Head of Software Development

at  Activate Group Limited

Job title: Head of Software Development
Department: IT
Location: Peterborough or Halifax , hybrid working
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Salary: Competitive, plus bonus

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Proven experience leading software development teams in a C#/.NET environment (experience with .NET 8 + and Blazor advantageous).
• Strong understanding of cloud-native architectures, containerisation (Kubernetes), and relational databases (MySQL).
• Demonstrable success in a management or head-of role, guiding diverse teams across multiple projects.
• Excellent people management skills with a track record of team building, coaching, and performance management.
• Background in shaping product roadmaps and delivering software solutions in an Agile environment.
• Experience collaborating with product owners, architects, testers, and support teams throughout the SDLC.
• Ability to translate business goals into technical initiatives and balance innovation with risk management.
• Familiarity with budget management, resource forecasting, and vendor relationships.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, capable of influencing both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Adept at reporting progress, risks, and issues to senior leadership and collaborating across departments.
• Proactive in exploring emerging technologies, industry standards, and driving continuous improvement.
• Experience working within regulated industries, understanding of security and compliance frameworks (ISO27001) beneficial.

A BIT ABOUT US

Named by the Sunday Times as one of the UK’s 100 fastest-growing private companies, we employ more than 700 team members nationwide.
We work with some of the UK’s largest fleets and insurance companies, supporting drivers that have been involved in a road incident at our contact centres in Halifax and Peterborough.
We look after every step of the repair process, repairing vehicles at our own Activate Accident Repair body shops, and through a UK-wide network of independent repair partners.
Want to know what it’s like to work with us? Take a look at our purpose and values. They define who we are, and how we work with team members, customers and suppliers:
Purpose: Make someone’s bad day better

ABOUT THE ROLE

As the Head of Development, you will lead our C#/.NET 8 and Blazor development teams, overseeing technical strategy and delivery across our InsurTech solutions. You will be responsible for ensuring our internal systems are robust, scalable, and secure, while also helping to shape our product roadmap to support business growth. Reporting to the IT Director, you will collaborate with colleagues across IT, Data, and Service to drive continuous innovation and excellence.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide overall leadership to the Development department, setting goals, aligning priorities, and driving a high-performance culture.
• Collaborate with senior stakeholders to define and execute the technical roadmap for new and existing products.
• Oversee architecture decisions, ensuring alignment with business objectives and best practices.
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing across all levels of the team.
• Ensure effective resource planning, recruitment, and succession planning to meet current and future development needs.
• Champion best practices in .NET 8, Blazor, Kubernetes, and MySQL, ensuring code quality, security, and scalability.
• Oversee CI/CD pipelines, testing strategies, and release processes to streamline development and reduce downtime.
• Drive the adoption of modern tooling, processes, and methodologies (e.g., DevOps, Agile/Scrum) to enhance productivity.
• Partner with Product Owners and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical deliverables.
• Prioritise development projects, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and timely delivery of key features.
• Manage budgets, timelines, and resources to deliver high-quality, first-class InsurTech solutions on schedule.
• Act as a key point of contact for the IT Director and senior leadership, providing regular progress updates, risk assessments, and performance reporting.
• Collaborate with Heads of Data, Service, and Security to ensure holistic solutions that meet compliance, reporting, and infrastructure requirements.
• Drive ongoing improvements in development practices, tooling, and architecture to maintain a competitive edge.
• Evaluate new technologies and frameworks to ensure the business remains at the forefront of industry trends.
• Encourage a learning culture, supporting continuous professional development within the team.