What are the responsibilities and job description for the Sr Tech Lead, Software Engineering position at Papa Johns?
About the Role
The Senior Tech Lead is a hybrid people leader and senior technical contributor, responsible for guiding 1–2 engineering teams in delivering high-quality software while also remaining hands-on in system design, coding, debugging, and architectural decision-making.
You will set technical direction for your teams, ensure healthy engineering practices, support career growth for every engineer, and collaborate closely with product partners to deliver organizational outcomes. You bring strong systems understanding, pragmatic leadership, and the ability to execute technically while elevating others.
This role is ideal for someone who wants to lead people and delivery, while still writing code and influencing architecture.
Duties & Responsibilities (other duties as assigned)
• Lead and manage 1–2 engineering teams, providing structure, clarity, and ongoing support.
• Define and communicate technical vision, aligning team efforts with business goals.
• Drive high-quality software delivery through hands-on involvement in system design, coding, and debugging.
• Contribute directly to feature and platform development (20–40% of your time).
• Write production-grade code, conduct code reviews, and support critical debugging.
• Make architectural decisions that balance delivery speed and long-term stability.
• Lead design sessions, drive API design, and ensure systems are scalable and maintainable.
• Own end-to-end delivery for your teams, ensuring predictable and high-quality outcomes.
• Partner with product managers on planning, prioritization, scope shaping, and roadmap alignment.
• Break down ambiguous or complex work into sequenced and achievable increments.
• Mentor and develop engineering talent, supporting career growth and skill advancement.
• Establish and promote healthy engineering practices and agile methodologies.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, Architecture, QA, Security, and Platform teams.
• Monitor team performance, remove blockers, and facilitate continuous improvement.
Education, Experience & Certifications
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 5 years of software engineering experience, with proven leadership of technical teams.
• Strong background in system design, architecture, and hands-on coding.
• Demonstrated experience in mentoring and developing engineers.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Track record of delivering complex technical projects from inception to completion.
Functional Skills
• Technical proficiency in relevant programming languages and frameworks.
• Expertise in software architecture, design patterns, and scalable systems.
• Ability to debug and troubleshoot complex issues.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Leadership and people management capabilities.
• Agile and iterative development experience.
• Stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration.
Our Values
• EVERYONE BELONGS – We believe connectedness and belonging are the essential ingredients to our success.
• DO THE RIGHT THING –We are relentlessly focused on quality and integrity and make the right choices, even when it's difficult.
• PEOPLE FIRST – To craft positive experiences for our customers, we take care of each other first.
• INNOVATE TO WIN – We champion and challenge for a better way in all we do.
• HAVE FUN – We find joy, create meaningful impact and celebrate the journey together
Our Core Competencies
• CUSTOMER CENTRIC - We leverage data and insights to craft a customer experience that builds relationships, cultivates trust, and delivers excellence
• RESULTS DRIVEN – We focus on measurable outcomes by remaining optimistic, tenacious, and persistent even in the face of challenges.
• CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT –We champion for better through strategic risk taking, experimentation and challenging the status quo.
• BIAS FOR ACTION – We courageously lead, drive towards decisions, and maintain agility to meet the demands of our dynamic industry.
• WINNING TOGETHER – We work together to unlock our full potential by actively collaborating and contributing in a cross-functional capacity
Papa Johns is an equal opportunity employer.
Papa Johns is a federal contractor that participates in the E-Verify program to confirm employment eligibility for each new team member. We also comply with all Right to Work requirements. Official E-Verify and Right to Work notices are available for applicants to review in both English and Spanish.