Software Development Manager

Who we are

Upstream is a global leader in mobile marketing automation and digital service innovation, enabling Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and brands to grow revenue, improve customer engagement and succeed in the digital economy. With over two decades of experience and operations spanning 45+ markets across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, we are a trusted partner to more than 60 MNOs worldwide.

Headquartered in Athens, Greece, and with regional hubs in London, Dubai, Johannesburg, Lagos, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Upstream combines global expertise with deep local insight. Our end-to-end approach encompasses strategy, creative development, technical deployment, campaign execution, and ongoing optimization, ensuring seamless, scalable, and performance-driven service delivery.

The role

We are looking for an enthusiastic Software Development Manager to join our Software Development team in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As a Software Development Manager, you will lead a team of talented software engineers working on mission-critical applications throughout the entire development lifecycle, from concept and design to development, delivery, and production support. This is a hands-on leadership role combining technical contribution with people management responsibilities. You will mentor and support engineers in their professional growth, foster a collaborative and high-performing engineering culture, and help the team deliver scalable, high-quality software solutions. You will use a modern JavaScript tech stack, such as React/Next.js and Express.js, to build both public-facing and internal application modules of our products.

You will work in a cross-functional team with QA Automation and DevOps Engineers, who are integral to our CI/CD process. You will collaborate with UI/UX Designers and Product Managers to help shape product direction, define technical solutions, prioritize delivery, and ensure successful execution of projects aligned with business goals.

We use industry best practices and prioritize providing an exceptional developer experience, ensuring you have the tools, autonomy, and support needed to thrive in your role. You'll have the opportunity to work with top-tier private cloud infrastructure, including Kubernetes clusters and dedicated performance labs, to help meet our Platform’s performance, reliability, and scalability goals.

We believe in fostering an environment that enables individuals and teams to reach their full potential while delivering high-quality work with confidence and ownership.

Your main responsibilities will be to:

• Lead, mentor, and support a team of software engineers, fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing engineering culture.
• Provide technical guidance, coaching, and regular feedback to team members to support their professional development and career growth.
• Help the team prioritize work, remove blockers, and ensure successful and timely delivery of projects and features.
• Promote engineering best practices, code quality, maintainability, and continuous improvement across the team.
• Contribute hands-on to the design, development, and delivery of software solutions.
• Troubleshoot and support existing products and infrastructure.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, UI/UX Designers, QA Automation, and DevOps Engineers to deliver reliable and scalable solutions.
• Support continuous improvement by investigating alternative technologies and presenting proposals for architectural review.
• Participate in hiring activities, onboarding, and team growth initiatives.

Requirements

• 8+ years of full-time professional Full Stack / Web Development experience.
• Previous experience in technical leadership, mentoring engineers, and people development is considered a strong plus.
• Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent degree.
• Hands-on experience designing and developing full-stack applications using JavaScript and TypeScript.
• Hands-on experience with popular frameworks/libraries such as React, Next.js, and Express.js.
• Experience with HTML, CSS, and responsive design.
• Experience designing and consuming HTTP APIs.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases and caches (e.g. MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Elasticsearch, Redis, Memcached). Experience working in Agile/Scrum development environments.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices, cloud-native environments, and containerized applications is considered a plus.
• Excellent written and oral command of the English language.

Benefits

We offer a competitive base salary and benefits, directly dependent on the candidate’s qualifications and skills. The real excitement comes from working closely with a dynamic, smart, agile, and highly motivated team in a competitive and fast-paced environment.

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Upstream is an equal-opportunity employer. The Company does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, pregnancy, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital, or any other legally protected status. The Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. Finally, the Company prohibits the harassment of any individual based on their protected status. This policy applies to all areas of personnel actions including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, transfer,and social and recreational programs