Vice President, Software Development at NewGlobe

About the Role

• As Vice President, Software Development, you own NewGlobe's software engineering function and lead it through its most important transition yet: becoming a genuinely AI-native engineering organisation. You will set technical direction, build and grow the teams, and be accountable for delivery — but the defining part of the job is leading, from the front, the shift in how software gets built here.
• This is not a role for someone who has only read about agentic development. We are looking for a leader who has actually driven this change inside a real organisation, learned from it, and can point to where they got to. You will pair with engineers, set the standard for AI-assisted development, and turn functions that used to be done by hand into systems and agents that do them at scale. And you will bring people with you — managing both the excitement and the anxiety that this shift creates for engineers at every level.
• You will be based in Lagos, reporting to the Chief Technology Officer and working closely with our Lagos and peer leadership. It is a hands-on, high-leverage role in a lean, mission-driven, cost-conscious organisation.

What You Will Do

• Own the software engineering function end to end — the delivery teams (each a lead plus two to three engineers) and the cross-cutting capabilities in solutions architecture, DevOps/CloudOps, and the data platform. Keep teams working together on shared projects rather than fragmenting into solo work.
• Lead the transformation to a truly AI-native engineering organisation — set the strategy and roadmap to move the department up its AI-maturity curve. This is a multi-stage journey and we are still early; part of the job is bringing the whole team up, including those who haven't yet reached today's baseline, and then getting to the next level and the one after.
• Lead from the front — stay genuinely hands-on. Pair with engineers and set the standard for AI-assisted development: agentic workflows, skills, memory, and the day-to-day craft. You are the head of engineering people look up to, not a project manager.
• Turn functions into leverage — reshape roles like QA and product design away from per-team, per-task work toward “factory” capabilities: building the agents and systems that test and design at scale. Build the machine that tests the products, don't test them by hand.
• Manage the human side of the change — take engineers through a fundamental shift in how they work, address the real fears that come with it, and turn the transition into something the team is energised by.
• Deliver — ship against programme and product commitments with a lean, high-leverage team, and keep quality high as more of the work moves through an agentic toolchain.
• Build the team — recruit, coach, performance-manage, and grow engineers, and partner closely with the CTO and with Lagos and peer leadership.

What You Should Have

• A strong track record leading software engineering teams and functions — you have run teams, set technical direction, and been accountable for delivery.
• Real, in-organisation experience driving AI-native / agentic engineering adoption — not side-project experimentation, and not just intent. You can walk us through the journey: where you started, what you learned, the level of maturity you reached, and the strategy you used to get there. The further along, the better.
• Hands-on technical credibility — you still build, you can pair, and engineers respect your judgement. You'll be asked to pair (using AI tooling) as part of the process.
• Experience leading people through technological change — reskilling, motivation, and managing resistance as roles and ways of working shift.
• A builder's instinct for leverage — comfortable turning functions into tools and agents rather than solving everything with more headcount.
• Comfort operating lean and with urgency — cost-conscious, resourceful, and effective in a mission-driven, high-growth environment.
• Based in, or willing to relocate to, Lagos, Nigeria.