Software Development Manager

Your next challenge? Our software helps vets treat patients, researchers run studies & 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 & 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 & ships, and the backing to grow it. What you'll be doing Product ownership Set the vision & 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 & 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 & 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 & build software in ASP.NET Core, C# and SQL Server Design & maintain integrations between our own systems, third-party platforms and SaaS products, using APIs & message-based architectures Lead on incidents, making sure what we learn shapes what we build next What you'll bring Essential Experience leading or line managing a software team Experience as a product owner, or in a similar role bridging users, stakeholders & 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 & 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 Desirable 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 Why join us 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 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and 3-4 additional 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