Senior Development Manager

Job Title:                     Senior Development Manager

Location:                     UK, Hybrid

Compensation:           Competitive Salary + Benefits

Role Type:                   Full time / Permanent

Role ID:                       SF71422

Lead the Digital Engineering Vision Behind Critical National Capabilities

At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Senior Development Manager at any of our main UK locations, near your nearest commutable town and county.

The role 

As a Senior Development Manager, you will shape and lead the future of AI‑enabled software development across Babcock’s Corporate Services. This is a senior technology leadership role where you will guide multiple development teams through a major transformation: moving from traditional engineering towards AI‑augmented, agent‑driven, high‑automation software delivery.

You will build and lead a unified engineering capability that blends software development, quality engineering, DevOps, MLOps, LLMOps, and intelligent automation. Your work will define how Babcock adopts Agentic AI systems, LLM‑powered workflows, autonomous code generation, automated testing, and data‑driven delivery practices.

Day‑to‑day, the impact of your work will directly shape how digital solutions support defence, aerospace, engineering, and critical national infrastructure programmes.

In this role, you will:

• Lead the implementation, evolution, and optimisation of AI‑augmented software solutions across multiple business areas.
• Oversee a unified Development and Testing function, driving consistency, shared standards, and intelligent automation across engineering teams.
• Embed modern DevOps, MLOps, and LLMOps practices, ensuring agentic AI workflows are integrated into coding, testing, deployment, and monitoring.
• Grow capability across all engineering disciplines, building teams that confidently use AI copilots, autonomous agents, and automated development patterns.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, transparency, curiosity, and ethical use of AI.
• Lead and mentor team leaders, who in turn guide developers and quality engineers, ensuring each team effectively adopts AI‑powered tools and delivery practices.
• Work closely with senior stakeholders to align technical delivery, AI strategy, and digital transformation with wider business and IT objectives.

This role is full time (37.5 hours per week) and offers hybrid working arrangements, with a balance of onsite and remote working.

Essential Experience for the Senior Development Manager

• Strong knowledge of Azure DevOps and experience embedding AI‑assisted workflows within CI/CD pipelines.
• Hands‑on experience designing, implementing, and maturing DevOps, MLOps, or emerging LLMOps practices.
• High proficiency across multiple development languages (e.g., JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, .NET, Java).
• Deep understanding of modern engineering practices including agentic AI systems, code assistants, test‑generation AI, and autonomous delivery patterns.
• Extensive experience leading, coaching, and developing multidisciplinary engineering teams through cultural and technical change.

Qualifications for the Senior Development Manager

We value difference and don’t have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and/or willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Standard (BPSS) / Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.  Must be Nationals / Passport Holders.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer 

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10‑days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading – buy or sell up to one working week of annual leave
• ‘Be Kind Day’ – one paid volunteering day each year
• Flexible working options
• A dynamic working environment
• Single Private Medical Insurance (as noted in the briefing plan)

Babcock

We’re Babcock a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 26/02/2026