Software Development Manager (Manchester)

We are seeking an experienced Software Development Manager to lead several highly motivated engineering teams to deliver mission critical product and customer solutions to our growing list of tier 1 customers within the Travel industry. 

This person will be highly technically proficient, an excellent communicator and have a strong customer orientation. You will have strong experience leading software teams within a dynamic Product Development organisation. You will have successfully delivered key enterprise grade applications and platforms for global customers. You will have full lifecycle experience – from initial concept design, implementation and ultimately production. 

As a member of the Engineering leadership team, you will be passionate about building a world class engineering team and product. An absolute passion for quality is a must, as is seeking out and driving continuous improvements within the engineering & wider organisation. Building strong relationships with the wider delivery and customer teams will be a critical part of this role. 

As development manager, you will be ultimately responsible for solution delivery. Coaching and developing your team is critical, with experience leading collocated and remote teams. You will be very confident in advising the wider project team on matters of design, enhancements, optimisation, and implementation, while being commercially aware and able to make sound judgement calls.

If you want to influence an industry, have the talent and ability to innovate with the best and the courage to stand up for quality for our customers then we want to talk to you. 

Key responsibilities 

• Lead, retain, develop, hire and mentor high-performing agile engineering team to deliver value through continuous delivery.

• Engage with Senior management and stakeholders developing product roadmap, ensuring the product priorities are agreed and drive the activities required to deliver these to a defined schedule and quality.

• Applies and implements industry standard software engineering practices for agile development such as Continuous Integration, automated testing, Dev ops and is experienced with various collaboration tools.

• People management:-objectives, motivation and career planning.

• Provide oversight on all aspects of the software engineering lifecycle - from planning / resourcing to delivery and ultimately customer value. 

• Provide direction to the wider delivery team on the optimal approach for delivery of solutions. 

• Challenge the status quo – with the goal of improving productivity and experience leading to operational excellences better business outcomes.

• Review designs, providing feedback to Product Management and Architects. 

• Provide direction on scope, sizing and timeline during customer engagement. 

• Ensure communication is flowing between key stakeholders in a clear, concise and timely manner. Act as a bridge between engineering and other departments. 

• Drive Continuous Improvement in People, Product & Process that lead to reducing time to deliver. 

• Nurture your team - define short- and long-term goals for those under your management. Provide training and mentoring for your team. 

Technical Skills / Knowledge / Experience 

Minimum requirements: 

• Degree related to software engineering or computer science. 

• 10+ years’ experience in software development preferably in java based environment. 

• 5 years plus experience in a leadership role in Product Development delivering B2B enterprise cloud applications hosted on AWS.

• Extensive experience of working with Agile processes, scrum practice and software engineering practices.

• Provide mentoring and support to agile team in scrum best practices and agile development approaches.

• Understands and can provide leadership on agile release management and continuous delivery practises.

• Proven track record of building, scaling and leading high performing engineering teams.

• Track record of project delivery on time \ to budget.

• Excellent People Management skills.

• Strong customer focus.

• Experience in collaborating closely at all levels of the organization providing guidance, mentoring and leadership.

• Self-starter who works on their own initiative.

• Adaptable, flexible with a proven experience of delivering quality solutions in a fast-moving business environment.

• Excellent communication skills, able to present at executive level, and engage with senior customers.

• Excellent Analytic and problem-solving skills with a keen attention to detail.

• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills.

• Experience in building and operating enterprise applications in AWS that follow principles of security, scalability and high availability.

• Very strong technical background leading application development – with experience in some or all of the following technologies: Java, Spring Boot, JBoss, Tomcat, Git/Bitbucket, Jenkins, Oracle, MongoDB, Postgres, IntelliJ, JIRA, Confluence, Junit, JMeter. 

About Datalex 

Datalex's purpose is to transform airline retail. Datalex is a market leader in airline retail technology, offering unique products that enable airlines to drive revenue and profit as digital retailers. Datalex has a strong track record of delivering digital retail transformation for progressive airline brands worldwide, including Aer Lingus, easyJet, JetBlue Airways, Air China, Edelweiss, Air Transat, and Air Macau. The Group is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and maintains offices across Europe, the USA and China. In 2024, Datalex was awarded the 'Great Place to Work and 'Best Workplaces in Tech' certifications. Datalex plc is a publicly listed company, on Euronext Growth, Dublin.