Software Engineering Manager

At Roke

Roke imagines a more secure world. A world where technology protects, rather than exposes. A world where expert engineers, consultants and business support staff collaborate to protect what matters most to our clients.

We are a friendly and flexible team with a culture of ‘time, trust and freedom’ We pride ourselves on listening to each other’s aspirations and accommodating wherever possible.

The Opportunity

Roke is a leading technology and engineering company with clients spanning National Security, Defence and Intelligence areas. We work alongside our customers to solve their complex and unique challenges.

Your projects will be diverse working with varying clients, across a number of sectors, using a range of skills. Consequently, we are looking for individuals able to work flexibly across projects in different domains. You might apply your skills to rapidly prototype new approaches and solutions. Equally, you may apply them to complement or advance existing solutions.

You will be part of a stimulating, collaborative and driven team that offers you autonomy, challenge, and strong sense of purpose. Depending on the project, there will be opportunities to demonstrate technology to customers and support customer test and acceptance.

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated SW Engineering Manager with responsibilities to ensure stable and formal release of Roke Software product for EW.

In this role, you will oversee a skilled team of software engineers dedicated to developing software product for Electromagnetic Warfare equipment. Your role involves leading agile Software development efforts, managing the complete software development lifecycle, and ensuring alignment with project timelines and Roke Defence quality standards. This hands-on role requires a balance of technical software development expertise, and a solid understanding of software solutions in environments with stringent security and performance requirements.

Why We Want You

Beyond your technical skills, you will be proactive and able to communicate effectively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. You will work autonomously or as part of a team. You will be curious and seek out the best approach/solution/tool for the job at hand.

The primary focus is on ensuring the proper coordination and prioritisation of activities allocated to the team developing the EW the software throughout its lifecycle, from development to support.

You will:

• Review and ensure compliance that software development is in line with company end-to-end development lifecycle
• Review and ensure compliance that released software is suitably proven and tested to be released as software updates to in-service, TRL 9 EW Product line.
• Support the adoption of automation principles across testing, trial and release
• Manage the release of customer facing documentation including manuals, release notes, service bulletin, advisories.
• Arrange recurring and project specific release software cycle dates with delivery team
• Ensure coordination with Resourcing and Project Managers to maintain the right size and competence of software team.
• Work closely with SW Engineering team, and cross-functional teams to ensure high-quality, timely delivery of software products.
• Ensure compliance that software meets functional, user, non-functional requirements (e.g., licencing, performance, security) through review.
• Facilitate bug reporting, from test team, customers and the software development team, to bug resolution working closely with developers to improve software quality (from identification, log, analysis to verification).
• Support the preparation of estimates for project deliverables and contribute to bids
• Maintain awareness across Roke about software development: processes, technologies and methodologies.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Good communication and organisation skills.
• Foster the use of industry standards for collaborative agile delivery across build, test, release and support.
• Coordinate the development and testing activities (code, system, product) in the lab, relevant and real environment (e.g., competence, equipment, ) together with the delivery department.
• Identify and collaborate with all stakeholders.

Project & Agile Methodology Management

• Support agile methodologies, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives to ensure efficient project flow and delivery.
• Work closely with Project Managers, Product Design Authorities, System Engineers, and other stakeholders to translate project requirements into actionable tasks.
• Manage in coordination with Engineering team the software project activities to ensure timeline and that the development complies with industry and regulatory standards for defence applications.
• Ensure accurate use of Git analytics.
• Monitor and control the agile software development metrics.

Quality Assurance & Compliance

• Ensure software engineering processes are implemented effectively, rigorous testing standards, including automated testing and verification for defence-grade reliability and performance.
• Ensure that all builds and release documentation meet the required quality standards.
• Work closely with the Test Lead Engineer and the Product Trial engineering team to validate software under diverse and challenging operational scenarios.

Collaboration & Process Improvement:

• Identify opportunities for improving software engineering processes and practices.
• Implement best practices and tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in the software development.
• Partner with product managers, developers, QA, and other stakeholders to align on release goals, issues/bugs prioritization, and timelines.
• Continually review the process by identifying bottlenecks and proposing improvements.

Qualifications and Experience

• Experience in software team leadership
• Proven experience in the development of software for hardware-integrated systems, particularly in the Defence, Aerospace, or Electromagnetic Warfare domains
• Experience with Gitlab.
• Strong knowledge of version control systems in Git.
• Solid understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and release management.
• Solid understanding of agile methodologies, including Scrum, with a track record of leading agile teams.
• Strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills with a commitment to mentorship and team development.
• Understanding of DevSecOps practices.
• Knowledge of embedded systems and security considerations.
• Ability to work collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams, including project managers, systems engineers, product design authorises, and multiple stakeholders.

Why You Should Join Us

We have a competitive salary and access to several additional flexible benefits, which will cover Health and Wellbeing, Savings and Protection and Life, Leisure and Entertainment.

Roke has a great community of groups with shared interests. These enable people to share ideas and be passionate about tools, technologies and techniques, which interest them.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion. Our working environment is friendly, creative and inclusive.

Security Information

Due to the nature of this position, we require you to achieve a minimum of SC clearance. To qualify, the candidate should be a British Citizen and/or have resided in the UK for the last 5 years for SC. For more information about clearance eligibility, please see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/security-vetting-and-clearance.