Systems Development Manager
£95,000 - £110,000
Manchester - Hybrid

About the Role

We're on the lookout for a Software Development Manager to lead a high impact team responsible for critical integrations that power one of the world’s most visited digital platforms.

This is a rare opportunity to take a central role in advancing cutting edge, scalable systems that handle millions of active users daily and support billions of transactions each year.

Your team will be instrumental in the ongoing evolution of complex backend services that include live video/audio streaming, push notifications, location services, real-time sporting events, and other performance-sensitive features. These systems underpin a platform that frequently ranks among the top global tech players with a global footprint reaching over 20 million customers across 200+ markets.

What You'll Be Doing

As a technical and people manager, you'll guide multiple teams and their leaders, influencing architecture, delivery timelines, and the professional development of your engineers. You’ll play a vital role in strategic planning, defining scalable integration solutions, and maintaining system interoperability across a highly dynamic environment.

This is not just about maintenance—it's about vision, innovation and scale. You’ll have the autonomy to shape the technical direction of your teams and create solutions that thrive under global demand, real-time pressure, and constant evolution.

What You’ll Bring

• A proven track record in managing multiple software teams and leaders, with a hands-on approach to mentoring, coaching, and growing technical talent.
• Expertise in systems architecture and software design, ideally in high-traffic environments.
• A focus on delivery excellence, with the ability to make sound decisions under pressure, balancing speed, quality and business priorities.
• Understanding of integration principles and strong communication skills to bridge technical vision with stakeholder needs.
• Experience working in 24/7 operations, with a firm grasp of support structures and service resilience.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to define long-term technical roadmaps, align cross-team execution, and identify systemic inefficiencies.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Lead, support and grow multiple teams across multiple product verticals.
• Deliver scalable, high-performance systems that handle real-time data at global scale.
• Contribute to group wide strategy, driving cross-team initiatives with measurable business impact.
• Ensure architectural integrity across interconnected systems with focus on security, scalability, and maintainability.
• Oversee team delivery, prioritising against business needs while managing risk, resources and operational impact.
• Promote a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence.
• Build a resilient team capable of delivering to global users, with rapid response to live issues when needed.

This role is perfect for someone who wants to lead in an environment where system performance is critical, customer reach is massive, and technical excellence is expected. If you’re ready to help architect the future of one of the most successful digital platforms in the world, we’d love to hear from you.

katieburke@uniting.cloud