Engineering Manager (Discovery Backend)

 

Takealot.com, South Africa’s leading online retailer, is looking for a highly talented Engineering Manager to join the  Discovery Backend team in South Africa. We are a young, dynamic, hyper-growth company looking for smart, creative, hard-working people with integrity to join us! 

Think you’ve been challenged before? Think again!

• Scale: 4 million happy shoppers shop online on takealot.com. Show them what you can do.
• Learn: We work with the best of the best, and then some. Code alongside industry leaders and upskill in record time. 
• Grow: Expand your career in the fast-growing Takealot Group: takealot.com and Mr D. We like to promote from within: Here’s your chance. 

Who’s who in the tech space

The position reports to the Engineering Director (Storefront).

The Discovery Engineering Backend team is focused on the backend systems that allow our customers to discover products via our shopping platforms on web and app. They do this by designing, building, and troubleshooting systems that are secure, reliable, fault-tolerant, scalable, and efficient using technologies such as Python, Kafka, Kubernetes, and Google Cloud, among others.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it:

As the software engineering manager, you will lead a group of software engineers constantly striving for quality solutions that are delivered on time, within budget and scope, and drive a culture of quality and personal accountability.

You will need a strong understanding of large-scale full-stack platform development, and have experience building Front-end, Backend, and RESTful web applications.  You need to have a development background and have a good understanding of architectural practices. You will be an advocate of Agile engineering practices, and you will preferably have prior line management or leadership experience with a track record of keeping highly skilled developers motivated. You will need to successfully launch new products quickly, as well as manage a large existing codebase.

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a growing team of engineers working on Takealot.com's ambitious development roadmap.

This is a hands-on role: Your time will be split between the day-to-day people management and development required of a high-performing and successful team, along with the architectural and strategic planning with peers and senior engineers to deliver high-quality, performant systems at scale.

Minimum Qualifications & Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree or Advanced Diploma in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Engineering
• At least 5 years of Software Development experience building production-grade backend applications/systems 
• If you do not have a Bachelor’s Degree or an Advanced Diploma (in Computer Science, Mathematics, or Engineering), an equivalent experience requirement must be met, which equates to at least 8 years of Software Development experience building production-grade backend applications/systems
• 2 to 5 years of experience is required managing a team of engineers, including performance management.

Additional Preferred Skills & Experience:

• A thorough understanding of software engineering practices and best practices, including source code control systems, the use of IDEs, and testing tools
• Experience working within an agile team that is operationally hands-on and an advocate of that culture.
• Significant technical experience and a proven track record of architectural ownership and understanding.
• Experience in developing distributed, transactional, and highly available systems.
• Good RDBMS/SQL experience in a high-load environment.
• A thorough understanding of computer science fundamentals, including object-oriented design, data structures, and algorithms.
• Experience with building RESTful API’s and related microservices
• Experience working with cloud platforms like Google Cloud, AWS, and/or Azure is desirable
• Hands-on experience implementing web stacks using technologies such as Nginx, Varnish or similar desirable
• Previous experience in Web front-end development with PHP, HTML, and JavaScript, and related libraries (React, Angular, Backbone) is desirable
• Experience with Linux/Unix and UNIX tools.

Attributes Required:

• Customer-centric
• Works well with people, and is passionate about helping people be their best
• Shows solid reasoning and decision-making, with the ability to work under pressure
• Is passionate about technology, systems, and coding
• Is curious, always learning, and keeping up to date with the industry
• Self-motivated with a strong capability for fast learning
• Ability to work efficiently both independently and within the team
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to understand and critique requirements. 

Let’s talk about life @ Takealot Group

• The power is in your hands: We offer a market-related, Total Remuneration Package that allows full flexibility according to your needs. Go on, be the master of your own destiny.
• No doors: We aren’t fans of stuffy offices or siloed work environments. See someone you like? High five, collab, and make something great.
• Remote working: Love water cooler chats and working from home? Takealot.com offers a hybrid working model for the best of both worlds.
• Mentorship programme: We aren’t kidding when we say the people with the best people win. Now’s your chance to be one of the best by learning from the best.
• Naspers Tech Community & Online Learning: Share ideas and grow with global industry leaders who are all just a Slack message away. Do you love to learn? Skill up with free access to courses on MyAcademy, Udacity, Coursera, and more.
• Good times: Get to know the other extraordinary minds at takealot.com during regular social events and out-of-office activities (think hikes, think mini golf, think good times).
• Staff discount. Millions of products across 28 departments. What more could you ask for?
• Birthday leave: Cake Day all the way. Enjoy your day off - you deserve it. 
• Right tools, right job: Mac or Windows, two monitors or one. Whatever your preference, you’ll work on the latest tech, off the latest tech.
• Help when you need it most: Confidential counselling, legal support, and financial guidance, for free, anytime, anywhere. 
• Tech stack (for days): ReactJS, Python, Scala, Kotlin, Swift, Google Cloud, Kafka, Redis, Kubernetes, and all things machine learning. If you build it, they will come.
• Free parking: No more 5km fun runs to your desk (unless you want to). 

Like what you see? 

If you meet the above, you are an Extraordinary Mind. Apply today!!

Takealot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants from previously disadvantaged groups and people with disabilities will be given preference.