Lead PHP Software Developer / Lead Software Developer - LMS

Job Advert Summary

Purpose of the Role:

The Lead Software Developer is responsible for providing hands-on technical leadership in the design, development, and enhancement of the organisation’s custom software solutions. The role focuses on applying modern application development practices to deliver secure, maintainable solutions that meet business requirements and technical standards

The role plays a key part in embedding Agile and DevOps practices within the development team, contributing to coding standards, automated testing, CI/CD practices, and continuous improvement across the development lifecycle. Working closely with product managers, stakeholders, and team members, the Lead Software Developer ensures solutions meet functional needs, performance expectations, and quality standards.

Acting as a technical lead within the delivery team, the role supports day-to-day development activities, sprint execution, and production support, while mentoring developers and encouraging good engineering practices. The Lead Software Developer contributes to a strong engineering culture and supports efficient, high-quality delivery that enables operational effectiveness and supports the organisation’s technology objectives.

Minimum Requirements

Minimum Requirements for the job:

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent NQF-7 qualification (Advanced Diploma or Bachelor of Technology) in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 7-10 years of experience in application development, with a focus on PHP, JavaScript, and related technologies; prior lead or technical leadership experience advantageous.
• Proven experience and exposure to high-traffic/high availability application/system architecture, design, implementation and scaling.
• Advantageous/Highly Desirable:
• Proven experience in the deployment and management of Moodle LMS on AWS, utilizing services like EC2, RDS, and S3
• Minimum of 5 years’ relevant experience in administering and supporting Moodle-based Learning Management Systems
• Experience in educational technology, instructional design, or e-learning

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

Software Design, Development, Support and Reliability

• Lead design/development/support of the Learner Management System (LMS) and related platforms
• Provide technical leadership on configuration, customisation, plugin/module development and integrations, ensuring solutions align with platform best practices and constraints.
• Ensure all solutions are reliable, secure, performant, maintainable, and upgrade-safe, with specific consideration for release cycles and platform dependencies.
• Balance new enhancements with system stability, technical debt reduction, and operational risk across enterprise platforms including LMS.
• Support release readiness, post-release stabilisation, and technical resolution of major incidents, including LMS and related platform production issues and performance degradation

Operational Excellence, Agile, DevOps & Continuous Improvement

• Enable effective Agile practices and DevOps delivery within the team to support predictable, iterative delivery.
• Drive automation, optimisation, and standardisation across development and support processes.
• Design, maintain, and improve CI/CD pipelines to support reliable and efficient delivery.
• Apply engineering metrics to identify improvement opportunities and drive continuous improvement.

Compliance, Security & Change Management

• Ensure solutions comply with security, regulatory, and organisational standards.
• Apply secure coding practices and required technical controls to reduce risk.
• Support audits, control assessments, and remediation activities through technical input.
• Contribute to change execution and adoption by ensuring technical readiness and minimal operational impact.

Delivery, Project & PMO Governance

• Support delivery of multiple initiatives through realistic estimates, planning input, and technical oversight.
• Identify and communicate delivery risks, dependencies, and technical constraints early.
• Apply PMO standards, Agile practices, and delivery governance within day-to-day execution.

Reporting, Decision Support & Escalations

• Provide accurate technical input into delivery status, risks, dependencies, and escalations.
• Support decision-making by clearly explaining technical options, trade-offs, and impacts.
• Contribute to escalation discussions with clear, solution-focused technical recommendations.

Stakeholder & Vendor Collaboration

• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to translate business needs into clear technical solutions and priorities.
• Work with vendors and service providers on technical delivery, integrations, and issue resolution.
• Support effective communication and escalation by providing clear technical input and impact assessment.

People, Capability & Culture

• Support delivery capacity by providing visibility into skills, workload, and capability gaps.
• Mentor and develop team members through coaching, knowledge sharing, and communities of practice.
• Contribute to a positive engineering culture that promotes collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.

Training, Knowledge Sharing & Enablement

• Provide technical training and knowledge-sharing sessions to developers and support teams.
• Create and maintain technical and support documentation to enable effective delivery and operations.
• Support onboarding and upskilling by sharing best practices, patterns, and platform knowledge.

Functional and Behavioural Competencies

Technical / Functional Competencies:

• HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, Web development standards, exposure to online learner management systems Proficient in PHP, JavaScript, and related technologies for LMS customisation and development
• Strong technical knowledge of Moodle administration, including installation, configuration, and customisation
• Solid understanding of MySQL or other relational databases for managing LMS data and performing SQL queries
• Skilled in working with AWS services such as EC2, RDS, S3, and CloudFront
• Proven experience leading the full software development lifecycle, including design, build, testing, and delivery of high-quality solutions.
• Strong system design capability, with a solid understanding of backend systems and architectures.
• Deep knowledge of scalable service design, including reliability, performance, and maintainability considerations.
• Strong collaboration with team members to ensure solutions are well-reasoned, maintainable, and aligned to broader technical direction.
• Strong understanding of AGILE and DevOps methodologies and practices
• Experience with CI/CD tools and practices
• Team leadership, coaching, and day-to-day people management.
• Management of sprint execution, releases, and operational support activities.
• Well-developed organisational and time management abilities
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to support and train users effectively
• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to diagnose and resolve technical issues efficiently
• Excellent coding and debugging skills
• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment
• Strong organisational and time management skills

Behavioural Competencies

• Action orientation
• Leadership
• Initiative and adaptability to changing technologies and requirements
• Collaboration with cross-functional teams and stakeholders
• Clear and professional verbal and written communication
• Analytical thinking and problem-solving in technical contexts
• Structured planning and organisation of tasks
• Innovation, adaptability and change
• Planning and organising
• Effective and optimal task execution
• Networking