Role Summary:
The Manager of Software Development owns the delivery, quality, and scalability of all software products and platforms. The role leads multidisciplinary Agile teams (backend, frontend, mobile, QA, UX) to ship secure, reliable features on time and within budget. The Manager implements engineering standards, grows talent, partners with Product on the roadmap, and ensures CI/CD, automated testing, and observability are embedded across services.
Team & Scope (Current State):
Team composition: 4 Backend (PHP/Laravel), 1 Frontend, 1 QA, 1 Scrum Master, 1 UX/UI (adjust to actual headcount) Tech stack: PHP/Laravel services and APIs; i OS and Android mobile apps; modern frontend; automated testing; CI/CD; cloud hosting/monitoring
Key Responsibilities Strategy & Planning:
Translate business strategy into a 12-18‑month engineering roadmap with quarterly OKRs Define target architecture and integration patterns, balance delivery speed with reliability and cost. Delivery & Agile Execution Run Agile (Scrum/Kanban) with predictable sprints, clear DoR/DoD, and strong backlog hygiene Establish and track DORA metrics (Deployment Frequency, Lead Time, Change Failure Rate, MTTR) Own release management, environment strategy, and incident response. Engineering Excellence Enforce coding standards, code review, and automated testing (unit, API, UI) Build/evolve CI/CD pipelines, observability (logging/metrics/tracing), performance monitoring, capacity planning Drive security-by-design, dependency management, and vulnerability remediation in partnership with Security/IT. People & Culture Hire, coach, and retain high-performing engineers; implement career ladders and growth plans Conduct regular 1:1s and performance reviews; address skill gaps with training/mentoring Foster a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, and psychological safety. Product & Stakeholder Management Co-own prioritization with Product; ensure clear acceptance criteria and user-centric design Communicate status, risks, and trade-offs to executives with data-driven reporting. Budget, Vendors & Governance Manage engineering budget (tools, cloud, vendors); optimize cost per user/transaction Evaluate buy-vs-build; negotiate and govern vendor SLAs
Requirements
Qualifications & Experience:
10+ years in software engineering, including 4+ years leading cross-functional teams Proven delivery of web/mobile products using PHP/Laravel backends and i OS/Android apps Hands-on experience with Agile frameworks, CI/CD, automated testing, and cloud hosting Strong grasp of modern frontend development and API design (REST/Graph QL) Experience establishing engineering KPIs and running incident/problem management Excellent stakeholder communication; ability to influence at executive level
Nice to have:
domain experience in hospitality, travel, e-commerce, or payments; Arabic/English proficiency. Core Competencies Technical Leadership: architecture, scalability, performance, and security trade-offs Operational Excellence: metrics-driven execution and continuous improvement People Leadership: hiring, coaching, career development, and team health Product Mindset: customer-centric decisions balancing scope, quality, and speed Communication: clarity in plans, risks, and outcomes for technical and non-technical audiences