Analyst Programmer / Case Management - major legal organisation - Leeds city centre

To lead and manage a team of software developers to estimate, analyse, build, test, deploy, and support fit-for-purpose application software changes to specified requirements, deadlines, and budgets. To develop and maintain application development standards and recommend new tools and approaches to help improve quality, speed, and cost of software development. It is expected that up to 20% of the role would involve team leadership and the remainder would be ‘hands on’ technical development work.

DIMENSIONS

• Responsible for circa 3 permanent analyst/programmers.

Strategic

• Understand the services provided by the company to clients and customers, and drive a proactive “can do” approach within the team to support the business in delivering those services.
• Recommend and agree technical standards that support the delivery of high quality, fit-for-purpose software solutions.
• Identify appropriate and effective process changes, methodologies, skills, and tools to help the development team deliver solutions more effectively.

Leadership

• With the support of the IT Development Manager, set objectives for and manage the performance of team members in line with the company’s performance review process.
• Motivate and develop staff in order to maximise their potential and contribution to the business.
• Ensure cross training is available to all team members to remove single resource dependencies.

Change Delivery

• Support the IT Development Manager and lead Case Management System Developer to review the upcoming pipeline of work for development and identify appropriate technical solutions and approaches.
• Provide initial feasibility assessments prior to formal change requests being raised.
• Determine estimates for changes once requested to support the review and approval processes.
• Maintain a schedule of work for the team in line with agreed priorities.
• Oversee the software development process for multiple changes, tracking and reporting against time, budget, risks, issues, and quality.
• Complete systems analysis work to assess gaps in functionality and determine the most appropriate solution for given requirements.
• Produce Systems Design documentation where necessary.
• Develop, configure, and test system elements to meet functional requirements.
• Plan for and execute technical testing (systems testing, integration testing, stress/volume testing, regression testing, etc.), recording any faults, ensuring the timely delivery of fixes and explanations, and completing all necessary retesting.
• Support UAT, recording all reported faults, and ensuring the timely delivery of fixes or explanations.
• Plan and coordinate deployment activities.
• Work with the IT Operations team to investigate and resolve application software incidents, and support the production of Root Cause Analysis documentation where needed.
• Deputise for the IT Development Manager as necessary.

SCOPE OF THE ROLE

The role is highly dynamic with frequent changes in priorities. Flexibility with working hours is essential, as some changes may require work outside of normal office hours.

Person specification

• Highly motivated, proactive, with a “can do” attitude.
• Able to manage a portfolio of changes at one time, often with short lead-times.
• Able to delegate to the team.
• Can switch focus quickly, and juggle priorities when the need arises.
• Logical and analytical, able to recognise discrepancies and identify appropriate technical solutions to business problems.
• Unfazed by obstacles and issues; remains focused to deliver whilst under pressure and despite setbacks.
• Good communication skills, both written and verbal, and able to communicate with both technical and non-technical audiences at all levels.
• Keeps abreast of developing and emerging technologies.

Technical skills & QUALIFICATIONS

• Technical background, with demonstrable experience in delivering through the entire software development lifecycle.
• Proven development experience using Visual Studio 2010 (VB.NET, C#), Classic ASP, ASP.Net and ASP MVC, SQL Server 2008 and T-SQL (queries, stored procedures, and functions), MS Office Automation (VBA, MS Access, MS Excel).
• Business/process analysis and issue/problem management skills.
• Ability to plan for the short and long-term.
• Broad understanding of systems architectures and infrastructures.
• Experience of working on projects using a recognised methodology (Agile).
• SQL Server Integration Services/Data Transformation Packages.
• An understanding of debt collection, secured legal, and unsecured legal processes.