Software Development Manager

Edit Websites Ltd; Metropolitan Borough of Solihull; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

1 Day per Month Dedicated to Learning

Your Birthday Off

Subscription to Online Training

Complimentary Car Valet (Every 2 Meses

Annual Eye Test

Job summary

iKnow Software Ltd in Solihull is seeking an experienced Development Manager to lead our development team while remaining hands-on. You will code, mentor, review, and help shape features across our SAAS products for churches and charities.

Join a small, collaborative team with a strong quality focus, AI-enabled development, and a hybrid 3-days-a-week in-office arrangement in Solihull. Start date October 2026.

Qualifications

• Significant commercial software development experience, ideally with at least five years in a professional environment.
• Has experience leading or mentoring developers
• Is technically strong and comfortable remaining hands-on
• Experience managing cloud infrastructure, ideally within AWS

Responsibilities

• Leading and supporting a small team of developers, helping them grow and do their best work
• Coaching and mentoring developers through constructive feedback and support
• Planning and shaping new features, from whole-team UI discussions through to task allocation
• Ensuring code reviews are thorough and maintain a high standard of quality
• Actively coding and contributing to the platform alongside the team
• Refining existing features and developing new modules that solve real customer problems
• Helping the team make effective, secure and responsible use of AI to improve productivity and software quality
• Working closely with other teams to ensure our software meets the needs of churches and charities
• Creating an environment where developers enjoy coming to work and are able to do their best work
• Encouraging healthy technical debate whilst ensuring decisions are made collaboratively
• Helping continually improve our development practices, tooling and deployment processes
• Participating in a shared on‑call rota for critical hosting or platform availability issues. Thankfully these are rare, but we're looking for someone who is happy to help when genuinely needed.

Skills

Leadership

Hands-on coding

Cloud infrastructure (AWS)

PHP (Laravel)

React

Docker

CodeIgniter

Tools

Docker

Laravel

CodeIgniter

React

Job description

Location: Hybrid (3 days in our Solihull office per week)
Contact: 0121 651 11 25 [e-mail]
Salary: £60,000 - £70,000depending on experience
Full Time: 8.30 - 17.00 Monday to Friday
Holidays: 26 days per year + Bank Holidays
Start Date: October 2026

About iKnow Software Ltd

Our software helps thousands of churches, charities and other organisations across the UK manage their administration, communicate effectively and support the people they serve.

Our customers range from small local churches through to large charities with annual incomes exceeding £70 million.

We develop three flagship SAAS products:

• iKnow Church – church management software
• iKnow Charity – CRM and donations platform
• iKnow Safeguarding – safeguarding and DBS management software

Alongside these, we develop Edit, our website platform, which powers hundreds of church websites across the UK.

We're an independent software company with a small, experienced team. We value long-term thinking, high-quality engineering, and creating software that genuinely helps organisations make a difference.

We aren't a software house building projects for different clients every month. We build and continually improve our own products, giving developers the opportunity to see features through from concept to release and to build software that customers rely on every day.

Our platforms are used every day by thousands of organisations, with continual investment in new features, mobile apps, AI and cloud infrastructure. This is an opportunity to help shape the future direction of products that make a genuine difference to their users.

Job Description

We're looking for an experienced Development Manager to lead our development team while remaining actively involved in software development.

This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys writing code as much as helping others succeed. You'll spend part of your week developing new functionality and part mentoring developers, reviewing code, improving processes and helping shape the future of our products.

We're looking for someone who leads by example rather than title. Someone who enjoys solving problems, sharing knowledge and creating an environment where developers can produce their best work.

We don't believe great software is built by individuals working in isolation - it comes from teams that trust each other, challenge ideas respectfully and continually improve together.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading and supporting a small team of developers, helping them grow and do their best work
• Coaching and mentoring developers through constructive feedback and support
• Planning and shaping new features, from whole-team UI discussions through to task allocation
• Ensuring code reviews are thorough and maintain a high standard of quality
• Actively coding and contributing to the platform alongside the team
• Refining existing features and developing new modules that solve real customer problems
• Helping the team make effective, secure and responsible use of AI to improve productivity and software quality
• Working closely with other teams to ensure our software meets the needs of churches and charities
• Creating an environment where developers enjoy coming to work and are able to do their best work
• Encouraging healthy technical debate whilst ensuring decisions are made collaboratively
• Helping continually improve our development practices, tooling and deployment processes
• Participating in a shared on‑call rota for critical hosting or platform availability issues. Thankfully these are rare, but we're looking for someone who is happy to help when genuinely needed.

About You

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has significant commercial software development experience, ideally with at least five years in a professional environment.
• Has experience leading or mentoring developers
• Is technically strong and comfortable remaining hands‑on
• Builds trust easily and communicates clearly
• Is approachable, humble and generous with their knowledge
• Can challenge ideas without creating conflict
• Is comfortable saying "I don't know" and enjoys learning from others
• Cares deeply about software quality and user experience
• Has high standards but understands that people learn in different ways
• Is motivated by building products that make a meaningful difference
• Has experience managing cloud infrastructure, ideally within AWS
• Demonstrates unquestionable integrity and professionalism.

Technical Environment

Our platforms are hosted on AWS, so experience working with modern cloud infrastructure is important.

• PHP (Laravel)
• React / React Native
• Docker
• Legacy system in CodeIgniter and jQuery (this still has some development but will be migrated to Laravel over time)

We also make extensive use of Git, GitHub, code reviews and AI-assisted development to help us deliver high-quality software.

Our Culture

We're a small team and we work closely together. We value people who are collaborative, respectful and willing to help each other.

We believe the best ideas can come from anyone, regardless of role, and we encourage open discussion and healthy technical debate.

We're looking for someone who enjoys building people as much as building software - someone who can raise standards while remaining approachable, supportive and humble.

If you enjoy mentoring others, sharing knowledge and celebrating team success rather than personal recognition, you'll fit in well here.

Our 5 values are: Integrity, Excellence, Innovation, Working Together and Fulfilment.

Why Work With Us?

Joining iKnow Software means being part of a very friendly team committed not just to building software, but to serving churches and charities and helping them have greater impact in their communities.

You’ll also enjoy:

1 Day per Month Dedicated to Learning
A paid Friday each month to explore new technologies, skills, or passion projects.

Your Birthday Off
If it falls on a working day, it’s yours to enjoy.

Subscription to Online Training
Access to professional learning resources.

Complimentary Car Valet (Every 2 Months)
Professional car cleaning at our car park.

Annual Eye Test
Plus a £49 contribution towards glasses if required.

Your work will support organisations across the UK, helping them communicate better, care for their contacts, and fulfil their mission.

If you're looking for a role where you can combine technical leadership with hands‑on development, help shape products that genuinely make a difference, and work alongside a supportive, experienced team, we'd love to hear from you.

This role is Hybrid with 3 days per week based in our Solihull Office.