Job Description
Job Details: Head of Software Development
Role Profile At Sykes Holiday Cottages, we are experiencing a significant increase in bookings due to a huge surge in demand for UK holidays. As such we are undergoing one of our biggest periods of growth to date and are actively seeking the best and brightest local talent to join us in our journey to connect 3 million happy holidaymakers with 35,000 holiday homes by 2023!
Do not wait to apply after reading this description a high application volume is expected for this opportunity.
At Sykes Holiday Cottages, we are a business with big dreams and are bursting with ambition. We have pinned our sights on becoming the UK's number one holiday rental agency and will stop at nothing to reach our goal, combining our 27+ years of industry experience with our fierce company drive to become the best in the market for what we do. What started as a small family run company has now grown to be a 900 strong workforce of ambitious, passionate professionals spread across the UK, Ireland and New Zealand at a growing number of Regional Sister Brands and at our Chester head office.
Despite our success, our people and culture are what sets us apart from other businesses and has helped us earn our title as one of the Sunday Times’ ‘Best Companies to Work For’ for two years consecutive years. Our unique culture has remained intact since day one of our journey and is ingrained heavily in each and every one of our employees. We are truly proud of our five Company Values which are the foundations of every aspect of our business and remain at the heart of everything we do despite our rapid growth. By Achieving Together, Communicating Honestly, Growing and Learning, Earning Trust and Driving Innovation and Change, we remain true to our original ethos and ensure we stay true to our Customers, Owners and Colleagues alike.
One of our largest areas of investment is our Technology department, who are business-critical in ensuring we leverage the latest technology to meet our business functions. Year on year our Technology department are prominent in driving our overall success - frequently accruing an impressive list of accolades and industry awards to back up their place on the market as one of the most innovative and attractive departments in the North West.
Sykes Cottages are now seeking a Head of Software Development to join with a crucial role within our 100+ strong, award winning Technology department at our Chester head office. As Head of Software Development, you will be responsible for building highly successful teams that can deliver the ambitious growth plans that the company has.
Our newest Head of Software Development will fill a crucial, highly autonomous position within our wider Technology team, reporting directly into our Technical Director and holding responsibility for driving the ongoing success of our award-winning software development team. As our newest addition, you will hold the following key skills:
Essential Experience:
- Previous experience as a Head Of Development / Software Delivery Manager / Agile Development Manager.
- Experience in building and working with agile cross-functional teams.
- Strong communicator who can motivate others, management and motivation is key for this role.
- Experience in recruitment and career progression frameworks for development teams.
Desirable Experience:
- Software development background.
- Experienced in working in high growth fast-paced companies.
- Experience in a data driven company where data drives direction over opinion.
- Experience testing in building out testing functions within agile teams.
Key Responsibilities As our newest Head of Software Development, you will be responsible for the following areas of accountability:
- Build agile teams to meet the objectives of the organisation. Owning the recruitment, on-boarding and career development of agile development team members.
- Delivery of development roadmap, ensuring teams are delivering high quality solutions at high velocity.
- Building a culture where high performance is inevitable.
- Work with Solutions Architects and other stakeholders to ensure development best practices are being met.
- Management of stakeholders and senior staff through the SDLC.
- Promoting an agile methodology and culture across the development teams.
- Challenge use of resource and ensure that we remain focussed on the strategic business OKRs
Role specific responsibilities:
- Line management of Lead Developers in our software development teams.
- Personal development needs and career progression for our team members.
- Building a framework to manage the performance of development teams
Please note: The working hours for this position are 37.5 per week to be worked Monday - Friday, 9am - 5.30pm.
Hybrid Working: Sykes Cottages are proud to support hybrid-working across the business with a mixture or remote and office working available and will be discussed at interview