What is a Lead Tech?

The developer is the new digital craftsman. Brick by brick, they design and code the applications, sites, and software we now use every day.

A few years ago, they were still seen as an outlier, tucked away in a corner of the company, called "the webmaster" or "the IT engineer" — the one who knew how computing worked but whose role was so marginal it got little attention.

Today, they are a true tech rockstar that everyone is fighting to hire at top rates, equipped with know-how that's essential for any innovative, future-facing company: digital, online… tech, basically.

The role of the Lead Tech

The Lead Tech is first and foremost a developer, then a LEAD — meaning a person representing leadership on a given topic: Technology or Technique in this case. They embody the knowledge and expertise of a particular technology, or of all the technologies on a project.

The term "Lead Tech" often causes confusion depending on company culture. Sometimes mixed up with the Lead Dev, we have chosen to differentiate them based on our daily conversations with tech profiles. Other names for the Lead Tech: technical lead, lead dev (sometimes confused), technical referent.

Why do companies need this role?

Companies building a tech solution often need to use a specific technology to address a problem, or to choose between competing technologies (GCP/AWS for cloud; competing back-end languages, framework choices, etc.).

The Lead Tech is then designated or recruited based on their mastery, experience, or ability to ramp up on the technology in question.

What does a Lead Tech do day to day?

The role of Lead Tech sits at the crossroads of technique and management, with a strong leaning toward technical expertise.

• A technical referent: the Lead Tech kicks off development projects by writing technical design documents and choosing the technologies best suited to the company's challenges and constraints (budget, level and size of the tech team, etc.).
• Once the project is underway, they play a facilitator role on the topics they own, a trainer who upskills project teams, and a quality lead.
• A technical experimenter: the Lead Tech is therefore a tech enthusiast who must keep learning constantly to maintain a steady technology watch. This sharp expertise allows them to smooth out projects by recommending technologies suited (a new programming language or framework, for example) to their developer team.
• A manager: the Lead Tech can lead a team of developers working on a topic they master. They can also support the Lead Developer or the CTO, solely on the expertise of the technology or topic mastered. They therefore have a people-management dimension when supporting teams on their topics.

Their place in the team and who they work with

As a developer, they are within a development team and therefore work with:

Back-end / Front-end developers: they represent quality and/or knowledge of the project from a technical standpoint. It's an additional hat on top of the developer one, given for their general or specific technical mastery and experience.

Product Owner: just as for a developer, the PO frames and prioritizes the Lead Tech's work by handing them business problems translated into technical problems.

Tech Manager (Engineering Manager, CTO): in a hierarchical and management role. Since the Lead Tech can represent a layer of management, they may report directly to the tech manager and then relay things back to the operational teams.

Technologies & skills

As a "Leader," project management must be familiar to them. They don't take on the role of "Project Manager" or "Product Owner" but must be an active participant in project management to uphold quality and deadlines.

On the technical side, the Lead Tech must be able to take on an expert role to inspire confidence in their team. To gain legitimacy on the TECH front, they must:

• Master several technologies (languages, frameworks, libraries, etc.)
• Have a varied project and problem experience. The more past experiences, the more expertise they can bring.
• Continue their technical watch to stay current and spot the technologies of tomorrow.

On the other side, their role as LEAD pushes them to develop management skills to explain things, support, and grow the team they work with.

• listen to the team to anticipate any obstacle to project progress
• show humility when supporting more junior people
• be a good teacher to train their team.

What is the salary of a Tech Lead?

Several criteria affect the compensation of a Lead Tech: their experience, their general or specialized technical expertise, the size of the team to manage and grow, and the complexity of the topics they will own. (At equal experience, a cybersecurity-focused Lead Tech and a Symfony Lead Tech will not be paid the same way.)

Based on these criteria, a Lead Tech can expect a gross monthly salary between:

• Junior Lead Tech: 40 to 48K€ (lead and junior may seem contradictory since the terms suggest opposite experience levels. By "junior lead," we mean a first lead experience in a team of junior developers)
• Mid-level Lead Tech: 45 to 60K€
• Senior Lead Tech: 55 to 70K€+

What career paths are possible for a Lead Tech?

Their growth options are quite broad because many rest on technical expertise:

• Tech Expert → by focusing growth primarily on technical expertise and culture
• Lead Developer → already legitimate by their technical level, they will need to ramp up on tech team management and tech project management.
• Engineering Manager → after several years of experience managing and leading technical projects and large teams (> 20 people).