Software Technical Team Lead

An established New Zealand electronics company with products in use around the world is now hiring a Software Technical Team Lead to provide hands on technical leadership across the embedded, mobile and desktop software developed by its Christchurch team.

In this role you will lead a team of around 8-10 engineers who all work together in the same building, roughly half of whom write the embedded firmware that runs on the company’s electronic products, with the remainder building the mobile apps and desktop software that sit alongside them. You will still be writing production code yourself, developing and reviewing C codes for 32-bit microcontrollers in both bare metal and RTOS environments, while acting as the team’s main technical point of contact: reviewing code, mentoring engineers, stepping in to help people through problems as they arise and setting the technical standard the team works to. You will plan and allocate work across the team’s internal software projects, balancing people and priorities against delivery deadlines, and turn the architecture defined by a dedicated software architect into working, shipped product, partnering with a project manager who looks after scheduling at the wider project level. This is a hands on lead role built on embedded engineering, rather than a supervisory role that steps back from the code, and rather than one led by mobile, web or PC application development, so your own technical depth needs to sit in firmware and the hardware it runs on. It also sits alongside a separate architecture function rather than owning it, so the focus is on leading engineers and delivering well engineered software rather than defining long term system design on your own. It suits someone who enjoys staying close to the code and the hardware, gets satisfaction from helping other engineers grow, and is comfortable moving between a debugging session and a resourcing conversation in the same afternoon. The ideal background is one shaped by shipping embedded products that run in the real world, with formal or informal leadership of a small engineering team, rather than a purely people management career or a background centred on application software.

This is a full time, Christchurch based role working on site, supported by a flexible work policy that allows working hours to be adjusted around personal commitments. Remote work is not available. For candidates outside Christchurch, relocation is required, and relocation support can be considered for the right person.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the day to day technical work of a software team spanning embedded firmware, mobile applications and desktop software.
• Remain hands on in embedded development, designing, writing and debugging C for microcontroller-based products in bare metal and RTOS environments.
• Review code, provide technical guidance and mentor engineers so that quality and capability grow across the team.
• Plan and allocate resources across internal software projects, managing technical delivery against deadlines in partnership with the project manager.
• Implement the software architecture defined by the architecture function, turning design intent into reliable, maintainable product code.
• Act as the team’s primary technical point of contact, resolving blockers and coordinating with the wider engineering organisation.

Requirements:

• Degree in electrical, electronic, computer or software engineering, computer science or a related discipline.
• Strong commercial experience developing embedded software in C for 32-bit microcontrollers, across both bare metal and RTOS based systems, that you are still actively writing.
• Experience leading or technically guiding an embedded software team, whether in a formal team lead role or as a senior or principal engineer who has carried those responsibilities.
• Demonstrated ability to manage technical delivery, including allocating work, balancing priorities and meeting deadlines across concurrent projects.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to mentor engineers, run constructive code reviews and work closely with project management and architecture.

Desirable but not essential:

• Hands on experience with STM32, ESP32 or Nordic microcontroller platforms.
• Enough familiarity with mobile or desktop software that connects to embedded products to guide engineers working in those areas.
• Experience in a product development environment where software ships inside commercial electronic hardware.

Please reach out to harold@profoundpeople.com.au for more info