Development Manager - Ruby on Rails
Hybrid South East Tech-Led Environment
We're representing a product-led London client with offices around the UK looking for a Ruby on Rails Development Manager who still enjoys building software, solving technical problems and improving how engineering teams actually deliver.
You’ll spend the majority of your time in the codebase, while also helping shape standards, unblock delivery and keep a capable team moving in the right direction.
This is a hands‑on leadership role for someone who’s already been the senior technical voice in a team and wants the right balance between engineering and people leadership without disappearing into meetings all week. You’ll work closely with an experienced technical leadership group inside an environment that already has solid foundations. The focus now is consistency, scalability, and improving delivery flow without introducing process for the sake of it.
Day to Day
* Roughly two‑thirds of the role is hands‑on engineering.
* You’ll contribute directly to product development work across both new functionality and the ongoing evolution of existing systems.
* There’s a strong focus on improving maintainability, modernising older areas of the platform and creating repeatable patterns that make delivery cleaner for the wider team.
* You’ll also play a key role in improving how development work moves through the business. That means tightening review cycles, reducing unnecessary friction and helping define sensible engineering standards.
* Alongside the coding side, you’ll manage a small team of developers across varying levels of experience.
The Environment
* The current stack includes a mix of: Ruby on Rails, React, AWS, Next, JavaScript and PostgreSQL.
You
You do not need to tick every box technically. What matters more is strong engineering judgement, solid backend experience and the ability to work comfortably across modern web applications.
You should understand where AI genuinely improves delivery, where it introduces risk and how to help developers use these tools responsibly without compromising quality, maintainability or security.
What They’re Looking For
* You’ve likely operated previously as a Lead Developer or Development Manager.
* You’ll need to be comfortable switching between architecture discussions, coding and mentoring developers.
Working Setup
Remote with occasional visits.
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