ID: 1488 Head of Software Development
Service: Software Development
Salary: £61,959 per annum, inclusive of £6,751 market supplement and £480 home working allowance
Location: UK Home-based
Travel to our London Head Office (N1 7GR) and other locations across the UK when required (around once per month).
Hours: Full-time (37 hours per week.)
We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.
Contract: Permanent
Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.
We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.
As an experienced and visionary Head of Software Development, you will build and lead a high-performing Software Development team. You will be passionate about creating modern web applications that incorporate the very best technology available and have been expertly crafted to delight the people who use them. The software products you deliver, will be critical in helping Family Action deliver successful services that impact hundreds of thousands of children and families across the UK each year.
Main Responsibilities:
• Lead, manage, and coach the new Software Development team, fostering a performant environment that consistently delivers excellence.
• Design and build innovative systems to meet organisational goals, including the delivery of a bespoke case management system for a busy counselling service.
• Establish and manage the platforms, tools, and processes for effective software development, testing, and deployment, leveraging cloud platforms and services.
• Guide the team to build modern web applications to high standards of usability, performance, security, maintainability, and availability, incorporating accessibility, thoughtful user experience, and AI.
• Work in close collaboration with organisational staff and stakeholders to understand operational details, gather requirements, communicate priorities, and test deliverables.
Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
• Significant experience leading, coaching, and forming a collaborative and high-performing software development team that consistently delivers excellence.
• Multiple years experience developing and delivering production web applications using JavaScript/TypeScript and popular frameworks such as React.
• Strong understanding of best practices in web application development, including usability, performance, security, and maintainability.
• Demonstrable ability in designing and architecting systems and data to deliver business goals, coupled with expertise in authentication, authorisation, and permission systems.
• In-depth experience leveraging public cloud platforms and services to deliver modern web applications, and setting up platforms, tools, and processes for effective software development, testing, and deployment.
Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities
We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.
To Apply:
• Click the “Apply Now” link below and fill out our digital application form
• Closing Date: Sunday 13th July 2025 at 23:59
Interviews are scheduled to take place from Monday 21st July 2025 via Teams, with interview slots throughout the working day and early/late slots available on request.
For direct queries or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or flexible working requests, please email Brendon Coy - brendon.mccoy@family-action.org.uk
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role, and will reimburse your travel cost if you attend an interview in-person.
