Software Development Manager / Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering / System Development Manager - up to £70k base with great benefits

Remote working with an office Glasgow

We are looking for a strategic, hands-on Head of Engineering to lead and scale our software engineering function. This senior leadership role will focus heavily on software engineering excellence across full-stack development, system design, architecture, and software delivery processes - while also overseeing our data engineering, cloud infrastructure, and security functions.

You will be responsible for setting the technical direction, improving engineering velocity and quality, establishing modern practices across the SDLC, and growing a high-performing team capable of building and maintaining complex, scalable systems. You must have a proven track record of delivering enterprise-grade applications and services, with deep experience in both legacy and modern technology stacks.

Key Responsibilities

Software Engineering Leadership

• Set and own the technical roadmap, ensuring architectural scalability, security, performance, and maintainability of all software systems.
• Oversee full lifecycle software development - from requirements, technical design, development, testing, deployment, to post-release monitoring and maintenance.
• Establish, enforce, and continuously evolve software engineering best practices (e.g., SOLID principles, domain-driven design, clean architecture, modular monoliths vs microservices).
• Drive consistency in coding standards, code review rigor, and software craftsmanship.
• Lead critical system architecture decisions, including technology stack evolution, refactoring legacy components, and designing future-state systems.
• Ensure integration patterns and service contracts across internal and external APIs are robust, secure, and scalable.

System Integration & Platform Ownership

• Oversee integration between business systems using APIs, middleware, and ETL pipelines, including Salesforce, Power Platform (PowerApps, PowerAutomate, LogicApps), SharePoint, and custom web applications.
• Lead optimization and governance around API design (RESTful services, rate limiting, versioning, monitoring, etc.).
• Ensure high data consistency, operational integrity, and well-documented interface contracts between services.

Software Delivery, CI/CD & DevOps

• Define and implement scalable CI/CD pipelines using modern DevOps tooling, including automated build, test, deploy, and rollback strategies.
• Champion continuous delivery practices with robust unit, integration, contract, and end-to-end testing frameworks.
• Drive metrics around deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, and mean time to recovery (MTTR).
• Collaborate with cloud engineers to align infrastructure strategy with software delivery needs.

Cloud-Native Engineering (Azure)

• Lead the development of scalable cloud-native applications and services using Microsoft Azure, including Azure Functions, LogicApps, and container-based services.
• Drive cost-effective use of cloud services and performance optimization across environments.
• Ensure cloud architectures support observability, fault tolerance, and high availability.

Data Engineering & Intelligent Systems

• Guide the engineering team in data modelling, data access patterns, and efficient use of databases (MSSQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL).
• Work with data engineers to enable secure, efficient data movement between systems, including real-time and batch processing pipelines.
• Support analytics and reporting needs through the engineering of clean, reliable data sources and APIs.

Security Engineering & Governance

• Partner with security engineers to integrate security throughout the software lifecycle (shift-left security, secure coding, threat modelling).
• Own the implementation of secure authentication/authorization practices, audit logging, encryption at rest/in transit, and other application security standards.
• Ensure software and infrastructure meet organizational security and compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001, OWASP Top 10).

Team Management & Culture

• Build and scale high-performance engineering teams, including backend, frontend, full-stack, data, and security engineers.
• Define and track KPIs for engineering productivity, quality, and performance.
• Promote an engineering culture grounded in ownership, collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Provide technical mentoring and career growth paths for engineers at all levels.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with 3+ years in an engineering leadership role.
• Proven experience designing and delivering complex, scalable, multi-tier web applications.
• Strong history of transforming monoliths to modular or microservice architectures.
• Hands-on experience with modern CI/CD pipelines, test automation, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Experience managing and integrating with third-party systems and platforms such as Salesforce, Azure, SharePoint, and Power Platform.
• Experience working with secure, data-driven applications and distributed systems.

Technical Skills

• Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (Node.js, browser frameworks)
• Backend: PHP (Symfony, Smarty), C# (.NET Core), Azure Functions (Node.js / PowerShell), PowerShell
• Database: MSSQL, PostgreSQL (including JSON), MySQL/MariaDB
• Integration: REST APIs, ETL, Azure Data Factory
• DevOps/Infra: CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps), containerization, Azure PaaS
• Security: Secure development lifecycle, OWASP, authentication/authorization protocols

Leadership Attributes

• Technically credible leader with the ability to deep-dive on architecture and code when necessary.
• Strong decision-making skills backed by analytical rigor and a data-driven mindset.
• Passionate about growing talent and building healthy, inclusive engineering teams.
• Adept at working across stakeholders in product, business, security, and operations to deliver cross-functional value.
• Highly effective communicator and change agent capable of aligning engineering initiatives with business strategy.

We are looking for an experienced Systems Development Manager looking to take the next step into a Head of Engineering role with a thriving organisation

Please reach out with your latest CV to have an informal chat about this role. The client is keen to start interviewing next week for interested candidates.