Development Manager

Aceve; Rotterdam; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Aceve is seeking a Development Manager to lead one or more product squads, shaping the people, processes, and AI-enabled practices that drive delivery. You will own team composition, coaching of Leads, and the path to higher performance while expanding your area.

You will ensure proper budget, tooling, and architectural standards across squads to deliver reliable outcomes. You will sit in the engineering management team with other Development Managers and the CTO, contributing to the technical

Qualifications

• Proven leadership of multiple software teams in a modern environment.
• Experience with AI in development and applying AI to tooling and workflows.
• Experience managing budgets and cross-country teams.
• Fluent in English; Dutch is a bonus.
• Strong background in at least one major stack (Java, JS/TS, Python, C#/.NET).

Responsibilities

• Build and coach the team: hire plans, skill mix, and growth paths.
• Make AI real: set direction for AI usage, budget, and adoption across squads.
• Deliver: own area commitments, resolve conflicts, and manage budget for people and tools.
• Own the technical outcome: define shared services, architecture decisions, and standards with Engineering Enablement.
• Help run engineering: participate in the engineering management team with the CTO.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Java

JavaScript/TypeScript

Python

C#/.NET

Job description

At Aceve, we back the builders of society. Founded in the Nordics and growing across Europe, we build digital tools for the people who construct and maintain our physical world - giving electricians, plumbers, and contractors back their time, clarity, and confidence. With over 900 employees across 8 countries, leading brands in 7 customer markets, and more than €100M in revenue, we're on an ambitious growth journey, and we're just getting started. We're an AI-first company, and we work with grit, openness, and a good dose of joy.

As a Development Manager, you will be responsible for running the development operations for one or more products. Several squads sit in your team, each with its own Development Lead. You are responsible for what your squads build, how well they build it, and how the people in them are doing. We strive to be one of the best engineering operations, and we would rather try new things than copy what everyone else does. You step into a team with a strong foundation already in place — your job is to build on it: grow the team, develop the people in it, and keep the energy high as your area expands. And enjoy the ride while you do.

What you’ll own

Build and coach the team

You own who is in the team: the hiring plan, the mix of skills and levels. Coaching your Leads is the most valuable thing you do. Be clear about what you expect, say the hard things early, and make sure people can grow either deeper as engineers or into leadership.

Make AI real

You set the direction for how AI is used in your area and clear the path for it — tools, budget, and permission to change how the work gets done. Your Leads make it a daily habit; you make sure it happens, and that we judge it by whether it helps rather than by how many licences we bought. When AI writes much of the code, reviews matter more — so raise the standard there, and rethink the skills your teams need as the work changes.

Deliver

Your Leads run the day-to-day. You own what the area promises: what gets committed to, what happens when two squads need the same thing at once, and when something has to be escalated instead of quietly slipping. You also plan and manage the budget — people, contractors, tools and infrastructure.

Own the technical outcome

You decide what crosses squads: shared services, how the systems talk to each other, and where things get too complicated. You know the architecture well enough to push back on a design, judge whether a Lead’s reasoning is sound, and decide when to rebuild an old system. Agree on standards with Engineering Enablement, make sure every squad follows them, and use numbers rather than opinions to see whether things are improving (we use DORA and SPACE metrics, among others).

Help run engineering

You sit in the engineering management team with the other Development Managers and the CTO, and you are expected to be active in it — the technical strategy, how we organise ourselves, and how we plan people and money for the year ahead. You bring the real problems from your teams into that room and take the decisions back out. Have an opinion, and argue for it.

What we’re looking for

• A solid engineering background with real depth in one of our main stacks (Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, C#/.NET). You don’t have to code every day, but engineers should trust you in a design discussion.

• Strong leadership experience: you have led multiple teams that work in a modern way: automated builds and releases, automated tests, proper monitoring, and teams looking after their own services in production. You can tell when a team really works like this and when it only says so.

• You have worked as part of a management team, not just within your own team: helping set direction for an entire engineering function and holding your corner in that room.

• Experience from and an honest, up-to-date view on using AI in development: what it helps with, what it doesn’t, and where teams get it wrong.

• You have led multiple teams, you are comfortable with budgets, and you have handled the less glamorous work: rebuilding old systems, keeping security and data protection part of daily development, and keeping cloud costs under control.

• Fluent in English, including in front of senior audiences. Dutch is a bonus.

Experience level:

usually 8–12+ years in engineering, including 3–5+ years leading teams of 10–20 people. If you have led across several countries or grown teams from small to large, we may hire you at a higher level.

How we work

We are in the office 3 days a week. We are a company made up of many companies, which makes us practical, fairly informal, and impatient with process for its own sake. We move fast, and we keep improving — we have room for improvement, and you get a say in what it becomes. You'll also join a team of Development Managers: you'll help each other and share what you learn.

Not ticking every box?

No worries! We value potential and drive, so apply anyway or connect with us- you might be just what we're looking for in our growing organisation! Join Aceve and take your expertise to the next level, together we are redefining what’s possible in craft and construction solutions!

Aceve is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Our selection process is conducted continuously and without discrimination, ensuring an equal opportunity for all candidates.