Permanent
Location: Bradford (hybrid – 2-3 days per week onsite)
Salary: up to £77,405 (plus car user allowance starting at £1,250 per annum)
Industry: Not for Profit

About the Client
Our client is a purpose-driven organisation on a major transformation journey, using technology to improve how services are delivered and how people are supported every day. With a strong social mission at its core, the organisation is focused on providing safe, sustainable and affordable homes, while creating an inclusive, modern workplace where people can thrive.

They are investing heavily in technology to modernise platforms, ways of working and digital services, creating an environment where innovation is encouraged, ideas are valued, and technology genuinely makes a positive difference to customers and colleagues alike. 

How you’ll spend your day
As Head of IT Development, you will lead the teams responsible for designing, building and assuring the digital services the organisation relies on. This is a senior leadership role that blends strategic ownership with deep technical understanding, ideal for someone equally comfortable setting direction and getting close to complex technical challenges.

Key responsibilities include:

• Defining and owning the software development strategy, aligning engineering outcomes to business goals
• Leading multi-disciplinary software development and testing teams, including external partners
• Architecting modern, secure and scalable Azure-based platforms using API-first and event-driven principles
• Driving modern engineering practices including CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, progressive delivery and automated testing
• Transforming testing capability through automation, continuous testing and quality-by-design approaches
• Overseeing the modernisation of legacy platforms with clean, decoupled integrations
• Developing people and capability through coaching, mentoring and clear standards
• Translating complex technical concepts into clear business value for senior stakeholders
• Evaluating emerging technologies and introducing innovations that improve customer and colleague experience

What you’ll bring to this role
You’ll be an experienced technology leader with a strong background in modern software development and cloud platforms, combined with the ability to lead, inspire and influence at senior levels.

You’ll bring:

• Extensive experience across the Microsoft technology stack, ideally within Azure cloud environments
• Strong knowledge of modern engineering practices including microservices, APIs, DevOps, CI/CD and resilient architectures
• Proven experience designing and delivering complex digital solutions at scale
• Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to coach, mentor and empower high-performing teams
• A passion for agile delivery, continuous improvement and embedding quality throughout the SDLC
• Solid architectural understanding, with the ability to assure designs without hands-on coding
• Experience assuring quality across internal and augmented development and testing teams
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence at senior level
• Experience defining meaningful KPIs and reporting on development and testing performance
• Confidence managing third-party vendors and ensuring alignment with internal standards and strategy

Perks & Benefits:

• Annual Leave – 28 days of holiday, plus bank holidays, increasing by 1 day up each year up to 33 (pro rata for part time).
  • An extra day to celebrate your birthday.
  • You can buy up to two additional weeks of annual leave through salary sacrifice (at your manager’s discretion).
  • You can also sell up to 3 days annual leave back.
• Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave
  • For maternity/adoption/shared parental leave:
    • 6 weeks at 100%
    • 20 weeks at 50% + Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
    • 13 weeks at SMP
  • For paternity leave:
    • 2 weeks full pay leave
    • 2 weeks unpaid leave
• Medical Leave
  • 10 extra days paid medical leave for medical appointments and treatment which are related to a disability, serious diagnosed illness, terminal conditions, fertility treatment, menopause related treatment, and gender reassignment—without the need to work this time back.
• Employee Assistance Programme
  • EAP provider offers 24/7 support including virtual and face to face counselling, wellbeing tools and self-help resources and legal and financial support.
• Pension Scheme
  • Defined Benefit Scheme – 7.5% colleague contribution
    • It gives you a pension based on the average of your pensionable earnings during your membership in the scheme. This is calculated using a fraction of 1/90th of your pensionable pay, known as the accrual rate, which is then revalued in line with inflation.
    • The revalued pension amounts earned each year are added together to calculate your guaranteed pension at retirement.
    • There’s also the option to salary sacrifice contributions after two years in the scheme.
    • Only around 4% of defined benefit schemes in the UK are still open to new members.
  • Defined Contribution Scheme – 4% matched colleague contribution
    • It pays contributions into your personal ‘pension pot’, which are then invested in funds selected either by you or an investment manager.
    • The benefits you get when you retire are flexible and depend on the value of your pot at that time.
    • Contributions can be made through salary sacrifice so you can take advantage of the National Insurance savings this brings.
• Life Assurance
  • Life assurance cover provided at three times your gross annual salary for all colleagues.

What happens next?
One of our Recruitment Consultants will be in touch and inform you if you’ve been successful to the next stage of the process or not, which is a qualification call where we will tell you more about the role and the client, and understand more about you, your experience and career aspirations.

Should we both wish to proceed, we will submit your details to the client and be in touch regarding the outcome and any further steps.

Interview Process:
The client is committed to a supportive, transparent interview experience designed to reflect their values.

• Stage 1 – Initial Conversation
  A Teams call with the hiring manager to discuss the role, the team, and your background, experience, and career goals.
  Planned dates: 11th–12th February
• Stage 2 – Final Interview & Presentation
  A final stage interview including a presentation on your strategic approach to leading IT development, followed by a panel interview. You’ll also complete a short questionnaire in advance.
  Planned dates: 18th–19th February

Equal Opportunities
We are committed to providing equal opportunities for all candidates and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marital status, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law. As an employment agency for permanent and contract hires, we are dedicated to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce, and we encourage applications from underrepresented groups to drive innovation and equality within the workplace.

Should you require any reasonable adjustments please let us know so we can accommodate for any interactions with us at Biometric Talent, but also inform the client to ensure reasonable adjustments are made to allow for a fair and equitable process.

How to Apply
To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter to ian.fitzgerald@biometrictalent.com