Head of Development

Head of Development

Reference number: JR246957

Location: Hybrid working - home and at our office near London Bridge

Working pattern: Full Time, 37.5 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Number of roles: 1

Grade: IT6

Salary: Circa £85,000 - £89,000 per annum

We are looking for a Head of Development to join our team.

You will ensure that we have the development capability and capacity aligned with our technologies, demand and strategy. Currently, this is delivered using predominantly outsourced suppliers. Thus, you will be responsible for managing the commercial relationships and their performance, ensuring they work seamlessly with our internal teams. You will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining effective testing  frameworks and practices, ensuring strong collaboration between IT and business teams to align testing objectives and deliver high-quality software.

You will assist the CTO in defining, driving, and delivering technology strategies while also serving as a source of innovation, ensuring that Kaplan maintains and strengthens its leadership position in our chosen markets.

A detailed job description can be viewed here. If the link does not work for you, please copy and paste the following URL into your web browser: https://tinyurl.com/bds6jfyv

What you’ll bring to the role

Skills & Experience

• Agile software development frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban

• Secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) and DevOps delivery model

• Developing and maintaining high-performing, highly available applications based on a variety of architectures (e.g. microservice, distributed, monolithic)

• Infrastructure technologies such as load balancers, firewalls/WAFs, routers/routing, directory services, DNS

  
  

  Development tooling:

• Development work management (Azure DevOps Boards)

• Source control management (Azure DevOps, TFS, Git)

• Deployment (Azure DevOps Pipelines, Octopus Deploy)

• Code quality and vulnerability management (SonarQube, Snyk, Qualys)

• Containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Infrastructure as code (Terraform)

  
  

  Development languages, frameworks and platforms:

• Web content management systems (Sitefinity, WordPress)

• C# / .NET Framework / .NET Core

• JavaScript & JavaScript frameworks

• Structured Query Language (SQL)

• PowerShell

• Web protocols and internet-based technologies – HTTP, XML, JSON, REST, JavaScript, LTI, TLS, API management

• Testing tools such as Selenium and JMeter

• Establishing and refining test strategies and methods across the development lifecycle, including: unit, acceptance, regression, security, automation, functional, and performance testing

  
  

  Proven track record developing or working on the following types of applications:

• Ecommerce and portal websites

• Enterprise resource planning (Dynamics NAV, Business Central)

• Learning management systems (Brightspace, Moodle)

• Enterprise data and reporting systems (SQL Server, Power BI, Databricks)

  
  

  
  

What we do

Kaplan Professional is a leading provider of apprenticeships, accountancy / tax / finance & banking courses, and professional assessments. For almost 80 years, we've helped shape the development and careers of finance professionals.

We are part of the Kaplan group, one of the world’s largest and most diverse education and assessment providers. We operate in over 30 countries and maintain relationships and partnerships with more than 1,000 school districts, colleges and universities, professional bodies and over 10,000 businesses. Our vast breadth and scope in terms of both capabilities and assets sets us apart.

What we believe in

Our goal is for Kaplan to be a great place to work where everybody can succeed, so we truly live and breathe our values: act with integrity, grow knowledge, empower & support, create opportunity, drive results together.

Kaplan is a global organisation whose mission is rooted in providing equal access to education and opportunities for advancement to people of all backgrounds. We believe diversity, equity and inclusion - of culture, experiences, perspectives - are paramount to creating success and opportunity in an ever-changing world. As an educator, partner and employer, Kaplan is committed to promoting an equitable world in which diverse talent can develop, advance and thrive.

To view our candidate privacy notice click here.

Our Values

We live, breathe and celebrate our values - they drive what we believe in, how we behave and guide us in creating a culture of success.

• Act with integrity

• Empower and support

• Create opportunity

• Grow knowledge

• Drive results together

What we offer

As well as a competitive salary, transparent pay structures, hybrid/home working where possible, and paths for career progression, we offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• 28 days annual leave + option to purchase more

• Season ticket loan and cycle to work scheme

• Big discounts on Kaplan courses for you and your family

• Private medical, income protection, and life insurance

• 24/7 confidential helpline providing counselling and other support services

• Company pension contributions

• Maternity, Adoption, Shared Parental and Paternity/Partner pay which is well above statutory levels

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit a CV along with a Cover Letter detailing how you meet the requirements of the role no later than 11pm on Monday 12th May 2025. Note, we recommend that you apply at the earliest as we reserve the right to close the role before the closing date if we have gathered a suitable shortlist.

Additional Application Information

Recruitment checks are undertaken in accordance with our background checking policy. Successful applicants will be required to undertake a Basic Disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

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Our Suitability of Ex-offenders Policy is available on the careers page of our website www.kaplan.co.uk.

Application Support

If you require support completing your application or wish to talk to someone about the role before applying please email the Recruitment Team kaplanstaff.recruitment@kaplan.com.

Disability Confident Scheme

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to interviewing applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the role as found in the “What you’ll bring to the role “ section of the job description.  Details of how to request your application be considered under the Disability Confident scheme will be shared with all applicants upon submission of an application.

Furthermore, all applicants invited to attend interview will be given information on how to request reasonable adjustments to attend.

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