We are looking for a Technical Director to join our team

• Full time position
• Join a young & dynamic team
• Sydney, CBD based
• Salary based on skills & experience

A little bit about us

This is a fantastic opportunity for an enthusiastic person to join an experienced digital agency. Gruden (www.gruden.com) has been around for 16+ years and we have a great mix of well-known brands – AMP, Disney Channel, AusGrid, Tourism Australia, Zurich, Walt Disney to name a few – all of which you’d be working on.

We have offices in Sydney, Malaysia, China and currently around 60+ strong.

Position Scope

A great opportunity to lead & manage a team of web & mobile application software developers in a multinational digital agency.

As the Technical Director, you will be part of the core leadership team, reporting directly to the CEO. Your strong development and team management background will help you form a strategy to meet the company’s goals, whilst getting the best out of your team. Driving innovation, quality control and overseeing proposed technology solutions and architecture for our clients.

You will be responsible for the quality and technical approach taken by your team members, and that projects are delivered on time and on budget. You will create and maintain a professional culture within the team, and encourage individuals to take ownership and to deliver top quality work. You will represent the company within the industry as required.

Key Responsibilities
Leadership
To lead and manage a team of software developers with varied front end and back end development skills. Line management responsibilities will include technical recruitment, appraisals, daily meetings, identifying training needs, motivating and performance managing the team.

Strategic Direction, Planning & Technical Leadership
To drive the strategic direction of our products & services taking into account emerging and legacy technologies. To oversee strategy for both product and bespoke code base platform definition and implementation. To strategically decide whether we can inherit existing /support legacy code bases – and how we handle are growing levels of software support.

Software Development
To keep up to date with the latest software development technologies and methodologies. To drive consistent standards and approaches throughout the team. To work with key team members to build future-proof reusable core code libraries, which can be shared, in-order to drive further efficiencies throughout the team. To ensure your team delivers code which is well tested and consistently error free. To design and build database schema’s with integrity and scalability with data access layers that are optimised for performance and security.

Consistency within Team
Facilitate technology and methodology decision making throughout team, including standardisation of system architecture, reusable code base development, versions of software tools, best practice, source control and deployment processes.

Day to Day management Management of Team.
Assisting in resourcing decisions. Reviewing project progress and overview of the performance of all individuals in team. Coaching and performance management where necessary. Facilitating the smooth delivery of all projects, enhancements and support delivered by the team.

Support & Problem Solving
To use your experience when reviewing and auditing legacy code. To assist or assign the best person to assist in critical support issues where experience is required to ascertain the issue quickly and to find the more appropriate resolution. To take control over critical support instances and putting into place the correct escalation and process to manage and resolve issue as soon as possible.

Pro-active Communication of Opportunities
Creating a culture of promoting new ideas or up-sell opportunities within the team for our client’s. Encouraging pro-active discussions with client delivery and account management teams.

Process Improvements
To contribute regularly to discussions regarding internal process and system improvements in order to ensure maximum efficiency across the company. Including suggesting technical solutions to problems.

Cross Team Collaboration and Initiatives
To instigate cross team ideas and initiatives – to bring products and services together. To make sure the development team are integrating other team’s services efficiently and that they are offering technical input into how all services can be delivered and improved. To strive to ensure that processes and appropriate levels of knowledge are shared between teams.

New Business & Pre-Sales Support
To lead and oversee all technical quotes, analysis, specifications to make sure they are complete and accurate. To support the business development team with pre sale activities, contributing to RFPs where appropriate and assisting in large pitches to potential clients where required.

Security Standards & Data Protection
To keep aware of latest data protection and security threats and to make sure we mitigate against these risks against known industry standards. To make sure that team/company are aware of these issues.

Innovation Management & Research & Development
To proactively drive innovation with new ideas and options made available by new technologies. To foster a collaborative team approach to innovation & maintain and actively contribute to a list of innovation & research projects.

Inductions and Training
To have a clear task list and plan for inducting new members into the team and bring them up-to-speed as quickly as possible. Making sure that all training and support that team members require is delivered internally or externally. To provide training and workshops for clients and/or staff as required.

Quality, Testing and Excellence
Implementing and monitoring ongoing strategies to enable us to deliver quality and excellence through robust testing education and policies that are balanced and appropriate to the scope of project being delivered. To make sure written reports and are written and adhere to brand/template and client communication is at an excellent and professional level. To foster a focus on excellence across the development team. To make sure quotations take into account all possible risks and contain the appropriate contingency.

Products, Services and Objectives
To ensure your team help your staff develop, a strong understanding of the products, competition, industry, marketing goals and objectives of each client.

Workloads and Time Recording
To efficiently manage your workload and accurately record your time using the company timesheet system. To make sure your team does so too.

Industry Knowledge
To ensure your knowledge of the online software development and mobile industry is kept up to date and relevant by networking/researching/reading blogs and news sources. To speak/contribute to public industry events and forums as required.

Knowledge Sharing
To freely share knowledge, insight, best practice and ideas.

Key Skills and Experience

• A senior level software developer with strong and successful technical lead experience
• Experience of leading a team of developers
• Highly developed knowledge of .Net projects including ASP.NET, Web services and other core .Net technologies, Java, PHP and a high level understanding of Sitecore, CQ5, Drupal, HTML5, Actionscript, amongst other web development languages
• Highly numerate and literate, with the ability to produce top quality written specifications and strategy and implementation communication.
• Excellent working knowledge of major social media channels & mobile.
• Proactive and highly organised, with strong time management and planning skills.
• Able to meet tight deadlines and remain calm under pressure.
• Experience at advising key stakeholders at senior and board level.
• Detailed knowledge of source control software and deployment strategies

Key Leadership Competencies
The successful candidate will demonstrate the core competencies that we look for in leaders.

• Resourceful – pro-active, creates opportunities, provides solutions.
• Able & willing to attract & hire the best people in the industry
• Passionate
• Integrity across the board
• A good balance of personal ambition & willingness to adopt the company’s vision
• Non political – open, honest and resolves people issues effectively.
• Adaptable
• Team builder willing to empower others
• Team player – able to work with other departments, and see the needs of the organisation as a whole, whilst shielding his or her own team when needed.
• Track record – proven ability with results that precede you
• Intelligent – fast learner, can see the big picture
• Likeable – we are a people business – this leadership role requires a unique mix of attributes that will naturally drive others to look up to you and in time be lead by you.

For more information send your CV to Ymania Brown ymania@gruden.com or for a confidential chat, please contact Gavin at gavin.gorazdowski@gruden.com

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