Development Manager - Software Development Group

As a Development Manager, you’ll lead high-performing agile teams (typically 2 teams of 5 or 6 people) to deliver exceptional results. You’ll create an inclusive, psychologically safe environment where people thrive, grow, and do their best work.

You’ll:

• Champion team performance and continuous improvement
• Coach and develop talent, unlocking individual potential
• Align skills, capacity, and delivery with organisational goals
• Drive engineering excellence through best practices like CI/CD and automated testing
• Use data and metrics to continuously raise the bar

This is a role where people leadership meets technical insight - perfect for someone who’s just as passionate about growing teams as they are about delivering great software.

What you’ll be doing: People Leadership That Inspires

• Attract, develop and retain top talent
• Lead meaningful 1:1s, performance reviews and career growth plans
• Build a high-performing, inclusive and psychologically safe culture
• Champion coaching, mentoring and continuous upskilling
• Balance team capacity, skills and succession planning
• Tackle performance challenges with clarity and care
• Prioritise wellbeing and work-life balance

Empowering Teams to Excel

• Give teams ownership of delivery, documentation and quality
• Strengthen resilience through smart resourcing and skills development
• Identify risks early and drive efficiency improvements
• Foster collaboration through Communities of Practice and shared learning

Driving Strategic Impact

• Align teams to OKRs, KPIs and organisational priorities
• Bring product and technical roadmaps to life for teams and stakeholders
• Champion big-picture thinking - from security to operational excellence
• Use metrics (including DORA) to enable data-driven decisions

Influencing & Engaging Stakeholders

• Partner across the organisation to align priorities and manage risk
• Represent your teams in leadership conversations
• Communicate change clearly, building trust and buy-in

Technical Leadership That Delivers

• Bring strong understanding of agile delivery and SDLC
• Introduce tools, standards and best practices that drive excellence
• Champion CI/CD, automated testing and quality tooling (SonarQube, Snyk, etc.), Jisc has an active sponsor licence to recruit on a Skilled worker visa basis. Candidates wishing to apply who require sponsorship should determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing their circumstances against the relevant Home Office criteria. Jisc does not offer any financial re-imbursement towards the applicant costs, such as re-location, skilled worker visa and dependant costs or the immigration health charge.

• A track record of leading high-performing teams
• Strong experience with Agile/Scrum delivery
• Knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing and tools like SonarQube or Snyk
• Ability to align team goals with OKRs and KPIs
• Confident communicator who thrives in cross-functional collaboration
• Experience supporting teams through change and transformation
• Skilled in 1:1s, performance and career development conversations
• People-first leadership style with a strong EDIB mindset

Nice to Have

• Experience working across multiple teams
• Solid understanding of SDLC and engineering best practices
• Background in software development (especially OOP)
• Knowledge of psychological safety and succession planning
• Familiarity with scaled agile environments
• Experience using DORA metrics
• Confidence representing teams at leadership level
• Proven ability to lead change at scale
• Experience coaching or mentoring other leaders

Skills & Personal Qualities

Need to have:

• Strong succession planning and skills balancing to build resilient teams
• Excellent relationship builder with a collaborative, trust-first approach
• Ability to turn strategy into clear, measurable goals
• Passion for empowering teams and driving ownership
• A clear, confident communicator across all levels
• Data-informed mindset to support smart decision-making
• Skilled at influencing without authority
• A natural advocate for your team’s voice and success
• Clear on expectations, accountability and outcomes
• Confident delivering honest, actionable feedback
• Solid technical awareness to guide decisions
• Strong conflict resolution and trust-building skills

Nice to have:

• Experience in coaching and mentoring
• Strong workload and capacity management
• Confidence in recruitment and onboarding
• Ability to create psychological safety
• Excellent prioritisation and time management
• Passion for building an inclusive, diverse team culture

Qualifications & training Need to have

• Demonstratable knowledge of software development and people management is required
• Evidence of continuous learning and professional development relevant to this role

Nice to have

• Leadership and management certifications and membership with a relevant professional body
• People management relevant training e.g. emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and coaching
• Scrum Master (CSM, PSM) - for Agile/Scrum environments
• Computing, business or management degree or equivalent

Pulled from the full job description

• Annual leave
• Employee discount
• Company pension
• Paid volunteer time, Salary: c£50,000 per annum (negotiable based on experience) + comprehensive benefits package Jisc grade: TSO3(internal use only) Job Type: Permanent Hours: 35 hours per week Reports into: Head of Development Management Working style: Hybrid - A blend of working from home and your nominated hub office. We have hubs located in London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford., Specific patterns for working in the office are not mandated, and the frequency of time worked in the office is agreed with your manager. Meeting in person is something we value so you may need to travel on occasion to any of our hub offices.

Why work for us? At Jisc, every role is meaningful, and every individual is valued. We foster a culture of continuous learning and personal growth, offering opportunities to develop new skills and make a real impact in education and research. With a strong focus on work-life balance, we embrace flexible working that prioritises outcomes over hours, empowering you to create a rhythm that energises both your professional and personal life.

Our Guiding Principles: Jisc’s culture is powered by our four guiding principles: putting customers first, driving innovation, creating impact, and championing inclusive collaboration to deliver sustainable outcomes and shape a better future.

Discover the amazing benefits we provide! Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Flexible work pattern, which can adapt to suit your schedules and personal commitments
• 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) that includes three closure days over Christmas
• Buy up to an additional 5 days leave during the flexible benefits window
• Generous flexible pension schemes
• A range of wellbeing lifestyle benefits including company paid health care cash plan, mental health first aiders and support
• A company culture of continuous learning with access to thousands of LinkedIn Learning courses, and lots of resources and opportunities to support your development
• Financial well-being support including access to preferential loan and savings plans, mortgage advice, will writing tools and support and resources to help you make the most of your money
• A wide range of discounts and cashback from retailers and big-name high-street stores
• Family friendly policies including enhanced parental, maternity and paternity and co-parental leave as well as opportunity for career breaks
• Support your volunteering with up to 3 days volunteer leave

Equity, diversity and inclusion: Jisc believe our people make all the difference in cultivating an inclusive culture that welcomes ideas, encourages innovation, and values belonging.

For 30 years Jisc has pioneered digital solutions for UK education and research, transforming how knowledge is created, shared and used.

We are uniquely positioned to protect, promote and lead the sector in digital and data transformation, making a difference to students, communities and society. Together, we are working to build a better digital future for education and research.

Raise your potential at Jisc through our culture of lifelong learning. At Jisc, we’re all about growth, so embrace new challenges, sharpen your skills and shape a career that excites you.

About Jisc: For 30 years Jisc has pioneered digital solutions for UK education and research, transforming how knowledge is created, shared and used.

We are uniquely positioned to protect, promote and lead the sector in digital and data transformation, making a difference to students, communities and society. Together, we are working to build a better digital future for education and research.

Raise your potential at Jisc through our culture of lifelong learning. At Jisc, we’re all about growth, so embrace new challenges, sharpen your skills and shape a career that excites you.

About the Team At Jisc, our Software Development Group powers the products that transform digital experiences across education and research. We don’t just build software - we build the right solutions, the right way. Using agile, continuous delivery, and a relentless focus on innovation, we turn ideas into high-quality products that matter.