Technical Lead

Technical Lead - USA Tech Team

Overall Ambition

Solve some of today's most complex hospitality challenges by creating innovative, scalable technology using a modern, open technology stack. Lead engineering teams that deliver reliable, high-performing solutions which improve the experience of our customers and Nandocas while enabling Nando's continued growth across the USA.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for an experienced Technical Lead to join our passionate, lean, agile, fast-growing and evolving technology team on a permanent basis.

You'll be a hands-on technical leader who enjoys solving complex engineering challenges, building highly scalable distributed systems and helping engineers grow. You'll combine technical excellence with strong leadership, enabling teams to deliver high-quality software whilst continuously improving engineering practices.

Working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, Architects and business stakeholders, you'll shape technical direction, support delivery and ensure we're building solutions that create meaningful value for both our customers and Nandocas.

Living the Nando's Values

As a Nandoca, you'll embody the values that make Nando's unique.

Pride - Take ownership of complex technical challenges, maintain high engineering standards and consistently deliver quality outcomes.

Passion - Bring curiosity, enthusiasm and energy to solving customer problems while helping others succeed.

Courage - Challenge existing approaches, embrace change and make informed technical decisions, even in uncertain environments.

Integrity - Build trust through honesty, transparency and accountability in everything you do.

Family - Foster an inclusive, collaborative environment where individuals feel supported, respected and empowered to do their best work.

These values shape how we work together, make decisions and build technology that moves Nando's forward.

The Role

As a Technical Lead, you'll provide technical leadership across one of our USA digital product domains, helping deliver scalable, resilient and maintainable software that supports Nando's expansion into the US market.

You'll remain hands-on while providing architectural guidance, mentoring engineers, driving technical excellence and ensuring your team delivers high-quality software at pace.

You'll work closely with Product Managers to shape technical roadmaps, translate business requirements into scalable solutions and balance long-term technical strategy with day-to-day delivery.

You'll champion engineering best practices including automation, testing, observability, security, operational excellence and AI-assisted software development, creating an environment where engineers can do their best work.

About the USA Tech Team

Our mission is to bring the same exceptional digital experience enjoyed by customers across the UK and Ireland to customers throughout the USA.

Our engineering teams work across the entire customer digital ecosystem, including:

Locate - Helping customers and third-party platforms discover restaurant capabilities.

Menu - Delivering rich digital menu experiences across every ordering channel.

Payments - Powering secure, reliable payment experiences throughout our ecommerce journeys.

Orders - Processing and tracking customer orders from checkout through to restaurant fulfilment.

Loyalty - Rewarding customers through engaging loyalty experiences and integrations.

Identity - Providing secure authentication and customer identity services.

Frontend Applications - Delivering seamless experiences across web and mobile platforms.

Working across these domains, you'll help build scalable APIs, backend services and frontend integrations that support millions of customer interactions while enabling rapid business growth.

You'll collaborate closely with other Customer Digital teams to design elegant technical solutions, integrate multiple systems and deliver highly resilient, high-throughput platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop a cross-functional engineering team, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Define technical direction and solution architecture for complex distributed systems.
• Partner with Product Managers and stakeholders to prioritise work and align technical delivery with business goals.
• Remain hands-on, contributing to software design, architecture, code reviews and complex engineering initiatives.
• Champion engineering excellence through modern development practices, testing, automation and continuous delivery.
• Drive improvements in platform reliability, scalability, security and operational performance.
• Promote observability, monitoring and operational ownership across the engineering lifecycle.
• Support engineers through mentoring, coaching and technical leadership.
• Collaborate with architecture, platform and security teams to ensure alignment across the wider technology organisation.
• Build strong relationships with third-party technology partners and internal stakeholders.
• Encourage adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices where they improve developer productivity and software quality.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience leading software engineering teams within Agile environments.
• Strong hands-on software engineering background designing and building distributed systems.
• Experience architecting cloud-native applications using modern engineering practices.
• Strong understanding of microservices, APIs and event-driven architectures.
• Experience balancing technical strategy with product delivery.
• Excellent communication, mentoring and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience integrating internal platforms with third-party services.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, scalability, resilience and security.
• Passion for coaching engineers and building high-performing teams.
• Experience embracing AI-assisted software development as part of modern engineering practices.

Desirable

• Experience with Rust, Golang and/or TypeScript.
• Experience building Backend for Frontend (BFF) services.
• Experience with React, React Native and Next.js.
• Experience working with Google Cloud Platform.
• Experience with Kubernetes, Cloud Run, GitOps and modern deployment practices.
• Experience using Vercel or similar frontend deployment platforms.
• Experience supporting international or multi-region products.
• Previous experience working within ecommerce or high-traffic customer-facing platforms.

Technology Stack

Languages: Rust, Golang, TypeScript

Architecture: Microservices, Backend for Frontend (BFF)

Frontend: React, React Native, Next.js

Cloud & Platform: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Kubernetes, Cloud Run, GitOps, Vercel

Engineering Practices: CI/CD, Automated Testing, Observability, Distributed Systems, AI-Assisted Development

Everyone is Welcome

At Nando's, everyone is welcome.

Inspired by our Southern African heritage, we know and value the richness that diversity brings to Nando's.

We're committed to creating an inclusive and respectful culture for all, including our existing and future Nandocas, partners and suppliers, customers and the communities we are part of.

We deliberately work hard to create an environment where every individual is valued, respected and can flourish regardless of who they are, their background or outlook on life.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of individuals and will consider any reasonable adjustments to enable candidates to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process.