Job description

Join our diverse and dynamic business as a Software Development Manager

A Software Development Manager with analytical skills is required to lead a vibrant development team to work with business stakeholders and web application developers to lead efficient development on a range of bespoke business applications.

The successful candidate would be responsible for all elements of managing the team, and tasked with delivering on our range of projects and applications for a diverse group of companies.

Location: Must be commutable to one of the following offices once or twice a week: Tunbridge Wells, Portsmouth or Bristol

Salary: £55,000 - £65,000 depending on experience

Hours: 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, Full-Time, Permanent.

Overview

You will be facilitating product deliveries and drive quality within the development team using appropriate agile based methodologies and events. Coach, mentor and help the team to be accountable for themselves and for the commitments they make with a focus on continual improvement.

You will lead and manage the development team which work on multiple projects for the insurance business.

You will need to liaise with stakeholders in order to write functional requirements with the required level of detail.

You will manage the product backlog and organize sprint planning and other development meetings.

The ideal candidate would be somebody with a background in insurance and some prior experience with agile development, possibly from a previous role in business analysis but with a good understanding of technology and leadership skills

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and support the development team to achieve high standards through building industry leading, robust and innovative software solutions that are fit for purpose.
• Interact with senior business stakeholders to present key design considerations in a digestible format that relate to the overarching non-technical goals.
• This will include identification of functional requirements using formal and informal frameworks as appropriate.
• You will be involved in facilitating discussions between business stakeholders, sometimes conflicting requirements and perspectives and working closely to prioritise workloads including backlogs.
• Effectively act as a product owner for designated projects, representing the interests of the business both tactically and strategically.
• Be responsible for the generation of analysis artefacts in various styles as necessitated by the size and style of the project, including stories, use cases and business requirements document.
• Oversee the delivery of solutions such that they are fit for purpose and have the minimum level of complexity to meet business objectives with the right level of compromise between immediate goals and future flexibility.
• Be comfortable presenting the software to the end users either face to face or using webinar technology.
• Planning and leading meetings e.g. sprint planning, retrospectives, daily stand-ups, reviews etc.
• Liaise with colleagues in IT, other departments and 3rd parties as required to resolve blockers and progress deliveries as necessary.
• Co-ordinating testing activities as part of the core delivery and ensuring testing has the appropriate input into planning meetings.
• Planning and co-ordinating releases, liaising with business to agree UAT and Live sign off dates.
• To suggest and help implement improvements to current business processes.
• Responsibility for producing succinct and appropriate reporting and input into projects and backlog.
• Monitoring the work of all team members including removing barriers, assisting, mentoring and coaching where applicable. Measuring and improving the team's velocity.
• Be responsible for day-to-day line management including 1-2-1s, managing holiday requests, setting objectives, performance appraisals and identifying training needs for the team.
• Creating and maintaining a professional and creative culture within the team, where individuals take ownership and are fastidious and proud of delivering excellence and quality and sharing ideas.

Skills and knowledge

• Attention to detail and high level of accuracy
• Ability to document accurately business requirements to be easily consumable by developers
• Experience of working with DevOps teams using agile frameworks.
• Financial and Insurance Services experience with business knowledge would be ideal.
• Able to converse with both technical and non-technical team members
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills at all levels
• Workshop facilitation skills.
• Solid understanding of development processes, Software Development Lifecycle and User Story creation.

Personal qualities

• Suitable candidates should have experience and demonstrable success in a team lead or supervisory role preferably in a software development team.
• Having a technical or process background with a good understanding of software development principles and methodologies.
• Excellent communication skills are a necessity, with the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Ability to clearly document business requirements with sufficient detail
• Applicants should have good time management skills and able to manage workloads appropriately.
• Good analytical and decision making skills are essential to provide good business value and ensure that our products are of high technical standard.

Employee benefits

• Private Medical cover for employee
• 5% Employer pension contributions when contributing 5%
• 28 days holiday + bank holidays
• Company Sick Pay
• Life Assurance 4x annual salary