Software Development Manager

This role is very much live and our client is actively recruiting - they are looking for a skilled Software Developer / Development Manager, who has managed and mentored a team of developers, to run a group of 6-8 people - within a one hour commute of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, as you will need to go into the office 2 or 3 days a week. Starting salary to £50k.

Our client needs a Software Development Manager to motivate, manage, nurture and run a small team of developers, within an ERP software consulting firm, ensuring development projects are completed on time and to standard. This is a newly created position, you will not be doing any hands on development yourself, so your tech / development language / platform skills can be legacy or very current - this is very much a man management role centred on procedures, time scales, processes and delivery.

You need to have a software development background to enable you to understand the jargon and what the developers are trying to do, and to be able to empathise with them about the struggles they are having with their projects. It doesn't matter what technology you have personally used as a developer - it could be legacy stuff like VB, Progress etc., or more modern tech like Java, Perl, Ruby, Scala, Rust, C#.Net, JavaScript etc. - you just need to understand the stages of development and what the clients want and expect, and how to get the development projects moving faster, the completion standards higher, and the deadlines met.

The company sells an outstanding, state of the art cloud ERP solution renowned across the world that covers areas like Ecommerce, Finance & Accounts, Distribution, Manufacturing, and Sales & CRM and can be tailored to clients' individual requirements. So you need to have worked in a commercial development environment covering some of the areas above, where the developers' work has had to be delivered to time and budget, and where perfection comes second to deadlines.

Why is this an awesome job?

• It is a newly created position that you can build yourself
• Reporting directly to the MD
• Chance to create your own processes and procedures
• Working on true state of the art cloud ERP software
• Working with a great team of young, bright software developers that you can influence
• A chance to noticeably improve things and make a difference

The team is generally made up of 6 to 10 developers, many of whom have 1-3 years' experience, and would really benefit from leadership and proper management. They are currently being managed by a senior member of the company who runs three other areas too, and is stretched too thinly, so a dedicated Software Development Manager could really make a big difference here, keep them on track and stop projects running over schedule constantly.

The objectives of the role are to get software developed and delivered within the timeframe it has been sold in, manage the development team to keep them motivated and engaged and on schedule and to minimise staff churn within the development team. You will have to learn the jargon of the product in able to communicate well with the developers, and crucially be able to see through the cloud of jargon they might throw at you, in order to help them stay on track.

You might be an experienced developer later in your career, now looking to manage developers, or you might be a team leader to software developers already, and looking for the next step up. You will probably have been involved in interviewing staff and hiring developers, as well as doing their reviews and appraisals.

You will know if you are doing this job well, because your management and process work will be getting the projects delivered in less time than allocated, the team will be stable, and you will be the legend of recognition, appreciation and making your team members feel valued and worthwhile. You will know their birthdays, pets, partners and what motivates them, what annoys them and what they need to operate at full capacity. You will be parent, nursemaid and development manager to them.

Location - you will need to be commutable to the Mansfield office, all the developers are local and normally they work together in the office. So you will need to be with them pretty often as their Manager. So 2 to 3 days each week in the office would be typical.

Contact Jake King or Carolyn MacLurg at Ambis Resourcing for further information or to apply.