Software Development Manager

Sony Interactive Entertainment; Bristol; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Sony Interactive Entertainment in the United Kingdom is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead high-impact teams within the PlayStation SDK Developer CPU Toolchain department. This role focuses on people leadership and operational excellence, not hands-on coding.

You will mentor engineers across multiple time zones, shape career paths, and partner with other teams to ensure delivery. Travel may be required; strong communication and a broad understanding of development tools are essential.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years of experience managing software development teams.
• Proven success in people management including mentorship.
• Experience leading multiple Agile teams in software engineering.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Experience with software engineering practices, automation and testing systems (e.g., Jenkins).
• Understanding of the software development lifecycle and reducing technical debt.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineers across time zones.
• Define team member development and career paths, mentoring to goals.
• Collaborate with other groups and teams across different time zones.
• Monitor team performance and deliver regular appraisals.
• Manage capacity planning, hiring, onboarding and succession.
• Identify challenges, remove obstacles, and clarify tasks in ambiguous situations.

Skills

People management

Agile leadership

Communication skills

Software engineering practices

Development tools guidance

SDLC and technical debt

Tools

Jenkins

Confluence

JIRA

Job description

Why Sony Interactive Entertainment

Sony Interactive Entertainment isn’t just the Best Place to Play — it’s also the Best Place to Work. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the company behind the PlayStation brand. As a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation, we’re part of a proud legacy of innovation and excellence. SIE is a dynamic technology company, delivering cutting‑edge hardware and network services to more than 100 million people and an entertainment leader, home to some of the most beloved and recognizable intellectual properties (IP) in the world. Our role at SIE is to create and nurture the experiences under the PlayStation brand, a name synonymous with entertainment excellence and creativity.

The role

We are looking for a strong Software Development Manager to lead high‑impact teams within the PlayStation SDK Developer CPU Toolchain department. This role is centred on people leadership and operational excellence, rather than hands‑on technical ability. This role requires a balanced leader, someone who can manage high‑performing teams, and have a solid understanding of development tools. You will be responsible for supporting and developing the team members, including setting goals and ambitions; supporting and mentoring team members across a range of career levels from graduate to staff software engineer. The role requires working with teams in multiple time zones and may require some travel through the year.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead, mentor, and help develop a team of engineers, fostering a positive and collaborative work environment.
• Define team member development and career path opportunities with team members and mentor them to achieve goals.
• Work together with other groups and teams across different time zones.
• Monitor and review team members’ performance, deliver regular performance appraisals.
• Manage team capacity planning, hiring, onboarding and ensure effective succession planning for your teams.
• Recognize challenges, help remove obstacles, and clarify tasks in situations that are not well defined.

What We Are Looking For

• 3–5+ years of experience managing software development teams. Proven success in people management including mentorship.
• Effective leading of multiple Agile teams in software engineering domains.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, which encompass presenting to senior leadership, product managers, software engineers, project managers.
• Significant experience with software engineering practices, software automation and testing systems (for example, Jenkins).
• Enough development tools experience to provide guidance in high‑level goal‑setting discussions.
• A solid understanding of the software development lifecycle and driving reductions in technical debt.

Nice‑to‑haves

• Solid grasp of Confluence, JIRA (or similar project management tools) and support ticket management frontends.
• Prior experience with console or PC game development.
• Development and debugging tools experience on Windows and/or Linux.
• Experience in low‑level languages such as Rust and C++.
• Knowledgeable about the Clang for LLVM open‑source project (or GNU GCC toolchains).

Please note, Sony Interactive Entertainment conducts background checks at the offer stage for all new employees (which may include criminal background checks for some roles) and will need to process personal information to support these checks.

Please refer to our Candidate Privacy Notice for more information about what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your data protection rights.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

Sony Interactive Entertainment is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.