Depending on the formation of an organization, the team lead carries out a major role in managing a certain group, subgroup, or project. That way they carry out their duties and have a massive impact on the productivity and success of their team. Thus, the team lead is categorically accountable for creating a collective work environment and regulating the direction of a particular project or program. In this article, we will discuss the job description, roles, and responsibilities of a team lead in software development, along with examples of interview questions. Read on to learn the average salary of an executive team lead at Target.
What is a Team Lead?
A team lead is responsible for communicating with all the team members of their team, reporting to the project managers. As a team lead is responsible for ensuring that all tasks are completed on time, likewise they also have the right to view, edit and order the tasks of each team member, as well as work with the project manager to give updates on project status. Aside from these typical obligations, a team lead needs to provide adequate support for team members.
How To Become a Team Lead
Developing strong leadership skills is necessary for any position at every stage of your career. Hence, before reaching a managerial level, find means to show your leadership capabilities within your company. However, one way to showcase leadership skills early in your career is to be a leader. Here are some insights for new leaders:
#1. Acquire Education
If you have an interest in becoming a team lead, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. This is because we’ve resolved that 49.9% of team leaders have a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 8.9% of team leaders have master’s degrees. As much as major team leads have a college degree, it’s possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
#2. Complete Training/Internship
Team leads spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. During this time, new team leaders learn the skills and techniques required for their specific job and employer.
#3. Certification
Certifications prove to an employer that you have the basic knowledge needed for the position. They also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don’t require a certification, having one helps you stand out in an application. Additionally, the process of getting a certification teaches you new skills that you can bring to your work.
#4. Prepare Your Resume
Finally, when you already have checked the skills and responsibilities for this role, you can start creating your resume. Even though everything that goes into creating a perfect resume can take hours, days, or even weeks. Additionally, a resume builder helps to make this process as easy as possible with tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and a summary.
#5. Apply For a Team Lead Job
With your ready resume, it’s time to start looking for a new job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you’re interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
Team Lead Job Description
A team lead job description shows how the leader helps team members reach their goals and contribute to an organization’s growth. Furthermore, they inspire others and stimulate open and constructive communication in the organization in which they work. This means that the team works with the leader, rather than for them. Additionally, the job description also includes some hard skills, such as creating plans, setting deadlines, and delegating tasks.
Team Lead Job Description: Duties & Responsibilities
Responsibilities of a team lead include decision-making, coaching, mentoring, developing the team’s skills, and managing conflict. Equally important, learning these skills is an ongoing process that requires regular practice and use. Here are a few important responsibilities,
- Build trust and camaraderie between team members
- Inspire and motivate teamwork for achieving goals
- Influence valuable changes and positive outcomes
- Be open to new ideas coming from team members
- Consult frequently with key team members
- Establish an open discussion for decision-making
- Cultivate a unique identity for the team
- Encourage and support independent thinking
- Recognize and acknowledge the skills of key team members and utilize their strengths to the benefit of the team
- Define clearly state expectations and objectives with the team members
- Mediate disagreements between members.
- Develop an incentive program to increase results
- Evaluate results and provide feedback in a timely fashion
Team Lead Job Description: Qualification/Skills
Below are the essential qualifications to become a team lead,
- Staffing, planning, and people management
- Managing performance and profitability
- Financial planning and strategy
- Promoting process improvement
- Strategic planning
- Dealing with complexity, analyzing information, and implementing company vision
Team Lead Job Description: Requirements
The educational and licensing requirements are,
- A high school diploma or general education degree (GED) required
- Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in business or management preferred
- Minimum 12 months experience in a specific industry
- Advanced supervisory experience is a plus
Team Lead Roles and Responsibilities In Software Development
In the simplest terms, a software development team lead guides the team in developing software. These professionals typically rise to the role of team leader after holding positions as a developer, QA tester, product manager, or other software development role. Also, their aim is to successfully deliver the requested product that meets all acceptance criteria. Therefore, the software development team lead carries out some or all of the following roles.
Team Lead Roles and Responsibilities In Software Development: Examples
A software development team lead primary objective is to deliver a product that satisfies all the acceptance criteria. However, to accomplish this, they direct a unit of programmers in constructing software. Furthermore, it’s common for software development team lead to have worked their way up from entry-level positions in the industry such as Developers, Quality Assurance Testers, Product Managers, or similar professions. In addition, the responsibilities of a software development team lead vary but typically involve:
- Works closely with the Product Manager to have a solid understanding of business and product. Also, acts as Product Manager when there is no one available
- Is accountable for the applications the Dev teams develop and assists with questions and PROD support when needed
- Comfortable delegating to the appropriate resources;
- Responsible for performance evaluations of team members and assisting in the compensation process;
- Follow legal policies as directed
- Takes an active role in the hiring process of new developers and testers
- Should be competent in presenting technical information to a range of audiences including non-technical audiences
- Leads a team working on significant and critical projects. Provides both technical and team leadership and mentoring
- Gives initial approval of paid time off and expense reports for team members
- Responsible for tracking team velocity and providing metrics for management
Team Lead Roles and Responsibilities In Software Development: Skills and Requirements
Below are the requirements for the roles in software development,
- Understanding of SOA development
- Ability to write quality unit tests
- Possess a strong understanding of traditional RDBMS and distributed computing
- Development on Linux
- Experience/Knowledge with Spark and Scala
- Experience in Spring, Hibernate, REST, ORM, JPA
- Experience with AGILE software development methodology
Team Lead Interview Questions
Are you preparing yourself for the interview questions necessary for the role of team lead? If yes, then you have to prepare effortlessly for this, as there are several interview questions that can be asked of you. That is to say, responsibility involves managing a group of people and assigning them responsibilities and tasks. It also involves making decisions based on data and facts. Hence, learning about the questions a recruiting manager might ask during a job interview for a leadership position helps you prepare effectively.
Team Lead Interview Question: Examples
These questions might be about your past experience and skills, some situational-based, or maybe some behavior-based. Explore the best team lead interview questions so that you can prepare them easily.
#1. General Interview Questions
These questions assist them in knowing if the candidate is a good fit for the role and the organization. Here are some examples of general interview questions for a team lead,
- Why did you decide to apply for this position?
- Tell me about yourself.
- What’s your greatest strength?
- What’s your biggest weakness?
- Where do you see yourself five years from now?
#2. Experience & Background Interview Questions
Because of the nature of the role, hiring managers usually look for candidates with excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills. Again, they examine the candidate’s suitability for the role by asking these questions:
- How does your previous role prepare you for this job?
- How do you track tasks and projects?
- How do you plan to evaluate your team’s performance?
- What qualities do you think a team leader may have?
#3. In-depth Interview Questions
For this type of interview, hiring managers often ask these situational questions to assess a candidate’s capacity and ability to handle the role:
- How do you motivate a team member who seems to feel discouraged about working?
- How do you handle deadlines?
- Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with your team. How did you handle it?
- What can you do if your team doesn’t agree with your directives?
#4. Behavioral Interview Questions
They evaluate the candidate’s behavior by asking these questions:
- What’s your favorite way to provide feedback and why?
- What’s the most challenging part of your job?
- Have you ever laid off an employee? What happened?
- What are your top onboarding processes for new team members?
#5. Problem-Solving Interview Questions
These questions enable them to know if the candidate is a good fit for the role and the organization
- How would you motivate a low-energy team member?
- Describe how you would deal with conflict between two team members.
- How would you persuade your team members they can reach a high goal?
- What would you do if a manager from a different department wanted to collaborate with one of your team?
- How would you change your leadership style to meet a tight deadline?
Target Executive Team Lead Salary
The estimated total salary for an executive team lead at Target is $67,358 per year. Hence, this number represents the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and is based on salaries collected from our users. The estimated base pay is $58,034 per year. In addition, the estimated additional pay is $9,324 per year. Additional pay could include bonuses, stock, commissions, profit sharing, or tips. The “Most Likely Range” represents values that exist within the 25th and 75th percentile of all pay data available for this role.
Target Executive Team Lead Salary: Factors Affecting It
Below are the various factors affecting the salary of an executive team lead at Target,
- Location
- Credentials
- Experience and skill
- Industry or employer
- Job tasks
- Success and performance
What Company Pays the Highest Salary for the Executive Team Leader position?
Bank of America pays the highest salary for the executive team lead position at $126,000 annually.
What is the Difference Between a Team Lead and a Team Lead Software Developer?
Unlike developers, who usually work on a specific aspect of a project and communicate mainly with other developers, team leads as the title suggests are focused on coordinating the activities of and collaborating with the entire team.
What is the Difference Between an IT Team Lead and an IT Manager?
Leaders coach, whereas Managers assign tasks and provide guidance on how to accomplish them.
Conclusion
In order to lead their teams well, leaders must try to grow continually and also assists their team members do the same. So, as you think about your own development, consider how you fulfill your various team lead responsibilities and where there are opportunities for you to become more effective. This is because the best leads continue to learn and grow over time.
References
- .zippia
- .ziprecruiter.
- Jooble
- .works.
- ca.indeed
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