Working Practices: Hybrid | Mondays and Thursday in office and remaining days remote
Contract Type: Permanent
Working Hours: 07H00 - 15H30 SAST
Reports to: Head of Information Technology (Australia based)
Role Summary
The Technology Services Lead is a key in-country leadership position responsible for the day-to-day management, pastoral care, and operational enablement of the OPM technology team based in Cape Town. This includes oversight of a multi-disciplinary group comprising Application Developers, Data Engineers, QA Specialists, and Salesforce Developers, who report functionally to various Melbourne-based technical leads.
This role provides in-country leadership to ensure that the team is engaged, supported, and delivering high-quality outcomes. It involves monitoring the work pipeline, coordinating local resourcing, and enabling effective delivery of BAU, projects, and strategic initiatives in line with agreed timelines. Importantly, the role is also responsible for supporting the smooth onboarding and integration of all new team members, coordinating readiness across HR, IT, and functional teams.
The Technology Services Lead works in close collaboration with technical leads and stakeholders across Australia, the UK, and South Africa.
Key Responsibilities
People Leadership & Management:
- Provide day-to-day leadership, pastoral support, and line management for the Cape Town Technology Team. This includes the provision of in- the- moment coaching, feedback and guidance where required
- Act as a primary contact for team support, clarification of processes, and escalation of immediate issues.
- In collaboration with Australian Lead, ensure all team members have active development plans, and their professional development and growth is supported
- Foster a collaborative, high-performing, and inclusive team environment through effectively engaging, motivating and driving the team
- Support the Australian lead with performance reviews and any performance related management activities
- Lead or contribute to initiatives that enhance the Cape Town employee experience, including engagement, team rituals, and recognition practices.
- Manage local operational tasks such as leave tracking, team updates, and local systems administration, ensuring accurate information flows.
Workforce Coordination & Delivery Enablement:
- Monitor team workload and pipeline to ensure alignment with global priorities and local capacity.
- Partner with Melbourne & UK based functional leads to confirm priorities, plan resourcing, and identify training or support needs.
- Coordinate local delivery rhythms (e.g. stand-ups, sprint planning, check-ins) to maintain focus and momentum across workstreams in line with delivery timelines.
- Identify and help resolve delivery challengers early, escalating issues as needed to prevent delays.
- Track key dependencies and timelines across teams to support efficient and coordinated on time delivery.
- Collaborate with Australian & UK leads to review and approve planned leave to maintain delivery continuity.
Stakeholder Engagement:
- Act as a key interface between Cape Town and global stakeholders building strong relationships with Australian technical leads and delivery partners.
- Facilitate effective engagement between the technology team and other Cape Town-based teams to support cross-functional unity and collaboration.
- Maintain visibility of active workstreams, planned initiatives and upcoming priorities, ensuring clear, timely and transparent communication across geographies.
- Promote alignment with global expectations, while advocating for local team needs and perspectives.
- Support cross-functional collaboration and delivery efficiency.
Governance, Planning & Reporting:
- Track and report on team performance, resourcing, and engagement.
- Participate in strategic planning discussions with Australian technical leads, providing a local perspective on capacity and delivery risks.
- Support recruitment and onboarding of new hires, ensuring alignment to local culture and fit. Technical assessments and hiring decisions remain with Australian leads.
- Escalate challenges, blockers, risks, and delivery concerns appropriately, maintaining transparency and alignment.
What does success look like?
- Effective, high quality delivery of IT services across BAU and project workstreams.
- A cohesive, highly engaged and productive Cape Town Technology Team.
- Seamless collaboration and delivery alignment with Australian based technical leads and stakeholders.
- Clear visibility of capacity, resourcing, priorities and operational risks.
- Timely, well-coordinated delivery of work across all technical domains.
- Improved team engagement, local leadership visibility, talent development, and retention of top talent.
Requirements
Skills, Experience and Qualifications
Essential:
- Proven experience in leading multidisciplinary technical teams in an agile, distributed environment.
- Strong background in digital product and platform delivery.
- Exceptional people leadership and pastoral care capabilities, particularly in a cross functional or matrixed team.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills across time zones and cultures.
- Experience balancing delivery demands with team engagement and wellbeing.
Desirable:
- Previous experience in an IT Service Delivery Role or team enablement role.
- Familiarity with modern development stacks including React, Node.js and AWS.
- Experience in an education technology, higher education or OPM (Online Program Management) context.
Benefits
About Construct
Construct Education is a fee-for-service digital learning solutions company specializing in the design of innovative, impactful, and bespoke digital learning experiences. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of OES, a global leader in education solutions, we continue to push the boundaries of online education. Construct Education is committed to redefining online education in a way that prepares learners for real-world challenges and helps them succeed in their careers. Our vision is for everyone to have access to meaningful education through superior online programs.
Company Culture & Values
We are a people-focused organisation with a culture built around collaboration, connection, and working together toward one common goal. Our vibrant, values-led culture is grounded in four core principles that guide everything we do:
Passion and Perseverance: We love what we do (even though it’s not always easy) and take pride in creating transformative learning experiences. We bring a ‘can-do’ attitude to our work, tackling challenges and inspiring others.
Teamwork: We operate as cross-functional teams globally with trust and respect, celebrating success. We have fun while we work and enjoy collaborating with each other and OES partners.
Agility and Innovation: We are innovative, lateral thinkers who use our skills to do things better for our students. We thrive in ambiguity, embrace change and challenge conventional thinking.
Integrity: We do what’s right, and what we say we will do, every time. We value a culture of respectful feedback and believe that respect trumps harmony.
What We Offer*
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Medical allowance
- Commute allowance
- Flexible work for genuine career-life fit
- A healthy and supportive company culture
- Generous annual leave
- Paid maternity and paternity benefits
- Study leave
- Professional development and mentoring
- Construct Culture Club events
- Company funded lunch and drinks every 6 weeks
*Policy T&Cs apply for certain benefits
