Tech Manager I

The Global Distribution Team at Lululemon operates within the Global Supply Chain Technology (GSCT) department. This team plays a critical role in supporting Lululemon's mission to enhance the guest experience by delivering reliable and efficient warehouse management solutions. Through its efforts, the Global Distribution Team empowers the organisation to strategically envision, design, source, produce, ship, and sell sustainable merchandise. The focus on operational excellence ensures both quality and guest satisfaction are maintained at scale, helping Lululemon remain a leader in the market.

The candidate will have responsibilities across the following functions:

Leadership Approach and Technical Roadmap:

• You are an independent leader who excels at guiding and managing team members with diverse skill sets.
• Clear communication of expectations is a central aspect of your leadership style, ensuring every team member is aligned and understands their responsibilities.

Technical Roadmap and Initiative Delivery:

• Beyond strong management skills, your role as a leader encompasses ownership of the technical roadmap for your team.
• You consistently communicate timeline, scope, and risks to partners and stakeholders, and you lead the delivery of major initiatives according to clearly defined timelines.

Strategic Technical Debt Management:

• You proactively identify areas of strategic technical debt, conduct cost/benefit analyses to determine the impact of addressing these issues, and communicate recommended prioritisation timelines to the management team.

Continuous Improvement and Team Support:

• The team is committed to adopting leading-edge technologies and continuously improving solutions.
• There is a strong emphasis on mutual support, fostering an environment where team members help each other grow both professionally and personally.
• The ideal candidate brings a proven track record of delivering results by successfully leading large, cross-functional teams in executing complex solutions within matrixed organizations.
• This individual thrives in fast-paced environments and demonstrates the ability to navigate ambiguity and manage complexity effectively.
• They are adept at creating and streamlining processes, ensuring operational efficiency while simultaneously supporting team members across a rapidly expanding global organisation.
• Exceptional communication and organizational skills are essential in this role, as is the capacity to identify and address bottlenecks, manage escalation processes, and anticipate potential challenges.
• The candidate must be able to make informed tradeoffs and balance competing business needs with technical constraints.
• Success in this position requires maturity, a strong sense of curiosity, creative problem-solving abilities, and effective team leadership.

A Day In The Life:

• As a Technical Manager, you are responsible for leading a multifaceted team comprising project leads, analysts, engineers, testers, business stakeholders, and software vendors.
• This leadership spans across several concurrent work streams, requiring careful coordination and management to ensure successful outcomes.
• You oversee the end-to-end process, managing people and project timelines to consistently produce high-quality deliverables.
• Your focus on effective process management ensures that every aspect of the project progresses smoothly and meets the established standards.
• Demonstrating thought leadership, you mentor engineers to adopt best practices in technology, architecture, and design.
• Your guidance helps the team leverage innovative approaches and maintain a high standard of technical excellence.
• The Technical Manager plays an integral role in strategic planning, project execution, and the ongoing development of technology talent.
• You are committed to recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and coaching technical staff to build a robust and skilled team.
• You curate strong, collaborative relationships with stakeholders, business partners, and technology teams.
• By driving alignment through effective partnerships, you ensure that everyone is working toward common goals and objectives.
• Your leadership ensures that the team produces software meeting both business and technology requirements.
• You make certain that the right skills are applied to solve the right problems, maintaining a focus on effective and efficient solutions.
• You champion and enforce software development and operational support processes, promoting consistency and reliability across all work streams.
• The success and development of your team are your top priorities.
• You actively identify and remove roadblocks to ensure your team can excel and deliver outstanding results.
• As a leader, you champion Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action (IDEA) in everyday life, fostering a supportive and equitable environment for all team members.

Requirements:

• Educational Background: Candidates should possess a bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or have equivalent professional experience.
• Professional Experience: A minimum of 12 years in the IT or engineering sector is required, including at least 4 years of experience in a people management role. This demonstrates a proven ability to lead and guide teams within technical environments.
• Technical Expertise: Applicants must have over 5 years of strong, hands-on experience in designing and architecting systems using Java Microservices frameworks. They should also have expertise in integration technologies such as Kafka or MQ, as well as data architecture and cloud services, particularly AWS or similar platforms.
• Experience working on backend services (REST API, Microservices).
• Database Proficiency: Strong experience working with relational database management systems, specifically Oracle or PostgreSQL.
• Agile and Tools Experience: Experience with Agile methodologies is highly valued. Familiarity with project management and collaboration tools, such as Jira, Confluence, and SharePoint, is also important.
• DevOps and Test Automation: Candidates should have hands-on experience working with and leading teams in DevOps, along with a solid understanding of test automation practices.
• Industry Knowledge: Industry experience within the retail domain is preferred, especially knowledge related to supply chain operations and warehouse management systems.
• Team Leadership: Proven experience in leading, coaching, and mentoring teams comprising architects, business analysts, and engineers focused on project delivery and support.
• Management and Problem-Solving Skills: Strong team management capabilities, excellent analytical skills, and a demonstrated ability to solve complex problems are essential.
• Business and Technology Alignment: The role requires experience in making critical trade-offs between business requirements and technology constraints to achieve optimal outcomes.
• Technological Awareness: A strong understanding of current technological trends is needed, with the ability to leverage this knowledge to deliver innovative solutions that enhance the organisation's competitive advantage.
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Effective communication and interpersonal abilities, along with a high level of professionalism, are necessary for successful collaboration across all organisational levels.
• Change Leadership: The ideal candidate should be comfortable challenging the status quo, championing change, and influencing others to embrace new approaches.
• Interpersonal and Leadership Abilities: Strong skills in collaboration, facilitation, and negotiation are required to lead teams and drive successful project outcomes.

Must Haves:

• Acknowledges the presence of choice in every moment and takes personal responsibility for their life.
• Possesses an entrepreneurial spirit and continuously innovates to achieve great results.
• Communicates with honesty and kindness and creates the space for others to do the same.
• Leads with courage, knowing the possibility of greatness is bigger than the fear of failure.
• Fosters connection by putting people first and building trusting relationships.
• Integrates fun and joy as a way of being and working, aka doesn't take themselves too seriously.

Skills

aws, java, kafka, microservices, mq, oracle, postgresql