Software Development Manager

RVC International; Potters Bar; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

35-hour working week

30 days annual leave

USS pension

Hybrid working

Job summary

Royal Veterinary College is seeking a Software Development Manager to lead a small team of developers and a UI/UX designer, acting as product owner for key systems across clinical care, research and teaching. You will shape how the team plans, builds and ships software, with autonomy to influence architecture and delivery.

Hybrid role based at Hawkshead Campus in Potters Bar; you’ll work with clinicians and partners, drive releases, oversight of incidents, and explore AI-assisted development to

Qualifications

• Experience leading or line managing a software team.
• Experience as a product owner or bridging users, stakeholders and developers.
• Confidence building roadmaps, planning releases and reporting to non-technical audiences.
• Strong commercial experience with ASP.NET Core, C# and SQL Server.
• Experience building integrations using RESTful APIs and message-based architectures.
• Good working knowledge of Git, automated testing and CI/CD.
• A clear communicator who can explain technical decisions simply and represent users' needs to developers.
• Experience with Jira, Azure DevOps or similar delivery tooling.
• Experience integrating or working with SaaS platforms and their suppliers.
• Practical experience of AI-assisted development.
• Angular, TypeScript, NgRx and RxJS.
• Ionic and Capacitor.
• Docker.
• SignalR or other real-time technologies.
• Event sourcing, CQRS or Elasticsearch.
• Experience in a university, hospital, laboratory or clinical setting.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and roadmap for the systems in the team's care, making sure they deliver what the College needs
• Spend time with the people who use our systems, understand how they work, and turn that into clear, prioritised work for the team
• Plan releases and deployments, and keep stakeholders informed with clear, regular reporting
• Help appraise new products and platforms, bringing recommendations to IT groups and project boards on feasibility, risk and opportunity
• Line manage and support a team of three
• Set technical direction and champion modern engineering practice across testing, code review, CI/CD and documentation
• Choose and embed the tools that help the team plan and deliver, such as Jira or Azure DevOps
• Explore how AI tools can support the team's work, and help colleagues use them well
• Design and build software in ASP.NET Core, C# and SQL Server
• Design and maintain integrations between our own systems, third-party platforms and SaaS products, using APIs and message-based architectures
• Lead on incidents, making sure what we learn shapes what we build next

Skills

Team leadership

Product owner

ASP.NET Core

C#

SQL Server

RESTful APIs

CI/CD

Git

Jira / Azure DevOps

AI-assisted development

Angular / TypeScript

Ionic / Capacitor

Docker

SignalR

CQRS / Elasticsearch

University/clinical setting experience

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Git

REST APIs

Docker

SignalR

Elasticsearch

Job description

Our software helps vets treat patients, researchers run studies and students learn their profession. We're looking for someone to lead the team behind it.

About the role

The Royal Veterinary College develops, integrates and supports the digital systems that underpin clinical care, research and teaching across our university and hospitals. As Software Development Manager, you'll lead a small, experienced team of developers and a UI/UX designer, and act as product owner for the systems the team looks after, whether built in-house or delivered by our partners.

This is a role with real breadth. One day you might be working through a release plan with clinicians, the next reviewing an architecture decision or pairing with a developer on a tricky integration. You'll have the autonomy to shape how the team plans, builds and ships, and the backing to grow it.

What you'll be doing

Product ownership

• Set the vision and roadmap for the systems in the team's care, making sure they deliver what the College needs
• Spend time with the people who use our systems, understand how they work, and turn that into clear, prioritised work for the team
• Plan releases and deployments, and keep stakeholders informed with clear, regular reporting
• Help appraise new products and platforms, bringing recommendations to IT groups and project boards on feasibility, risk and opportunity

Leading the team

• Line manage and support a team of three
• Set technical direction and champion modern engineering practice across testing, code review, CI/CD and documentation
• Choose and embed the tools that help the team plan and deliver, such as Jira or Azure DevOps
• Explore how AI tools can support the team's work, and help colleagues use them well

Staying hands-on

• Design and build software in ASP.NET Core, C# and SQL Server
• Design and maintain integrations between our own systems, third-party platforms and SaaS products, using APIs and message-based architectures
• Lead on incidents, making sure what we learn shapes what we build next

What you'll bring

• Experience leading or line managing a software team
• Experience as a product owner, or in a similar role bridging users, stakeholders and developers
• Confidence building roadmaps, planning releases and reporting to non-technical audiences
• Strong commercial experience with ASP.NET Core, C# and SQL Server
• Experience building integrations using RESTful APIs and message-based architectures
• Good working knowledge of Git, automated testing and CI/CD
• A clear communicator who can explain technical decisions simply and represent users' needs to developers
• Experience with Jira, Azure DevOps or similar delivery tooling
• Experience integrating or working with SaaS platforms and their suppliers
• Practical experience of AI-assisted development
• Angular, TypeScript, NgRx and RxJS
• Ionic and Capacitor
• Docker
• SignalR or other real-time technologies
• Event sourcing, CQRS or Elasticsearch
• Experience in a university, hospital, laboratory or clinical setting

Your work will directly support animal care, veterinary education and research at one of the world's leading veterinary schools. It's a small team, so you'll have real autonomy and see the tangible difference your decisions make.

We also offer a working life that leaves room for everything else:

• A nominal 35-hour working week
• 30 daysannual leave, plus bank holidays and 3-4additional days when the University closes over Christmas
• Membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), one of the UK's most generous pension schemes with a current 14.5% employer contribution and 6.1% employee contribution (20.6% combined rate)
• Hybrid working, supporting a healthy work-life balance

Working arrangements

This is a hybrid role based at our Hawkshead Campus in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Occasional out-of-hours or weekend support may be needed if one of our systems has an incident.

We promote equality of opportunity and diversity within the workplace and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. We therefore encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.