Software Development Manager

1. Do you thrive on transforming challenges into opportunities, leading a team to conquer complex coding feats and deliver unparalleled solutions? All the while fostering a culture of innovation and excellence!
2. Your primary purpose as a Software Development Manager is to lead a dynamic team of software developers and oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of innovative software solutions.
3. We operate a flexible hybrid working policy where office attendance is combined with homeworking days dependent on role and corporate requirements.

Location: Bootle, North West England, L20 7HS : Newport, Wales, NP10 8XG

About the job

Job summary

• Seeking a challenge? Do you thrive on transforming challenges into opportunities, leading a team to conquer complex coding feats and deliver unparalleled solutions? All the while fostering a culture of innovation and excellence!
• Dream of leading tech talents? Are you passionate about cultivating a team’s potential, unlocking their best work, and driving excellence in every line of code?

Your primary purpose as a Software Development Manager is to lead a dynamic team of software developers and oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of innovative software solutions.

• You will play a pivotal role in contributing to the software development life cycle by overseeing design and development phases and ensuring seamless integration of DevOps practices. Increasing innovation and the maturity of our software development lifecycle processes and controls and the timely delivery of software solutions.
• You will need extensive knowledge and experience of the full software development lifecycle, the design, development, management and maintenance of information systems and a wealth of experience in C#, .NET Framework, JavaScript frameworks and associated technologies and methodologies.
• You will be managing resources, relationships, vendors, and technology roadmaps ensuring capacity and skills for delivery. Building a team through coaching and developing colleagues in agile ways of working.
• You will need to be an excellent communicator, leader, and motivator with high standards that you inspire in others. You will take accountability for your team’s work and be comfortable making changes and leading them in new directions as necessary.

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

• Leadership and Team Management: You will lead and inspire a team of developers, fostering a collaborative and innovative work environment. You will provide mentorship, guidance and support to team members, promoting professional growth and skill development.
• Strategic Planning: You will collaborate with stakeholders to understand organisational goals and translate them into a strategic software development roadmap. You will align software initiatives with the Commissions’ mission and regulatory objectives.
• Software Development Oversight: Collaborate with cross-functional teams, fostering a culture of excellence and efficiency in software development and deployment, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality solutions. You will provide design and architectural options to key stakeholders, driving forward decisions and a longer term sustainable software architecture, ensuring software is properly monitored, supported and maintained.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: You will work closely with other areas to identify software needs, streamline processes and enhance overall organisational efficiency, ensuring the utilisation of user centred design and data driven iteration. You will collaborate with teams to ensure compliance with data protection and cybersecurity standards.
• Quality Assurance: You will implement and enforce best practice coding, testing and documentation to ensure the reliability and maintainability of software products.

The technologies we use: 

We have a range of tech and tools used in the Charity Commission, below are some of the main ones: 

• A mixture of SaaS, PaaS & IaaS.
• Azure for most of our infrastructure. 
•  C# to write our backend services (Java, Node.js, C#, Python, PHP, Scala, Power platform).
• Java , JavaScript and React to write our frontend services (React, JavaScript, Typescript, Angular). 
• Liferay Digital Experience Platform.
• Azure DevOps for deployment. 
• Application insights for application monitoring. 
• Microsoft Power Pages for some forms development.
• GOV.UK Design System (GDS) for our web interfaces.
• Kubernetes and Docker to run our services. 
• Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL).
• Azure SQL Databases and Managed Instances.
• Azure Synapse (Dedicated SQL Pool) manages the Data Warehouse.
• Azure Data Factory is used for ETL alongside Azure Synapse Link for data replication.
• Legacy applications in VB.net, VB6, top level.
• Powershell scripts.

Person specification

Ability:

• Strong understanding of software architecture, design principles and best practices.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate across directorates.
• Track record of excellent staff management and leadership and proven resource management experience.
• Create a positive learning environment, developing training programmes to support team and individual development.

Experience:

• Demonstrated experience in leading test automation in CI/CD environments.
• Expertise in the Software Development Lifecycle, ensuring alignment with project objectives and quality standards.
• Significant demonstrable experience of managing development teams using AGILE methodologies (SCRUM, Kanban), sprints, retrospectives, and backlog management.

Technical:

• Degree in Computer Science (or related discipline) or significant equivalent demonstrable experience within a software development environment.
• Proven evidence of continued professional development to maintain relevant knowledge of emerging software development frameworks, trends, and technologies.
• SCRUM / Agile certification.
• ITIL Foundation (or working towards).

Qualifications

SCRUM / Agile certification

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Leadership
• Developing Self and Others

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,657, Charity Commission contributes £11,787 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. This is your chance to make a contribution that really matters and to make an impact in an organisation where your voice will be heard and your hard work noticed. We operate a flexible hybrid working policy where office attendance is combined with homeworking days dependent on role and corporate requirements.

We offer access to the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme (employer contributions of 27.1%), far more than in the private sector, and a flexible, family-friendly environment. Additionally, you can look forward to other great benefits via our ‘Perkbox’ and ‘Edenred’ schemes. These include everything from an interest-free season ticket loan and bicycle loan (after two months) to discounts on gym membership, cinema tickets and restaurants. A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days per year.