Software Engineering Team Manager

Summary  

The DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency), a UK government executive agency responsible for improving road safety across Great Britain, is one of Pearson Assessment’s first clients.  They currently create and deliver their exams using a custom test driver that is built and maintained by a 3rd party partner.  The Manager of Product Engineering for our Test Delivery - DVSA, you will have the opportunity to provide tactical, strategic and technical leadership for the software development groups that support this critical business client and domain. This role requires business and technical skills to deliver high-quality software products. This position reports to a Director of Product Engineering.    

The Manager of Product Engineering for Test Delivery - DVSA will:  

Through coordinating the work of Architects, Developers, Business Systems Analysts, and Project Managers, you will provide effective management to ensure products and services meet the requirements and expectations of the DVSA client.  In this role you regularly coordinate with the test driver vendor, Pearson Assessment’s Cyber Security team, Software Project Management, Software Quality Assurance and Pearson Assessment’s DVSA Program Management.  You will represent the team’s work to important internal stakeholder groups, as well as client stakeholders.  You will also be an escalation point for issues, technical decisions, and project prioritization. 

Project Delivery:  

• Represent team capacity and work with the client to schedule prioritized projects.   

• Understand the vendor’s resource capacity and formulate strategies to meet the client’s needs.  

• Engage with other teams (i.e. Cyber Security) to ensure successful coordination of project dependencies.   

• Collaborate with Project Managers to drive work to successful completion.    

Process Management:   

• Provide leadership around agile development processes and emerging trends in engineering best practices  

• Work with Vendor’s leadership to impose procedures on process initiatives to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the team.  

• Engage in prioritization process both Cyber Security and client’s backlog of feature work.   

People Management:  

• Provide one on one coaching and direction for team members  

• Set goals and provide feedback for team member performance reviews.   

• Recruit and retain high performing staff with skills the meet the team’s needs.   

Technology Leadership:  

• Understand and manage the various technologies leveraged in application suites.   

• Collaborate with architects and directors on strategic direction and drive that direction to completion.   

• Identify areas for technical improvement and create plans to address.  

Required Education and Experience:   

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business or other application field or equivalent experience  

• 8+ years in software development and demonstrated ability to lead and manage teams towards high performance  

• 5+ years in technical leadership with relevant experience on Java based applications  

• At least 3-5 years in a direct management role or other related background consistent with success in this role.  

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:  

• Ability to work well through ambiguity and make tough decisions  

• Agility in leadership to take on challenges with growing business needs  

• Strong interpersonal, communication and presentation skills  

• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills  

• Success working with team members to motivate and coach for maximum results  

• Previous experience as a technical liaison between business and client.