Software Engineer Manager

Brighton & Hove City Council; Brighton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work

Hybrid working

LGPS

Generous annual leave

Training & development

Wellbeing benefits

Diverse & inclusive environment

Job summary

Brighton & Hove City Council is seeking an experienced Software Engineer Manager to shape and deliver the next generation of digital services for residents. You will provide technical leadership across the software engineering function, guiding secure, scalable, user-centred solutions and modernising the council's application estate.

This role offers flexible, hybrid working arrangements and the opportunity to drive engineering excellence across a talented team as the council transforms its

Qualifications

• Significant experience leading software engineering teams and delivering complex digital solutions.
• Strong knowledge of modern software engineering technologies and practices.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable application architectures.
• Strong understanding of cyber security, secure-by-design principles and risk management.
• Experience modernising or replacing legacy business-critical systems.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience working in Agile delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, fostering a high-performing, collaborative culture.
• Define and maintain software engineering standards, practices and governance.
• Drive modernisation of legacy applications and transition to modern technologies.
• Collaborate with IT colleagues and service leads to deliver technology solutions for residents.
• Provide technical leadership on complex projects and programmes.
• Ensure solutions are secure, resilient, accessible and aligned with standards.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and practices to add value.

Skills

Team leadership

Modern software engineering

Scalable architectures

Cyber security

Legacy modernization

Stakeholder management

Agile delivery

Job description

We're looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Software Engineer Manager to help shape and deliver the next generation of digital services for our stakeholders and residents.

As Software Engineer Manager, you'll provide technical leadership across our software engineering function, guiding the development of secure, scalable and user-centred solutions that support critical council services. You'll play a key role in modernising our application estate, reducing technical debt, and driving engineering excellence across the organisation.

This is an exciting opportunity to influence the council's digital strategy and lead a talented team through a programme of transformation, innovation and continuous improvement.

What You'll Be Doing

• Leading and mentoring a team of software engineers, fostering a high-performing and collaborative engineering culture.
• Defining and maintaining software engineering standards, practices and governance.
• Driving the modernisation of legacy applications and supporting the transition to modern technologies.
• Working closely with IT colleagues and service leads to deliver technology solutions that improve outcomes for residents.
• Providing technical leadership on complex projects and programmes.
• Ensuring solutions are secure, resilient, accessible and aligned with organisational standards.
• Evaluating emerging technologies, tools and engineering practices that can add value to the organisation.

About You

We're looking for someone who can combine strong technical expertise with excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills. You'll be able to demonstrate:

Essential

• Significant experience leading software engineering teams and delivering complex digital solutions.
• Strong knowledge of modern software engineering technologies and practices.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable application architectures.
• Strong understanding of cyber security, secure-by-design principles and risk management.
• Experience modernising or replacing legacy business-critical systems.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Experience working in Agile delivery environments.

Desirable

• Experience within local government, public sector or highly regulated environments.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG).
• Understanding of public sector procurement and governance processes.

Why Join Us?

This is a unique opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of local residents while working on large-scale digital transformation programmes.

We offer:

• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Generous annual leave entitlement
• Learning and development opportunities
• Wellbeing support and employee benefits
• A diverse, supportive and inclusive working environment

Interview date: w/c 21 st September

If you are interested in this role but not sure if your skills and experience are exactly what we're looking for, please contact [e-mail] for an informal discussion about the role.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti‑racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

As a council, we want to:

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

AI advice for candidates

We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants' responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.