep availability and recovery front of mind.

• Lead incident response and run blameless post-mortems .

• Champion strong observability, logging, monitoring, alerting and tracing.

• Build security in by design, particularly around employee and pay data.

• Maintain high standards across testing, automation and code quality.

Leading and developing engineers

• Line-manage a team of engineers through regular one-to-ones, feedback and development plans.

• Coach and mentor engineers at every level.

• Set a clear technical vision that connects engineering work to what matters for Nandocas and the business.

• Build a culture that is kind, accountable and psychologically safe .

• Play a leading role in hiring and building a strong, diverse team.

Working with Product and Delivery

• Bring engineering into conversations early, including feasibility, estimation and technical discovery.

• Surface dependencies and risks early.

• Work closely with the Workday and Okta platform teams.

• Partner with the Customer Web Experience team on the Careers Site redesign.

• Work with key vendors including Rotageek.

• Contribute to the wider Nando’s engineering community.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

You’ll have:

• Strong backend engineering expertise across TypeScript and Node .

• Hands-on experience with Bun, Koa, PostGraphile or similar frameworks .

• Experience running services on Google Cloud , including Cloud Run, Cloud Functions and Cloud SQL.

• Experience with Terraform or similar infrastructure-as-code tooling.

• A strong track record of mentoring and coaching engineers .

• Experience helping a team plan, prioritise and deliver effectively.

• The ability to set technical direction and make strong architecture and tooling decisions.

• A solid understanding of engineering quality, reliability, resilience, observability and testing .

• A practical secure-by-design mindset.

• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical decisions clearly.

NICE TO HAVE

• Formal line-management experience.

• Experience with Workday, Okta or similar HR/workforce platforms .

• Familiarity with scheduling or workforce management systems.

• Experience with modern CI/CD and Biome-based tooling.

• Familiarity with React and Next.js .

YOU ARE

• Kind and empathetic.

• People-focused and genuinely energised by growing engineers.

• A strong communicator.

• Comfortable balancing technical quality, business impact and team capacity.

• Passionate about building technology that supports the day-to-day working lives of our Nandocas.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME

At Nando’s, we know our best work comes from teams that reflect the full range of people we serve.

Inspired by our Southern African heritage, we’re committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole self to work, regardless of background, identity or life experience.

If you’re excited about this role but don’t meet every single point above, please apply anyway .

We care far more about your values, curiosity and how you lead people than whether your CV ticks every box.

Skills can be grown. The right mindset is what we’re really looking for.

We’ll consider any reasonable adjustments to support you through the recruitment process – just let us know what you need.