Location: Guernsey, Haywards Heath, Home Office (Remote) or Manchester
Salary: £73,652 - £92,065 - depending on experience
Department: Technology and Data
We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024, and our Glassdoor score is impressive!
We are seeking a Software Development Manager to play a pivotal role in leading and enabling our software engineers embedded within cross-functional value stream teams.
The Software Development Manager will be responsible for ensuring engineering excellence across the federated model, where teams adopt DevOps and SOLID principles, using .NET and modern cloud technologies including Azure. They will take full ownership of their products and services, from development to operations, and provide strategic and people leadership to foster a high-performing engineering culture focused on quality, continuous improvement, resilience, and business value delivery.
We value flexible working arrangements, allowing you to work remotely or from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, with the option to work in the office occasionally.
Core skills required:
* Proven experience in software leadership within agile, cross-functional team environments
* Strong understanding and practical application of DevOps principles and cloud-native technologies
* Solid foundation in software architecture and design, including application of SOLID principles and modern design patterns
* Familiarity with AI/ML tools
* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders
* Proven ability to manage and develop engineering talent in a matrixed or federated model
* Beneficial: Other cloud platform certifications
* Good understanding of service-based architecture, including component, service-oriented, and event-driven architectures
Responsibilities include:
* Managing, mentoring, and supporting software engineers across multiple teams
* Championing engineering best practices such as CI/CD, automated testing, infrastructure as code, and secure coding within a DevOps culture
* Guiding teams in leveraging cloud platforms like Azure and AWS to build scalable, resilient, and cost-effective solutions
* Instilling full product ownership mindset within teams
* Driving efficiencies by adopting emerging practices and tools
* Collaborating with various stakeholders to align engineering efforts with business goals, including AI-powered solutions
* Prioritizing development requirements and delivery strategies
* Building strong relationships with internal and external technology partners
* Leading recruitment, onboarding, and talent development initiatives
* Establishing engineering governance frameworks
* Promoting leadership, feedback, and continuous improvement culture
* Planning and supporting incident management, security alerts, and out-of-hours releases
Experience & knowledge:
* Experience managing software engineers in agile, federated teams
* Proficiency in C# .NET, dependency injection, Entity Framework, and unit testing
* Deep understanding of DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and monitoring
* Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and serverless technologies
* Knowledge of full-stack solutions (SPA, SQL databases)
* Experience with software delivery lifecycle tools (preferably ADO)
* Awareness of AI tools and techniques
* Familiarity with agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
* Strong foundation in software engineering practices and architecture
* Proven mentoring and talent growth skills
Skills:
* Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
* Proven software leadership experience in agile environments
* Understanding of DevOps and cloud-native tech
* Solid software architecture and design skills
* Familiarity with AI/ML tools
* Excellent communication and stakeholder influence skills
* Talent management and team development abilities
Behaviors:
* Customer-centric approach and stakeholder collaboration
* Product mindset and self-motivation
* Organized, proactive, and initiative-driven
* Teamwork and continuous improvement orientation
If you’re ready for this challenge and want to join our vibrant team, we want to hear from you today.
What we offer:
* People-first environment with energetic, supportive workplaces
* Perks including health plans, flexible holidays, electric car schemes, and flexible working
* Supportive policies for life events and volunteering
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