Associate Technical Lead

JOB DESCRIPTION
Associate Technical Lead
About Sysco LABS:
Sysco LABS is the Global In-House Center of Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY), the world’s largest foodservice company. Sysco ranks 55th in the Fortune 500 list and is the global leader in the trillion-dollar foodservice industry.
Sysco operates 333 distribution centers across 10 countries, with 75,000 colleagues serving approximately 670,000 customer locations, including restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments, entertainment venues and more. For fiscal year 2026, which ended June 27, 2026, the company generated sales of more than $84 billion.
Sysco LABS Sri Lanka delivers the technology that powers Sysco’s end-to-end operations.
Sysco LABS’ enterprise technology is present in the end-to-end foodservice journey, enabling the sourcing of food products, merchandising, storage and warehouse operations, order placement and pricing algorithms, the delivery of food and supplies to Sysco’s global network and the in-restaurant dining experience of the end-customer.
Role Overview
Owns the design and code quality of one or more components, actively educating and guiding junior engineers while beginning to take on true leadership responsibility - stepping in for the team lead/manager when they're unavailable, and starting to practice delegation across specific technical scopes or sub-groups within the team.
Contributes to elevating the overall Sysco engineering ecosystem through active participation in Communities of Practice, technical workshops, knowledge-sharing initiatives, and technical publications.
Some flexibility in daily schedule may be expected, on an as-needed basis, to allow for reasonable working-hour overlap with global colleagues, supporting collaboration across regions including North America and Europe.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Delivery & Architecture
Own design and code quality for one or more components; guide juniors on best practices, secure programming, data privacy, and AI-assisted code standards - raising concerns when AI output introduces risk.
Apply concurrency/parallel programming concepts and multiple programming paradigms in line with product requirements; take accountability for prioritizing vulnerability fixes within owned components.
Apply design patterns and reference architectures proficiently, educating juniors on the same; flag deviations from enterprise-defined patterns to seniors, and use incrementally built business-domain expertise to support team leadership's technical decision-making.
Evaluate frameworks, libraries, and AI tools, making recommendations to the team; review AI tool evaluations to inform leadership decisions and ensure alignment with company guidelines.
Delivery, Quality & Operations
Guide juniors on release management processes and lifecycles; apply the team's chosen project methodology proficiently, with working knowledge of others, and evaluate/introduce AI-assisted process improvements.
Uphold code quality and process adherence standards, leading onboarding of team members to these standards - including ensuring AI-generated code meets the same defect and coverage bar as human-written work.
Independently monitor applications, resolve complex issues without supervision, and build dashboards/monitors on approved tooling, while educating juniors on the same.
Contribute to cloud platform design work and educate juniors on DevOps concepts, tools, and cloud AI service usage in line with DevSecOps and security guidelines.
People & Stakeholder Management
Step in for the team lead/manager when absent, guiding the team toward its goals and handling stakeholder correspondence professionally.
Take ownership of specific technical scopes or sub-groups of junior engineers, practicing delegation rather than carrying every task personally.
Adapt communication style and technical depth to different audiences when presenting results or running demonstrations.
Encourage juniors to think creatively and experiment with new approaches and AI tools within company guidelines; socialize industry and AI trends and innovation ideas with the team and leads.
Actively contribute to technical interviews and hiring decisions for the team, evaluating both technical depth and team fit to build a strong, well-rounded engineering team.
Requirements
Technical Skills
Strong command of design patterns, reference architectures, and secure/data-privacy-aware coding practices, including in AI-assisted contexts.
Practical experience with concurrency, parallel programming, and multiple programming paradigms.
Working knowledge of cloud platform design and core DevOps/DevSecOps concepts.
Ability to evaluate frameworks, tools, and AI-assisted development output for quality, security, and business fit.
Leadership & Soft Skills
Demonstrated readiness to lead a team in a manager's absence, with sound judgment on delegation.
Strong stakeholder communication, adaptable to technical and non-technical audiences.
Proven mentorship ability, particularly in guiding juniors' technical growth and AI tool adoption.
A curiosity-driven mindset that fosters innovation and experimentation within the team.
Experience & Education
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
4+ years of professional software engineering experience, including demonstrated ownership of component-level design and code quality as a Senior Software Engineer.
Benefits:
Performance-based annual bonus
Performance rewards and recognition
Agile Benefits - special allowances for Health, Wellness & Academic purposes
Entertainment allowance
Team engagement allowance
Comprehensive Health & Life Insurance Cover - extendable to parents and in-laws
Hybrid work arrangement
Sysco LABS is an Equal Opportunity Employer.