Software Engineering Manager (Hands-On) Location: Maidenhead Hybrid: 3 days in the office a week We're looking for an experienced and hands-on Software Engineering Manager to guide our agile engineering teams from concept to release for major and point product updates. You'll work closely with product managers, product owners, other engineering leaders, and cross-functional teams to evolve our solutions, championing best practices in the SDLC, CI/CD, code quality, and test automation. Key Responsibilities: Lead & Mentor: Lead 4-10 development and test engineers globally, providing coaching, career planning, and performance management. Deliver High-Quality Products: Manage multiple product line deliverables, ensuring on-time, on-scope, and high-quality outcomes. Drive Process Improvement: Instrument and report on team processes, establish operational reviews with management, and drive continuous improvement initiatives. Architectural Guidance: Provide architectural direction to your teams, aligning with our cloud and platform strategy. Technical Evangelism: Serve as a champion for technology, architecture, and best practices in product development. Hands-on Development: Actively contribute to product development using the Microsoft tech stack. Design & Implementation: Participate in the design and implementation of highly available, cloud-grade production services. Strategic Partnership: Collaborate with Product Management on solution feasibility and effort estimation. Technology Adoption: Recommend new technology and framework improvements based on trends and best practices. What You'll Bring: Experience: 5 years in engineering leadership roles for product development, with 9 years in software application design, development, and maintenance within a product environment. Microsoft Tech Stack Expertise: Expert proficiency in .NET, C#, ASP.NET MVC, and enterprise-scale Microsoft SQL Server (design, development, performance tuning). Front-End Skills: Expert in JavaScript or JavaScript Web Frameworks (e.g., Angular, React). Agile Proficiency: 5 years of practical experience with Agile development methodologies. DevOps & SCM: Working experience with source code management (SCM) and DevOps automation. Proficiency with Microsoft Visual Studio IDE and Azure DevOps. Architecture & Scalability: Working experience with scaled software architecture and domain concepts like performance, redundancy, failover, and vertical scaling. API Expertise: Proficient in API design, development, and production operations. Problem-Solving & Communication: Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts and influence decisions. Autonomy & Collaboration: Highly motivated self-starter, able to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced team, prioritizing tasks with competing deadlines.