COMPANY OVERVIEW
WOO TECH Vietnam is the technical innovation hub of the Australia-based WOO Group, specialising in creative and technology solutions. As we transform into an AI-first company, our Vietnam team leads cutting-edge development for global clients ranging from startups to enterprise organisations.
We're building the future of creative technology, combining artificial intelligence, advanced development frameworks, and strategic business analysis to deliver unprecedented value to our clients.
We are seeking an experienced Head of Technology to take ownership of our backend platform and AI-driven product delivery. This is a senior, genuinely hands-on leadership role: expect to split your time roughly evenly between hands-on technical work - architecture, coding, code review, and building AI-powered features yourself - and people and delivery leadership.
You will design and own the engineering system end-to-end, write and review code alongside the team, lead delivery of LLM-powered features, and work closely with leadership to align technology execution with business and GTM objectives.
This is a fast-paced, client-facing environment where priorities can shift quickly. We're looking for someone hard-working who is comfortable with ambiguity, leads from the front, and is willing to jump in and help wherever the team needs it - not someone who only delegates and reports.
This position reports to the CEO, Woo Group, and works closely with our Melbourne team and international clients.
Main ResponsibilitiesHands-On Technical Leadership & Architecture
Spend approximately half your working time hands-on in the codebase - architecture, coding, and code review - with particular focus on priority and AI-driven features.
Hold final accountability for technical decisions, architecture direction and code quality across the Vietnam development team. Own architecture across the backend, and set direction for the frontend at an architectural level.
Design for scalability, high availability and sensible failure behaviour - and be able to explain the trade-offs you chose and why.
Set and enforce coding standards, branching strategy, technical processes and review practices - across backend and frontend, working through and alongside the Tech Lead. Review the frontend team's code and hold the quality line there, even though you are not writing most of it.
Own security practice: authentication and authorisation, secrets handling, dependency and supply-chain risk, and data protection appropriate to our clients' obligations.
Evaluate new technologies, frameworks and tools, and decide what the team adopts.
Resolve technical escalations - including stepping in to code a fix personally when it's the fastest path to resolution.
Own the cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, deployment and observability.
Own production. You are the person who gets the backend working again when it breaks.
Own technical risk. Identify technical debt, security risk or delivery risk early, quantify it, and act on it - not just report it, but put it in front of the CEO with an option and a recommendation.
Delivery & Operations Oversight
Own delivery performance across all active projects: timelines, quality, resourcing and client-facing technical commitments.
Manage workload and resourcing across the team, including prioritisation when capacity is under pressure.
Run the operational rhythm of the team: standups, sprint planning, reporting cadence.
Identify and remove delivery bottlenecks before they become client-facing problems.
Report delivery status, risks and resourcing needs directly to the CEO, with a clear view and a recommendation, not just a status update.
Team Leadership & Development
Hold direct leadership accountability for the full Vietnam technical team:
developers, Business Analysis and QA/Testing.
Manage the Development team directly, including performance, development and workload.
Build the capability of the wider team, including BA and QA: mentoring, career development, and identifying who is ready for more responsibility.
Own hiring input and onboarding for engineering roles in Vietnam.
Handle performance issues directly and early. Escalate to the CEO only when needed, with the issue already worked through.
Build a team that runs well without the CEO's day-to-day involvement.
AI Adoption & Implementation
Own the practical rollout of AI tools and AI-assisted workflows across the engineering team, from code generation through to testing and documentation.
Identify where AI can reduce delivery time or cost on client work, and put it into production, not just pilot it.
Set the expectation and baseline that AI-assisted tools are part of how the team works day to day, not an optional extra.
Track and report the impact of AI adoption on delivery speed, cost and quality.
Keep the team current on relevant AI development tools and bring forward what's worth adopting.
Stakeholder & Client Coordination
Act as the senior technical point of contact for client-facing delivery issues escalated from the team.
Work with Account Management and Melbourne leadership to align technical delivery with client commitments.
Flag commercial or scope risk arising from technical delivery early, before it becomes a client issue.
Documentation & Reporting
Maintain visibility of team capacity, delivery status and technical risk in a form the CEO can act on quickly.
Ensure technical documentation, deployment guides and handover material are maintained to a consistent standard across the team.
Oversee timesheet management to support delivery tracking, resource planning, and operational reporting.
Provide a regular, structured report to the CEO covering delivery status, team performance, risks and AI adoption progress.
8+ years of experience in backend engineering, with proven experience as a Tech Lead / Engineering Lead - and still hands-on in the codebase today.
Strong expertise in backend system design, APIs, and cloud infrastructure.
Hands-on experience delivering AI / LLM-powered products in production environments.
Proven ability to lead teams, manage delivery, and balance technical trade-offs with business needs.
Excellent communication skills in English with the ability to engage technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Strong sense of ownership, accountability, and operational discipline.
Hard-working and hands-on: willing to jump in and help wherever the team needs it, not just delegate and report.
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, sometimes ambiguous, client-facing environment where priorities can shift quickly.