Software Development ManagerWe are seeking an experienced Software Development Manager to lead several highly motivated engineering teams to deliver mission critical product and customer solutions to our growing list of tier 1 customers within the Travel industry.This person will be highly technically proficient, an excellent communicator and have a strong customer orientation. You will have strong experience leading software teams within a dynamic Product Development organisation. You will have successfully delivered key enterprise grade applications and platforms for global customers. You will have full lifecycle experience – from initial concept design, implementation and ultimately production.As a member of the Engineering leadership team, you will be passionate about building a world class engineering team and product. An absolute passion for quality is a must, as is seeking out and driving continuous improvements within the engineering & wider organisation. Building strong relationships with the wider delivery and customer teams will be a critical part of this role.As development manager, you will be ultimately responsible for solution delivery. Coaching and developing your team is critical, with experience leading collocated and remote teams. You will be very confident in advising the wider project team on matters of design, enhancements, optimisation, and implementation, while being commercially aware and able to make sound judgement calls.If you want to influence an industry, have the talent and ability to innovate with the best and the courage to stand up for quality for our customers then we want to talk to you.Software Development Manager – Role OverviewPurpose of the RoleTo take full ownership of engineering delivery by leading high-performing teams in building high-quality, customer-focused software. The role ensures a psychologically safe environment where people can do their best work, fosters clarity of mission, aligns plans and processes to business priorities, and drives measurable outcomes that matter to customers and the organization.Core Focus Areas & ResponsibilitiesMission & OwnershipActs as the accountable owner for the successful delivery of team commitments from successful delivery of their teams' commitments, from Backlog to production and ongoing support.Aligns team mission to company strategy and customer value, ensuring the team understands the "why".Balances short-term deliverables with long-term technical health and scalability.Customer Alignment: Ensures software delivery meets customer expectations for quality, performance, and value; prioritizes tech debt with an eye on long-term customer trust and growth.PeopleCreates an environment of psychological safety where team members can take risks, raise concerns, and admit mistakes without fear of blame.Encourages diversity of thought, respectful challenge, and open discussion to strengthen decision-making.Team & POD Leadership: Assigns direct reports to teams/pods with clear responsibilities and expected outcomes; defines success criteria for projects.Recognizes and celebrates achievements regularly, fostering high morale and engagement.Line Management & Performance: Conducts regular 1:1s; provides timely, constructive feedback; adapts management style to individual needs; identifies and develops high-potential talent; participates in promotion, levelling, and calibration sessions.Addresses performance issues promptly via coaching, feedback, and structured improvement plans; maintains team health, morale, motivation, and engagement.Contribute to hiring decisions that strengthen skills, diversity, and culture.Define success criteria for projects, ensuring teams are set up to achieve them.PlanPartners with Product, Architecture, Delivery, and PMO to co-create realistic, transparent, outcome-driven delivery plans.Anticipates risks early; proactively addresses blockers before they impact delivery; aligns priorities to avoid bottlenecks.Design Ownership & Technical Handover: Assigns initial design to the appropriate Architect(s); ensures designs are sound, feasible, and aligned to architecture principles; on design completion, takes ownership of the technical delivery plan with Tech Leads, Engineers, and Test Leads.Implementation & Release Planning: Creates and maintains the technical implementation plan that balances timelines with quality/scalability; security cross-functional alignment on dependencies, risks, and resources; oversees execution through to release.Acts as the point of accountability from design sign-off through to release, ensuring no gaps in communication, ownership, or quality.Facilitates technical decision-making in collaboration with Architects and Tech Leads, ensuring all engineering trade-offs are transparent and agreedProcessRemove systemic blockers and simplify complex processes across the engineering org.Owns continuous improvement of engineering practices to maximize efficiency, quality, and predictability; removes low-value meetings and activities.Embeds feedback loops (reviews, retrospectives, post-incident RCAs) to learn and adapt every cycle.Production Support: Ensures rapid, coordinated incident response with clear ownership and communication; drives root-cause analysis and prevention; prioritizes P3/P4 items with Product and PMO so they are planned into sprints.Champions adoption of generative AI tools aligned to the company's AI strategy to improve developer velocity, code quality, test coverage, and operational efficiency.Tracks measurable productivity and quality gains; feeds outcomes back into the AI strategy and rollout plan.Facilitate retrospectives to drive actionable change.OutcomesMeasures success by outcomes (customer impact, reliability, performance) rather than outputs; communicates these clearly to stakeholders.Tracks and reports delivery performance, cycle time, customer satisfaction, and team health; uses data for decision-making and resource allocation.Drives continuous alignment between business goals, delivery plans, and technical investments.Meeting ParticipationRegular: Leadership Team, Design Review Board, CI Meetings, 1:1s, Delivery Meetings.Selective: Sprint Planning, Technical Troubleshooting, Backlog Grooming, Daily Stand-ups, Retrospectives (as needed to unblock and align).Collaboration & CulturePromote cross-team collaboration to solve problems faster and share knowledge.Works closely with Product Managers to ensure requirements are ready (PPR/PPC), technically feasible, and sequenced to product priorities.Works closely with PMO Project Managers to align technical delivery with project timelines, scope, and budget for customer-facing initiatives; negotiates trade-offs without compromising long-term technical health.Collaborates with Architects, Tech Leads, Engineers, QA, and Delivery Leads to refine designs into actionable implementation and release plans.Models' respectful communication and constructive conflict resolution; promotes cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharingMinimum RequirementsTechnical Skills / Knowledge / ExperienceDegree related to software engineering or computer science.10+ years' experience in software development preferably in java based environment.5 years plus experience in a leadership role in Product Development delivering B2B enterprise cloud applications hosted on AWS.Extensive experience of working with Agile processes, scrum practice and software engineering practices.Provide mentoring and support to agile team in scrum best practices and agile development approaches.Understands and can provide leadership on agile release management and continuous delivery practises.Proven track record of building, scaling and leading high performing engineering teams.Track record of project delivery on time to budget.Excellent People Management skills.Strong customer focus.Experience in collaborating closely at all levels of the organization providing guidance, mentoring and leadership.Self-starter who works on their own initiative.Adaptable, flexible with a proven experience of delivering quality solutions in a fast-moving business environment.Excellent communication skills, able to present at executive level, and engage with senior customers.Excellent Analytic and problem-solving skills with keen attention to detail.Excellent negotiating and influencing skills.Experience in building and operating enterprise applications in AWS that follow principles of security, scalability and high availability.Very strong technical background leading application development – with experience in some or all of the following technologies:Java, Spring Boot, JBoss, Tomcat, Git/Bitbucket, Jenkins, Oracle, MongoDB, Postgres, IntelliJ, JIRA, Confluence, Junit, JMeter.About DatalexDatalex is a market leader in airline e-commerce solutions. Datalex's Stellex product suite, launched in 2024, gives airlines the tools they need to drive revenue and profit as digital retailers. Datalex has a strong track record working with some of the most innovative airline brands worldwide, such as Air China, Air Macau, Air Transat, Aer Lingus, easyJet, and Edelweiss. The Group is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and maintains offices across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Learn more