Strategic People Lead

Are you a people-first leader who thrives on developing others, building capability, and supporting high-performing teams?

Were looking for a Strategic People Lead (Not HR) to join a growing global business delivering software solutions for financial markets. Youll play a key role in levelling up talent across technical teams - without being directly tied to project delivery yourself.

This role is fully remote (South Africa-based only) and offers the chance to work across global teams in a fast-moving, scaling environment.

Type: Permanent - Remote in South Africa

Salary: R1.2m - R1.6m pa (depending on experience)

Area: South Africa

What Youll Do:

Youll lead from the middle - balancing individual growth, team capability, and strong delivery culture. Expect a mix of:

People leadership

• Regular 1:1s, feedback, and coaching
• Career conversations and growth support
• Tackling performance issues early and fairly
• Owning employment lifecycle processes (onboarding, development plans, offboarding)

Capability building

• Identify skills gaps and build development roadmaps
• Partner with subject matter experts and heads of function
• Define what “good” looks like and help teams get there

Career development

• Run review cycles and gather holistic performance feedback
• Create and support career progression plans
• Recommend promotions based on transparent criteria

Youll work closely with cross-functional teams - engineering, product, design, ops, and more - and collaborate with the broader people function to ensure consistent, quality people leadership.

Who You Are:

Youre not afraid of difficult conversations and you dont shy away from ambiguity. Youre likely a former developer, BA, or delivery lead whos now more excited by coaching others than writing code.

Youve got:

• Proven experience in a leadership or line management role
• A strong coaching mindset and mentoring style
• Confidence in handling performance challenges
• Excellent communication—clear, fair, and always human
• Functional credibility (especially in software, BA, or delivery roles)
• A working knowledge of HR processes (onboarding, probation, documentation, etc.)
• Experience in agile, matrixed, or global teams
• Familiarity with South African employment practices (bonus points if youve worked across multiple regions)

Why Youll Love It:

• Remote-first setup with flexibility and autonomy
• Global exposure with local impact
• High-trust, low-ego environment
• Real opportunity to shape the way people grow and lead

Sound like your kind of challenge?

Were looking for people (not HR) who care deeply about craft, culture, and coaching. If thats you, lets talk.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: R1 200 000,00 - R1 600 000,00 per year

Experience:

• former developer, BA, or delivery lead : 5 years (Required)
• leadership or line management : 5 years (Required)
• South African employment practices : 5 years (Required)
• agile, matrixed, or global teams: 5 years (Required)

Location:

• South Africa (Required)

Work Location: Remote

Information :

• Company : DataTech Recruitment
• Position : Strategic People Lead
• Location : Remote in South Africa
• Country : ZA