The Chapter Lead will play a crucial role in balancing technical expertise with people management. This position involves providing technical guidance, fostering personal and professional development, and ensuring collaboration and alignment within and across teams. The Chapter Lead will work closely with business and IT stakeholders to deliver high-quality products that support business goals and enhance customer experience.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Team Development
- Team Management & Development:
- Lead and mentor a team of developers and architects, fostering a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence.
- Define the strategic vision for the Development & Architecture Chapter, ensuring alignment with the goals of the Real-Time Operations department.
- Support team members in their technical growth, providing coaching and professional development opportunities.
- Oversee the recruitment and onboarding of new developers and architects to expand and strengthen the chapter.
- Architecture & Technology Leadership:
- Develop and maintain a strategic roadmap for the architecture and software development efforts, ensuring scalability, security, and performance of real-time solutions.
- Provide architectural guidance on complex system designs, ensuring that solutions align with business objectives and technical standards.
- Collaborate with the Business Area Manager and other chapter leads to ensure that development and architecture activities support operational goals.
Development & Operational Delivery
- Agile Development:
- Lead the chapter in implementing agile development practices, ensuring efficient and iterative delivery of high-quality software solutions.
- Work closely with Product Owners, Functional Analysts, and other key stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions that support real-time railway operations.
- Ensure the team adheres to agile principles, including continuous integration, automated testing, and incremental delivery of features.
- Solution Design & Architecture:
- Oversee the design and development of real-time systems, applications, and integrations that support critical railway operations.
- Ensure the chapter delivers well-architected solutions that meet the needs of the business, focusing on maintainability, scalability, and performance.
- Champion best practices in software development, architecture design, and system integration, ensuring alignment with industry standards and regulations.
Technical Innovation & Improvement
- Continuous Improvement & Innovation:
- Drive a culture of technical excellence and innovation within the chapter, encouraging the adoption of new technologies, tools, and methodologies.
- Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend solutions that improve operational efficiency and system resilience.
- Foster a collaborative environment that promotes continuous improvement of the team’s development processes, ensuring the delivery of solutions that are future-proof and adaptable to changing business needs.
- Operational Support:
- Provide expert-level support for operational teams in troubleshooting and optimizing real-time systems and applications.
- Ensure that solutions are resilient, scalable, and capable of handling the high demands of real-time railway operations.
- Work closely with infrastructure and operations teams to ensure systems are optimized for performance and availability.
Requirements
- Experience:
- At least 2 years of experience in a similar Chapter Lead or Architecture/Development leadership role.
- Demonstrated experience leading teams of developers and architects in the design, development, and delivery of complex, real-time systems.
- Expertise in software architecture and system design, particularly in high-performance, mission-critical environments.
- Experience in agile development methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) and DevOps practices (CI/CD, automated testing, etc.).
- Skills:
- Deep technical knowledge of software development (languages, frameworks, tools) and architecture design in real-time or operational systems.
- Strong leadership and mentoring skills, with the ability to manage both developers and architects.
- Hands-on experience with modern development stacks (e.g., .NET, React) and architectural patterns (e.g., microservices, event-driven architectures).
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, able to work closely with cross-functional teams including analysts, operational teams, and business stakeholders.
- Familiarity with real-time operational environments or critical infrastructure is a strong plus, but not required.
- Education:
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field is required.
- Relevant certifications in Software Architecture, Cloud Technologies, or Agile (e.g., TOGAF, AWS/Azure, Certified ScrumMaster) are advantageous.
- Personal Attibutes
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and guide a team of technical experts.
- Good communication skills
- Results-oriented, with a focus on delivering high-quality, scalable software solutions.
- Adaptable and able to thrive in a fast-paced, mission-critical environment.
- Excellent problem-solving skills, able to address complex challenges in real-time operational systems.
- Collaborative mindset, promoting teamwork and knowledge sharing across the chapter and organization.
Our offer
Within our open corporate culture, you contribute to the digital transformation of SNCB. You will have a job with social impact and ample opportunity to make your own contribution. In addition to a good work-life balance and a competitive salary, you will receive the following benefits:
- the possibility to work remotely + flexible working hours;
- 35 days of leave;
- a company car + a public transport season ticket;
- a target bonus;
- a comprehensive insurance package (affiliation without own contribution, excl. outpatient costs for family members);
- hospitalisation and dental care for the whole family;
- outpatient costs (= medical costs separate from hospitalisation);
- group insurance: supplementary pension, work disability and death (cafeteria plan);
- accidents at work (extralegal);
- meal vouchers and eco-vouchers;
- net allowances for remote working and carwash + internet budget.
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