Head of IT Development in Bradford

A place to drive change

Location: Bradford, Hybrid, 2-3 days in the office with travel as required for training/meetings.

Salary: £77,405 per annum plus car user allowance starting at £1,250 per annum

Permanent, 35 hours per week, Monday – Friday 9am to 5pm.

We’re on a journey of transformation. We’re finding new ways to achieve our purpose of providing families with affordable, sustainable and safe homes. We’re innovating for our customers and to create a thriving workspace that supports everyone.

We’re a team of passionate, dedicated people, working to drive change for the better. We’re building something special here and we want driven, creative people to join us.

If you’re looking for a career where you can be part of change, share your ideas and help us transform, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us and shape our future.

Lead, Innovate, and Develop Our Digital Future

Are you ready to lead innovation, shape strategy, and roll up your sleeves to make it happen? At Accent, we’re investing heavily in technology to transform how we work and deliver for our customers and we need a Head of IT Development who will lead the teams who design, build and assure the digital services our colleagues and customers rely on every day. If you want to lead talented development and testing teams, architect modern Azure‑based platforms, and create technology that genuinely makes people’s lives better, this is the role for you.

What You’ll Do:

• Be a strategic technologist with operational depth – equally at home pair‑reviewing complex code or setting a clear software development strategy for developer and architects.
• Lead software development and testing teams - delivering secure, resilient, high‑quality services incorporating cloud‑native builds, clean APIs, modern integrations, with quality engineered from the start.
• Architect the future on Azure - API‑first, event‑driven, secure‑by‑design. Shape our future by designing clean, decoupled integrations from legacy platforms.
• Transform our testing capability – automate intelligently, adopt continuous testing, integrate with CI/CD and champion high standards across the whole SDLC.
• Modernise how we build software – progressive delivery, automated pipelines, contract testing and engineering practices that accelerate delivery whilst improving quality.
• Develop people and capability - build a high‑performing, inclusive team; set clear standards; coach engineers and test specialists; plan skills growth for what’s next.
• Engage brilliantly with the business - translate complex technology into clear business value, nurture stakeholder relationships, and keep delivery outcomes front and centre.
• Scan the horizon and innovate - assess new technologies, trial smart ideas, and introduce innovations that meaningfully improve customer or colleague experience.

Why Join Us?

• Shape the future: Lead transformation projects that modernise our technology and improve services that residents depend on every day.
• Agile and impactful: We’re small enough to cut through red tape, yet large enough to deliver meaningful change.
• Purpose with impact: Work for an organisation with a genuine social mission, your expertise helps families feel safe, supported and heard.
• Grow with us: We invest in people and technology. You’ll have access to leadership development and career progression opportunities.

What you’ll bring:

• Extensive experience in the Microsoft tech stack and ideally Azure cloud environments.
• A strong grounding in modern engineering practices - API‑first, microservices, DevOps, CI/CD, infrastructure‑as‑code, and resilient architectures.
• A proven ability to design and deliver solutions that balance strategic thinking with hands‑on technical expertise.
• Strong Leadership - you will coach, mentor and empower multidisciplinary teams (including external partners) to perform at their best.
• A passion for agile delivery, continuous improvement and building robust quality into every stage of development.
• Experience aligning development and testing with wider organisational goals and technology strategy.
• Solid architecture understanding and the ability to oversee solution design without direct coding involvement.
• Proven experience of assuring the quality of output from augmented software development and testing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication and influencing skills.
• Ability to define meaningful KPI’s and report on development and testing performance.
• Experience managing external vendors and ensuring alignment with internal standards.

Interviews

We want your candidate experience to reflect who we are - a place to grow, a place to thrive, a place to be you.

Stage 1: A Place to Connect - A call with the hiring manager. You’ll learn more about the role and team, and we’ll get to know you – your experience, goals, and what you bring. Planned date: 11/12th February via Teams.

Stage 2: A Place to Show Your Strengths - You’ll present your approach to a strategic direction for the team to the panel and have your final interview. You’ll be asked to complete a Congruity Questionnaire in advance. Planned date: 18/19th February at our Bradford office.

We aim to make the process clear, supportive, and genuinely valuable – a place where you feel informed and confident at every step.

A place to build a future - We’ve got big ambitions and we’re looking for people who want to grow with us. Here, you’ll have the chance to learn new skills, shape your career, and thrive in a collaborative environment where your ideas matter.

And because we believe great work deserves great rewards, here’s what you can look forward to:

• Generous time off – 28 days holiday plus bank holidays, an extra day for your birthday, and the option to buy more.
• Health & wellbeing support – Cash health plan, Health MOTs, online GP access, gym discounts, and a dedicated volunteering day for a cause you care about.
• Financial perks – Car leasing options, salary sacrifice schemes, and exclusive discounts through our benefits platform to help your money go further.
• Future-focused benefits – Access to both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit pension schemes through salary sacrifice, plus life assurance at three times your salary for peace of mind.
• Family-friendly policies – Enhanced parental leave, flexible working options, and support for work-life balance.
• Career development – From Stepping into Management and Management Essentials training to our Leadership Academy, apprenticeships, and more – we’ll help you grow and succeed.

This is more than a job – it’s a place where you can make an impact, feel valued, and be rewarded for what you do.

We’re Committed to Inclusion

We believe diversity makes us stronger and we’re committed to creating a place where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to thrive.

Our recruitment process is designed to be accessible and inclusive, and if you need any reasonable adjustments at any stage, just let us know – we’ll make it happen.

Because this isn’t just a workplace – it’s a place to belong.

Please don’t delay in submitting your application. Where roles are urgent or we receive a high volume of applications, we may interview and conclude the process prior to any closing date indicated.

If you have any queries about the role, please email:

Please note candidates must have current eligibility to live and work in the UK, Accent do not currently hold a sponsorship license.

If you’re looking for a place you can make a positive difference to society, to our organisation and to your future, apply now.

Recruitment Agencies: We work exclusively with partners on our preferred supplier list (PSL) and do not accept unsolicited CVs or speculative approaches from agencies for this role.