HEAD OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (Retail Labs)

Role Overview

The Head of Software Engineering at Retail Labs (Pty) Ltd is a founding technical leadership role responsible for building and leading the engineering team that will design, develop and maintain a stock management system. This system will integrate with enterprise platforms including SAP, point-of-sale systems, warehouse systems and client finance systems, beginning with an anchor client.

This is a build-from-scratch mandate. The Head of Software Engineering will be instrumental in recruiting the Retail Labs engineering team, defining the technical architecture and establishing the engineering culture and delivery practices that will carry the business through its initial commercial phase and beyond.

Retail Labs operates as a subsidiary of Evermarc Holdings. The engineering team will provide cross-capability support where required.

Key Working Relationships

• Client technical counterparts

• Data Analyst / Engineer / Scientist (if relevant)

• Demand Planner (new)

• Designer (if relevant)

• E Centive engineering lead (cross-group continuity)

• Executive Head

• Full Stack Developers (new)

• Group Departments

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience leading software engineering teams, preferably in a product or platform company.

• Demonstrable experience delivering systems that integrate with enterprise platforms such as SAP, ERP or warehouse management systems.

• Experience recruiting and building a high-performing engineering team from the ground up.

• Strong background in full-stack web and API development, cloud architecture and database design.

• Familiarity with data-intensive systems, supply chain logic or inventory/replenishment domains is a strong advantage.

• Experience with AI-assisted development, automation tooling or Model-Centric Programming approaches is advantageous.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical teams and non-technical business stakeholders.

Core Responsibilities

Team Building and Recruitment

• Lead the end-to-end recruitment process for the Retail Labs engineering team.

• Define role specifications, conduct technical interviews and make hiring recommendations to the Executive Head.

• Establish onboarding processes and engineering standards from the outset.

Technical Architecture and Strategy

• Define the system architecture for the stock management system, covering data ingestion, replenishment logic, integration layers and front-end interfaces.

• Design and own the integration strategy with SAP, POS systems, warehouse systems and client finance platforms.

• Establish cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, version control standards and deployment practices.

• Evaluate and adopt appropriate AI and automation tooling to maximise delivery velocity with a lean team.

Engineering Delivery and Quality

• Lead sprint planning and delivery governance, ensuring features are delivered on time and to the required quality standard.

• Conduct design reviews and code reviews, setting and enforcing engineering quality gates.

• Define and monitor engineering quality metrics including defect rates, system uptime and technical debt.

• Identify and resolve technical blockers proactively.

Cross-Group Business Continuity

• Serve as a technical resource and continuity backstop for the engineering teams under the Evermarc Holdings group.

• Maintain sufficient cross-knowledge of the group’s technical stack to provide support or coverage where required.

Technical Mentorship and Team Development

• Provide ongoing technical mentorship to junior and mid-level engineers.

• Define and maintain technical competency frameworks and growth tracks for the Retail Labs engineering function.

• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, shared ownership and continuous improvement.

Governance and Compliance

• Ensure engineering practices align with ISO 27001:2022 Information Security Management System (ISMS) requirements. Retail Labs operates to this standard in preparation for inclusion in the existing certification scope upon re-certification.

• Promote secure-by-design development practices, enforce secure coding standards and ensure the engineering team operates with full awareness of ISMS policies.

• Participate in ISO policy reviews, internal audits and compliance initiatives as required by the Information Security Officer.

• Ensure access control, data protection and risk management principles are embedded in the design and operation of all Retail Labs systems, particularly given the sensitivity of client inventory and financial data.

Operational and Financial Stewardship

• Provide technical input into capacity planning and resource forecasting.

• Advise on tooling, infrastructure and licensing costs to inform budget planning.

• Contribute to technical input for client proposals, scoping documents and commercial

Key Expectations

• Recruit, onboard and lead a high-functioning lean engineering team capable of delivering a complex enterprise integration product.

• Deliver the initial version of the stock management system to agreed client requirements and timelines.

• Own the technical architecture, code quality and engineering standards of all Retail Labs software products.

• Maintain active cross-group relationships to fulfil the business continuity mandate within Evermarc Holdings.

• Champion a culture of speed, security and responsibility within the Retail Labs engineering team.