In 2020, Sara Owen joined Electrum’s Graduate Programme. As an Engineering Manager, her career has been driven by technical expertise, high performance, and a culture that fosters the growth of capable individuals. We sat down with Sara to discuss her journey from developer to leader, the reality of autonomy, and how she builds high-trust teams.

Sara joined Electrum’s Graduate Programme after finishing her Honours at the University of Cape Town. Reflecting on her early experience at Electrum, Sara remarked, ‘I loved the autonomy I was given because Electrum’s culture is built on a high level of trust. We’re trusted to do the right thing and make the right decisions. There aren’t rigid guardrails telling you what to do, but there’s support when you need help or guidance.

During her first year at Electrum, Sara embraced her autonomy and distinguished herself through her technical ability, interpersonal skills, and capable stakeholder management.

How Electrum grows its leaders

At Electrum, we work to create an environment where everyone can reach their goals. For Sara, this involved early conversations about her career aspirations. ‘Within my first few months at Electrum, I was asked what path I wanted to take. I told them that I wanted to be a team lead one day, and they began to guide me on what I needed to develop and learn to get there.” 

Sara worked diligently over the next two years, developing the skills necessary to lead a team. Recognising her efforts and ability, Electrum invited Sara to interview for a team lead position. After displaying her growth and completing the interview process, Sara began the transition to leadership. This involved a supported eight-month trial period, where she received active mentorship.

‘I had a lot of conversations with my team lead, and he would guide me on how to deal with specific situations. He challenged me to think about them from the other person's point of view, and he would give different ways of approaching challenges or scenarios to see what worked for me.’

Leadership as a team sport

While Electrum values individuality and autonomy, we also hold collaboration as a core guiding principle. To this end, we have created a structure where our team leads are part of their own team. The perspective and guidance of her peers helped Sara at the beginning of her leadership journey, and continues to support her today.

‘We've always had a team lead group. We meet twice a week to discuss process, people, projects, and how to improve the department. We're all on the same level, and we’re facing similar challenges, which allows us to help each other and provide different perspectives’.

Real autonomy in practice

Electrum defines autonomy as the trust and space needed to identify a problem and fix it. For Sara, this meant automating a manual reporting system that was draining team leads' capacity.

‘The process used to be entirely manual. Each team had to fill it in every week, make adjustments, and fix errors. It required too much time. So, I decided to automate the system. It worked so well that the entire Value-Added Services (VAS) department, as well as our release managers, use it. This was all completely unprompted, but I was given the trust and space to address it.’

Defining your way of working

Electrum leaders are given the freedom to build high-performing teams in their own way. Whether it’s servant leadership or a complete overhaul of agile rituals, we believe people will do their best work when given the trust to shape their processes.

‘I work from a high level of trust, expecting my team to have high ownership and autonomy. Because they feel my trust, they usually do their best to show that they’ve earned it.’

This flexibility applies to the entire department. Sara notes that when new leads join, they have the agency to shake things up:

‘A team lead joined and completely restructured his team’s approach; he changed how they did sprint planning, backlog grooming, standups, and even the format of their performance reviews. Our team leads need to create high-performing teams, so they’re given the freedom to achieve that.’

A message to aspiring leads

If you’re an intermediate or senior developer looking for a place where your leadership potential will be nurtured rather than managed, Sara has one piece of advice:

‘Just apply.’

‘People often second-guess themselves, but the reality is, if you're thinking about it, you're already a step ahead. No matter where you are right now, join and tell us you’re interested in being a team lead one day; we'll immediately work with you to develop your skills and grow you into the role at a pace where you can thrive.’

Ready for the next step in your journey?

If Sara’s story feels like your next step and your focus is on growing people, shaping products, and delivering client value, Electrum could be the right fit. You’ll have the trust and help you need, with a team that wants you to succeed.

Want to lead a team with the autonomy and support you need to do your best work? Apply to one of our open roles.