Software Engineering Manager - AI Focused

As a Software Engineering Manager, you will join a substantial global engineering organisation and provide leadership to several highly skilled development teams following Agile methodologies to deliver market-leading insurance solutions. You will be passionate about the changes that AI are having in the industry and bring experience of leading existing teams helping them to make the most of the technologies.
 

Being a line manager, you will be responsible for the career development and wellbeing of engineers you work with, acting as a mentor, and ensuring they achieve their goals while continuing to develop their technical skills.

A sound technical background is essential to be successful in this role however this opportunity will also encompass many management dimensions such as project execution and stakeholder management, team engagement, recruitment and organisational design, continuous process and efficiency improvement.

The Role 

As an Engineering Manager, you will:

• Ensure that all engineers make the most out of AI techniques and approaches.

• Be accountable for the development and release of identified software product families, to high-quality standards and, in the context of a wider evolutionary product planning process, to mutually agreed timescales and software requirements. This will require the application and evolution of appropriate agile processes and effective team coordination and communication.

• Act as a primary interface between the Product Management teams and the respective Engineering teams allocated to those products. You will proactively participate in the multi-disciplinary iterative product planning process for the identified product families to assist Product Leaders converge on development priorities and achievable product roadmaps. You will Inject ideas, constraints, and awareness of opportunities into the product planning process.

• Work with Architects and Senior Engineers to assess technology options against technical and non-technical criteria, and to define robust and scalable architectures supporting the evolution of existing products and the creation of new innovative solutions.

• Provide project troubleshooting support, lending technical, process and people skills (of self or an available colleague) to a team where appropriate to unblock project issues and recommend actions which will reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

• Oversee the adequate provision of final-line technical support (e.g. for customer reports of potential software defects that are escalated to the engineering teams) for identified software products.

• Support and facilitate early adopter trials of new software capabilities, involving either internal users or external customers.

• Be responsible (directly or by delegation) for the provision of adequate periodic reporting of progress, risks, opportunities and next steps for each identified project (which may include “non-product” projects such as R&D and recruitment).

• Be responsible for the recruitment, development and retention of high-calibre software engineers, architects and team managers, through working with recruitment agencies, mentoring (directly and by delegation), identification and organisation of training, conducting career development reviews and recommending, from time to time, evolution of team structures.

• Provide oversight and monitoring of the development, quality assurance and governance processes around identified projects, considering and recommending improvements to these processes and the tools which support them. You will facilitate a culture of cost-effective continuous improvement and lead initiatives to optimise efficiency and accelerate project execution.

• Encourage and engage in collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and software components with other Willis Towers Watson development centres. 
 

What you’ll bring 

The essential skills/experience for this position are:

• Significant experience leading teams of 10+ engineers/architects/test engineers/SMEs delivering complex solutions following using AI first techniques following Agile principles and interacting with Product Management and other stakeholders at all levels.

• Successful track-record in winning the respect of high-calibre technical specialists, of growing teams and leading transformation initiatives across the various software engineering dimensions such as project management, agile practices, people development, technology.

• Practical experience with the full software development lifecycle in a commercial/production environment: requirements capture and analysis, estimation, architecture and design, implementation, unit and system-level testing, installation and deployment, maintenance. Understanding of tools and principles related to continuous integration, DevOps, version control, build and test infrastructure, defect and backlog management, IDE’s, etc.

• Excellent practical appreciation and understanding of software engineering principles and design characteristics enabling the implementation of software, which is highly performant, scalable, easily maintainable, extensible and easy to test and debug. 

• Experience with a wide range of Agile; track-record rolling out new processes and techniques adapted to the teams and product under development; ability to identify continuous improvement opportunities. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to adjust interaction and message to different levels across different disciplines (engineering, product, actuarial), internally but also with external clients.

• Strong leadership skills: enthusiastic, motivational, decisive, collaborative, always looking to improve the way things are done.

• Strong work ethic: proactive, tenacious, organised, hard-working and working fast across multiple tasks.

Other highly desirable, but not essential skills are:

• Experience managing external suppliers from contracts to technical execution.

• Experience interacting with external clients in various pre/post-sales situation.

• Experience with Azure, Cloud and SaaS technologies.

• Appreciation of current and emerging technologies along with their potential benefits and limitations.

• Prior hands-on technical experience of desktop or web-based .NET/C# technologies and tools.

• Experience with object-oriented design and implementation, design patterns, SOLID principles.

• High numeracy skills, passion for maths, statistics and complex algorithms.

• Line management experience.

• General knowledge of the Insurance Industry.

• Degree-educated with Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or relevant discipline.

What we offer 
Enjoy a benefits package designed to help you thrive, both professionally and personally. You'll receive 25 days of annual leave plus an extra WTW day to relax and recharge. Our comprehensive health and wellbeing offering includes private healthcare, life insurance, group income protection, and regular health assessments, all giving you peace of mind. Secure your future with our defined contribution pension scheme, featuring matched contributions up to 10% from the company.

We support your growth and balance with hybrid working options, access to an employee assistance programme, and a fully paid volunteer day to make a difference in your community. On top of these, you can opt into a variety of additional perks including an electric vehicle car scheme, share scheme, cycle-to-work programme, dental and optical cover, critical illness protection, and much more. Start making the most of your career and wellbeing with a range of benefits tailored for you.

Equal Opportunity Employer
We’re committed to equal employment opportunity and provide application, interview and workplace adjustments and accommodations to all applicants. If you foresee any barriers, from the application process through to joining WTW, please email candidatehelpdesk@wtwco.com