Role Details
Job Title: Support Technical Lead
Reporting To: Head of Operations
Location: Head Office and client sites as required
Role Level: Technical Lead / Compliance Authority
Purpose of the Position
The Support Technical Lead is the technical authority for the Support function and acts as the Head of Operations's technical counterweight within agreed authority limits. The role owns technical escalation quality, support technical governance, compliance discipline, support readiness sign off, recurring issue reduction, and technical capability maturity across the Support team. The Support Technical Lead does not replace the Technical Solutions Architect for design and scoping, but ensures that live client environments, support standards, handovers, documentation, and escalations are controlled, supportable, compliant, and technically sound.
Role Scope (What this role covers)
· Technical authority and escalation governance for the Support function, within agreed authority limits.
· Complex incident oversight, technical decision support, containment guidance, and restoration validation.
· Technical governance, compliance discipline, standards adherence, and audit readiness across Support activities.
· Support technical roadmap ownership in collaboration with the Head of Operations.
· Support readiness review and sign off for projects before transition into live support.
· Problem management, root cause quality, recurring issue reduction, and technical risk identification.
· Ticket, documentation, Autotask, IT Glue, evidence capture, and handover quality standards.
· Technical standards across relevant environments, including Microsoft 365, endpoint, networking, security, backup, monitoring, voice, and field support activities.
· Team technical coaching, skills matrix input, certification roadmap tracking, and practical upskilling.
· Vendor, ISP, provider, and client technical engagement where escalation, risk, compliance, or credibility requires senior technical involvement.
Key Responsibilities and Duties
1. Technical Authority and Escalation Governance
Act as the senior technical authority for Support escalations. Guide the troubleshooting approach, validate technical decisions, challenge weak assumptions, and ensure escalations are handled with evidence, urgency, and discipline. Operate within agreed authority limits, with operational, people, commercial, and strategic decisions remaining with the Head of Operations.
2. Major Incident and Complex Technical Resolution
Take ownership of high impact technical incidents where senior support judgement is required. Ensure rapid containment, controlled troubleshooting, clear communication, and verified restoration. Coordinate with Support Engineers, Lead Support Engineers, vendors, and providers to resolve complex issues without unnecessary delay or duplication of effort.
3. Technical Governance, Compliance and Audit Readiness
Own the technical governance discipline within Support. Ensure support activity aligns to Zinia standards, client requirements, security expectations, documentation requirements, change discipline, and agreed support boundaries. Maintain a compliance mindset across tickets, handovers, SOPs, evidence, credentials, access controls, technical standards, and audit readiness.
4. Support Technical Roadmap and Standards Ownership
Collaborate with the Head of Operations to define and drive the Support technical roadmap. This includes standards for monitoring, alert handling, Microsoft 365, identity, endpoint, firewall, backup, cybersecurity, voice, networking, patching, firmware, documentation, and recurring risk areas. Convert technical gaps into improvement actions, SOPs, automations, training, or projects where appropriate.
5. Support Readiness Sign Off for Projects
Review project handovers before they are accepted into Support. Confirm that documentation, access details, diagrams, credentials, monitoring, backup status, client contacts, support boundaries, and known risks are clear. Raise gaps to Projects and the Technical Solutions Architect before support acceptance where the environment is not support ready.
6. Problem Management, Root Cause and Recurring Issue Reduction
Drive recurring issue reduction through proper problem management. Identify repeat incidents, weak standards, avoidable faults, and high risk clients or systems. Ensure root causes are documented properly and that corrective actions are assigned, tracked, and converted into knowledge base articles, standard changes, automation, or improvement projects.
7. Team Coaching, Certification and Capability Building
Coach Support Agents, Support Engineers, Lead Support Engineers, and Field Support resources on technical approach, escalation quality, evidence capture, troubleshooting structure, and documentation. Maintain input into the team skills matrix and certification roadmap. Recommend training priorities based on real support gaps and operational risk.
8. Vendor, Provider and Client Technical Engagement
Lead or support technical discussions with vendors, ISPs, last mile providers, and client technical stakeholders where senior technical credibility is required. Ensure escalations are backed by proper evidence, commitments are followed up, and client facing technical explanations are clear, accurate, and controlled.
9. Operational Visibility and Technical Risk Reporting
Provide structured technical inputs to the Head of Operations on escalation themes, client risks, recurring incidents, compliance gaps, team capability gaps, support readiness issues, and technical improvement priorities. Maintain visibility of stuck technical items and ensure risk is surfaced before it becomes a delivery or client confidence issue.
Key Interfaces
· Head of Operations
· Customers and key client stakeholders
· Operations Coordinators
· Support Agents, Support Engineers, and Lead Support Engineers
· Technical Solutions Architect
· Lead Project Coordinators and Projects team
· Field Support Engineers and Field Support Technicians
· Procurement and Logistics Coordinator
· Vendors, ISPs, last mile providers, and platform partners
Success Measures
· Complex escalations handled with clear technical ownership, evidence, and controlled outcomes.
· Support readiness sign off completed before projects transition into live support.
· Improved technical standards, documentation quality, and compliance discipline across Support.
· Reduced repeat incidents through effective problem management and corrective actions.
· Improved root cause quality, technical handovers, knowledge base maturity, and ticket evidence.
· Clear progress against the Support technical roadmap and agreed improvement priorities.
· Improved team capability through coaching, certification progress, and practical technical guidance.
· Fewer stuck technical tickets due to active escalation governance and accountability.
· Better client and vendor confidence in Zinia's technical control and professionalism.
· Technical risks surfaced early with clear recommendations and action plans.
Qualifications (Recommended)
Minimum requirement (non negotiable)
· Matric (National Senior Certificate) or NQF Level 4 equivalent
· Relevant IT degree, or similar formal IT qualification aligned to the role
· Strong English business communication (spoken and written)
· Proven senior IT support experience in a managed services environment or similar
· Demonstrated technical leadership capability in a Tier 3, escalation, or technical authority capacity
· Strong multi domain technical competence across support environments, including networking, Microsoft 365, endpoint, security, backup, and voice services
· Strong understanding of ticketing discipline, documentation standards, evidence capture, and controlled escalation processes
Preferred qualifications (advantageous)
· Relevant NQF Level 7 qualifications in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Cybersecurity, or similar
· Microsoft certifications aligned to Microsoft 365, Azure, Entra ID, Endpoint Manager, or modern workplace administration
· Networking certification aligned to environment, for example MikroTik MTCNA, Cisco CCNA, Fortinet NSE/FCP, or equivalent
· Cybersecurity certification or vendor certification aligned to environment, for example Sophos, Fortinet, Microsoft Security, or equivalent
· Backup and disaster recovery certification or vendor training, for example Datto or equivalent
· ITIL Foundation v4 is strongly beneficial
· Kaseya ecosystem exposure, including Autotask, IT Glue, RMM, backup, and monitoring platforms is beneficial
· Experience with compliance, audit readiness, technical risk management, problem management, or change control is beneficial
Required within 3 to 6 months of appointment (development requirements)
· Complete internal onboarding for Zinia support, escalation authority, technical standards, compliance expectations, and support readiness requirements
· Agree and begin a role-aligned certification plan with the Head of Operations
· Establish a Support technical standards and compliance improvement plan
· Establish or refine the Support readiness sign off checklist for project handover
· Establish a recurring issue, problem management, and technical risk improvement plan
· Define key knowledge base, documentation, and team capability improvement priorities
Note
Equivalent qualifications and proven competence will be considered where appropriate. Given the senior technical authority and compliance expectation of this role, the employee may be required to complete agreed certifications within a defined timeframe where gaps exist.
Work Experience and Skills
· Strong senior technical support background with practical Tier 3 or escalation experience.
· Ability to diagnose complex issues across Microsoft 365, identity, endpoint, networking, security, backup, monitoring, voice, and infrastructure support environments.
· Strong compliance mindset with an understanding of governance, audit readiness, access control, documentation, and change discipline.
· Ability to translate technical issues into clear operational risk, client impact, and corrective action recommendations.
· Strong ticketing discipline, including work notes, time entries, attachments, root cause, next actions, and closure verification.
· Experience guiding other engineers through structured troubleshooting and evidence based decision making.
· Ability to work with a Technical Solutions Architect without duplicating the design and scoping function.
· Comfortable leading technical conversations with clients, vendors, ISPs, and internal stakeholders.
· Ability to prioritise multiple technical risks and escalations without losing quality or control.
· Strong understanding of ITIL concepts, especially incident management, problem management, change discipline, and knowledge management.
Personal Qualities and Behavioral Traits
· High ownership and follow through; does not allow important technical items to stall.
· Credible technical presence with the confidence to guide, challenge, and support others constructively.
· Calm under pressure and able to bring structure to complex or emotional technical escalations.
· Detail oriented, compliance aware, and disciplined in documentation and evidence standards.
· Team first mindset with the ability to lead without ego and support the broader operational objective.
· Comfortable acting as a technical counterweight to operational leadership while respecting authority limits.
· Continuous improvement mindset with a practical focus on reducing repeat incidents and improving support maturity.
· Professional, respectful, and clear in communication with clients, peers, leadership, and vendors.
Pay: R45 000,00 - R65 000,00 per month
Work Location: In person
