Tech Lead

The Tech Lead, or technical lead, is the technical point of reference for a software development team. They guide design and implementation choices, contribute to the code and support developers in resolving difficulties. Their role is to make technical decisions understandable and applicable to the software the team is responsible for.

They work at project or team level: reviewing a design, clarifying interfaces between components, choosing an appropriate technique or improving programming practices. This responsibility requires them to connect architectural choices with developers’ day-to-day work. It also involves paying attention to tests, software defects and technical risks that could affect deliverables.

The role described here is that of a developer with responsibility for technical coordination. It does not include career management or overall technology leadership. As titles vary between organisations, specify the reporting line and decision-making authority in the job description. In particular, state which choices are entrusted to the Tech Lead and which require input from someone whose technical responsibilities extend beyond the team.

Tech Lead, Engineering Manager and CTO: who does what?

• The Tech Lead guides the team’s day-to-day technical decisions and helps implement them in the code.
• The Engineering Manager addresses the need for people management, which is outside the role described here.
• The CTO provides overall technology leadership, beyond the team’s implementation decisions.

To define how these roles interact, distinguish the person who makes a technical recommendation from the person who decides priorities or supports career development. Technical leadership here rests on the ability to guide developers and explain choices, without assuming line management authority over them.

Technical choices shape how the team will be able to develop its software. A design must meet the business need while also taking account of security, integration with other components and deployment conditions. The Tech Lead helps the team consider these constraints together before a difficulty becomes an implementation blocker.

For a business leader or HR professional, the challenge is to recruit someone who can connect a technical problem with its practical consequences. Identifying a risk is not enough: they need to explain what it threatens in the deliverable and which options could address it. A useful recommendation distinguishes established findings from points that still need a test or prototype.

Code quality also requires a collective effort. Reviews, tests and documentation give developers ways to understand a change and its effects. When defining the role, pay as much attention to this ability to share knowledge as to individual technical depth. Someone who resolves difficulties alone without explaining their approach risks leaving the team dependent on their intervention.

Fictional example: a change affects communication between two components. Before assigning the implementation work, the Tech Lead suggests clarifying the interface and testing the expected behaviour. The team can then discuss a solution on a concrete basis, rather than discovering incompatible interpretations during integration.

• Guide the project’s architectural choices by examining software constraints and possible solutions.
• Contribute to implementation and to defining interfaces between components.
• Review code to discuss its readability, security and associated tests.
• Break technical work down into tasks developers can take on.
• Help developers overcome technical obstacles encountered during the project.
• Identify technical risks and explain their possible effects on deliverables.
• Share the knowledge the team needs to understand and develop the software.

A background as a software developer provides a starting point for taking on this technical responsibility. The skills to look for cover design, writing secure code, data, testing and deployment. The ability to explain these activities matters as much as their inclusion in the title of a training programme.

The French professional qualification concepteur développeur d’applications is one example of a pathway that develops these skills. It covers user interfaces, business logic, data access and data security. It also addresses writing a test plan, documenting deployment and working with the production team. This pathway develops software development skills: it does not automatically confer Tech Lead responsibilities.

The experience that prepares someone for this responsibility goes beyond individual delivery: reviewing a peer’s design, helping resolve a blocker and sharing a diagnostic method. Years of development experience alone are not enough to assess this preparation: the experience bands in the salary table are no substitute for examining the work actually carried out.

GetPro structures its assessment around a set of prioritised criteria. Each criterion is linked to an assessment method, distinguishing what can be verified from the candidate’s background from what needs to be explored further in an interview. Open questions are accompanied by a request for a concrete example.

To apply this framework when recruiting a Tech Lead, the steps below are suggestions for employers, to be adapted to their team’s software.

1. Define the criteria for the role

Distinguish implementation skills, design reasoning and the ability to guide developers. For each criterion, specify the decisions the person in the role will be expected to make. Separate the skills essential on joining from those the candidate can develop further.

Build a shared assessment grid for interviewers with three ratings: demonstrated capability, partially demonstrated capability, capability not observed. For a demonstrated or partially demonstrated capability, record the evidence gathered during the interview. For a capability not observed, specify what still needs to be explored. Avoid treating an impression of confidence as evidence of technical competence.

2. Examine a past achievement

Ask the candidate to present a software change they contributed to. Have them explain the need, the design chosen and their personal contribution to the code. Then explore the options they rejected and the difficulties they encountered.

Use a diagram or an anonymised extract to support the discussion where the candidate can share one. Do not require a confidential document. A precise account that distinguishes their work from that of others is a positive sign. A contribution they cannot describe calls for further questions.

3. Offer a case relevant to the software

Fictional example: you need to change an interface between two components without losing the behaviour their users expect. Present the candidate with the need, known constraints and a simplified code extract.

Ask them to identify missing information, propose a design and specify useful tests. Have them discuss security risks and deployment conditions. A prototype may help explore an uncertainty if the case warrants it.

Observe how the candidate connects each choice to a constraint. Give credit to an answer that explains its limitations and proposes an appropriate check. Explore further any solutions asserted without justification or risks raised without a connection to the case.

4. Assess knowledge sharing and cooperation

Ask the candidate to explain their proposal to a non-technical stakeholder. Then introduce an objection raised by a developer. Examine whether they clarify the disagreement and take new information into account.

Explore a situation in which they helped a peer resolve a difficulty. Ask them to specify what the developer was then able to understand or take responsibility for. Distinguish this technical influence from line management. An answer based solely on authority deserves further exploration for the role described here.

5. Compare observations and references

Compare the evidence gathered with the initial criteria before reaching a conclusion. With the candidate’s agreement, seek references from people able to describe their technical contribution and cooperation with developers. Ask about the responsibilities they actually held.

If your company does not have the necessary expertise, involve a technical assessor familiar with the software’s constraints. Entrust them with examining the design and code. Retain responsibility for defining the role and making the recruitment decision. Document capabilities that have not been observed rather than assuming they have been demonstrated.