API Team Leader

Job Description

Join Us

At Vodafone, we’re not just shaping the future of connectivity for our customers – we’re shaping the future for everyone who joins our team. When you work with us, you’re part of a global mission to connect people, solve complex challenges, and create a sustainable and more inclusive world. If you want to grow your career whilst finding the perfect balance between work and life, Vodafone offers the opportunities to help you belong and make a real impact.

What you’ll do

The API Team Lead is responsible for leading an API delivery team within the Integration / CELL domain, ensuring effective people leadership, predictable delivery, and strong adherence to agreed technical, architectural, and process standards. The role combines team leadership, API delivery ownership, capacity and workload planning, and coordination across the full API lifecycle—from impact analysis and API design readiness to implementation, testing, release, and post-release support. A strong focus is placed on scalable API design, reuse, consistency across domains, and alignment with enterprise integration patterns.

More specifically you will:

• Lead a team responsible for developing and maintaining APIs within the CELL platform and Integration domain, ensuring clear ownership and effective ways of working.
• Align priorities, demand, and delivery commitments with the Engineering Manager and Product stakeholders.
• Coach and support team members, driving performance, development, and regular feedback.
• Act as the first escalation point for team issues, blockers, and risks, ensuring timely resolution.
• Manage incoming demand, contribute to impact analysis, and maintain a realistic capacity plan across project, BAU, and incident work.
• Ensure accurate planning and tracking of deliverables, milestones, and progress through maintained tools and transparent reporting.
• Coordinate delivery execution, ensuring timely and quality outcomes and early escalation of risks, dependencies, or capacity gaps.
• Own team-level technical and process alignment, ensuring adherence to domain standards, governance, and documentation requirements.
• Support delivery lifecycle activities (design readiness, quality checks, release preparation, hypercare) while driving continuous improvement, including automation, cloud adoption, and AI-enabled ways of working.

Who you are

• Experience in team leadership, API development, or technical delivery within integration-heavy or enterprise environments.
• At least 2-3 years of experience in design and development of RESTful APIs using cloud-friendly technologies like Quarkus, Spring Boot, or any other JVM-based technology.
• Solid understanding of API design and integration patterns (REST, SOAP, messaging, event-driven, etc.).
• Ability to combine people management, delivery ownership, and technical leadership.
• Familiarity with full API lifecycle: design, implementation, testing, release, and support.
• Strong communication, prioritization, and stakeholder management skills.
• Structured mindset, ownership mentality, and attention to detail.

Nice to have:

• Experience with API platforms and gateways (e.g., APISIX or similar).
• Experience in telecom or complex multi-system landscapes.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, microservices, and cloud-native architectures.
• Familiarity with tools like PostgreSQL, Apache Kafka, RabbitMQ, Drools, Apache Camel, Temporal Workflow.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, observability, and platform engineering practices.
• Experience with governance tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) and API documentation standards (e.g., OpenAPI)

Not a perfect fit?

Worried that you don’t meet all the desired criteria exactly? At Vodafone we are passionate about empowering people and creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, whatever their personal or professional background. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align exactly with every part of the job description, we encourage you to still apply as you may be the right candidate for this role or another opportunity.

What's in it for you

• Award-winning work environment -certified #1 Top Employer in Greece
• Competitive pay, bonus & remuneration package
• Private Health & Medical Insurance
• Hybrid way of working: a blend of remote and office-based working, including the option to work from abroad
• Unlimited access to learning resources and trainings
• Vodafone Parental Leave: 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave to all employees regardless of gender, sexual
  orientation or length of service
• Spirit of Vodafone Day: one day each quarter dedicated to your personal development
• Extra days off: Vodafone Day, Family Day, Volunteering Day
• Office amenities (subject to the office location): such as restaurant, beauty corner, gym and parking
• Special employee offers and discounts

Who we are

We are a leading international Telco, serving millions of customers. At Vodafone, we believe that connectivity is a force for good. If we use it for the things that really matter, it can improve people's lives and the world around us. Through our technology we empower people, connecting everyone regardless of who they are or where they live and we protect the planet, whilst helping our customers do the same.

Belonging at Vodafone isn't a concept; it's lived, breathed, and cultivated through everything we do. You'll be part of a global and diverse community, with many different minds, abilities, backgrounds and cultures. ;We're committed to increase diversity, ensure equal representation, and make Vodafone a place everyone feels safe, valued and included.

If you require any reasonable adjustments or have an accessibility request as part of your recruitment journey, for example, extended time or breaks in between online assessments, please refer to https://careers.vodafone.com/application-adjustments/ for guidance.

Together we can.