Hands-On Software Engineering Manager: Lead & Deliver

Drive Further; Cheadle; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Drive Further is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead a team delivering scalable, high-transaction software. This is a true player/coach role: you’ll split your time between hands-on engineering and leading the team (depending on delivery needs).

You will drive technical direction across .NET/C#, Angular and SQL Server, stay hands-on when needed, and mentor engineers while collaborating with onshore/offshore teams to ensure delivery, quality and security.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building and shipping software.
• Experience with .NET/C#, Angular, and SQL Server.
• Proven people leadership with coaching and reviews.
• Strong Agile delivery and stakeholder communication.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, Git, and CI/CD.
• Comfort with AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers with clear priorities and predictable delivery.
• Own end-to-end delivery: planning, estimation, backlog hygiene and release execution (Azure DevOps).
• Set technical direction across .NET/C#, Angular, SQL Server.
• Stay hands-on when needed: design, code, pair, review PRs, unblock the team.
• Drive quality, reliability and security: testing approach, incident response, post-incident improvements.
• Hire, onboard and develop engineers (including onshore/offshore collaboration).

Skills

Team leadership

Agile delivery

Stakeholder communication

Hands-on coding

Design & review

Tools

Azure DevOps

Git

CI/CD

AI-assisted tools

Job description

Drive Further is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead a team delivering scalable, high-transaction software. This is a true player/coach role: you’ll split your time between hands-on engineering and leading the team (depending on delivery needs).

You will drive technical direction across .NET/C#, Angular and SQL Server, stay hands-on when needed, and mentor engineers while collaborating with onshore/offshore teams to ensure delivery, quality and security.