WHAT DOES A HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT DO?

Updated: Jan 30, 2026 - The Head of Development develops and executes a forward-thinking technology strategy that drives product scalability, innovation, and regional growth. This position builds and leads a high-performing tech team by fostering collaboration, defining clear roadmaps, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. The head also delivers customer-centric solutions by aligning architecture, infrastructure, and development processes with the company’s strategic goals.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Head of Development

1. Head of Development Accountabilities

  • Project Management: Manage all aspects of the project design, budget, and schedule
  • Team Leadership: Manage project design team (architect, engineers, and other consultants) and project contractor during pre-construction design efforts and throughout the construction process
  • Scheduling: Create project milestone schedules and ensure that all team members meet schedule requirements
  • Regulatory Compliance: Work with local governments and other related parties to obtain necessary project permits and entitlements
  • Contract Negotiation: Negotiate contracts, leases, and other critical legal documents to best mitigate project risk
  • Cost Analysis: Compare contractor cost estimates, interview contractors, and assist in selecting the contractor that will best ensure success for the project
  • Expense Management: Review and approve project expenses, contractor pay applications, and change order requests
  • Financial Reporting: Prepare monthly lender draws and ensure compliance with lender loan agreements
  • Team Supervision: Oversee and direct the work of Development Analysts and Associates
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Consult with Asset Management and Operations staff during pre-development, construction, and transfer of property to operations
  • Project Evaluation: Assist in analyzing potential new development projects by providing input for proformas, reviewing proformas, and writing portions of investment memos

2. Head of Development Job Description

  • Team Leadership: Lead and manage a team of materials and chemical specialists.
  • Strategic Planning: Contribute towards the strategic direction of the business processes and services, taking into account emerging and legacy technologies.
  • Technical Advisory: Continually offer strategic and technical advice to the senior management team.
  • Partnership Management: Work collaboratively with strategic partners, fostering excellent working relationships that will deliver demonstrable value to the business.
  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively across the group of businesses to support in terms of the development of technical process chemistry.
  • Problem Solving: Solve quality issues or other technical issues that arise, support development and implementation, and scale up new processes.
  • Tactical Planning: Devise a tactical plan that can be collaboratively carried out by the team to implement improvements to products, services, processes, and knowledge sharing within the team.
  • Project Delivery: Facilitate the smooth delivery of all projects, enhancements, and support delivered by the team.
  • Technical Oversight: Responsible for the technical approach taken by team members, ensuring it is in line with the company's strategy and that projects are delivered on time and on budget.
  • Team Culture Development: Create and maintain a professional culture within the team, where individuals take ownership and are fastidious and proud of delivering excellence and quality.

3. Head of Development Additional Details

  • Code and QA Standards: Implementing best-practice standards in code control, software development and quality assurance, systems performance and usability, E-commerce website development and maintenance.
  • Technical Leadership: Lead decision-making of systems architecture, processes, and the optimal technology stack to deliver the company's goals and commercial targets.
  • Budget Management: Full ownership of the IT/Development Budget and deliver on its targets.
  • Team Management: Lead the team of Dev/Ops and Quality Assurance engineers.
  • Documentation: Create systems process flows, systems technical specifications, and maintain relevant documentation up-to-date.
  • Cross-Department Coordination: Coordinate business requirements and their delivery with the Head of other departments.
  • System Security: Ensure processes, systems, and infrastructure health and security.
  • Performance Monitoring: Ensure transparency, measurement, and full accountability of systems' operational performance and SLA targets.
  • Process Improvement: Create new processes and implement improvements to current processes/best practices.
  • Project Oversight: Regularly visit development sites to monitor and track project progress.

4. Head of Development Essential Functions

  • Relationship Management: Build, uncover, and maintain relationships with decision makers across C-Suite and VP levels of the agency ecosystem (e.g., investment team, planning and strategy teams, activation teams, etc).
  • Product Collaboration: Collaborate with the Product team to ensure we build the right products and solutions to scale agency investments across the major holding companies.
  • Sales Enablement: Work with agencies and leadership to mitigate and remove sales blockers.
  • Value Proposition Communication: Explain and demonstrate the value proposition to help marketers identify and inspire Advertising for their clients’ brands.
  • Team Development: Develop an Agency Development plan, including hiring recommendations to scale the team.
  • Client Partnership: Personally partner with Enterprise leaders to grow wallet share from the 25 largest agency-driven customers.
  • Operational Standards: Develops operational standards to help drive consistency of sales communication and engagement amongst agency partners.
  • Revenue Generation: Identify and create new revenue opportunities.
  • Investment Strategy: Influence and guide investment strategy for the Agency Channel.
  • Revenue Targeting: Set and achieve revenue goals for agencies.

5. Head of Development General Responsibilities

  • Technology Strategy: Develop the technical aspects of the region’s technology strategy and help to scale product development, as well as drive continued innovation.
  • Vision and Roadmap: Set the vision, strategy, and product roadmap for the Tech team to meet the long-term and short-term company objectives.
  • Project Planning: Create a timeline for the development and deployment of technology services, inclusive of regional and global initiatives.
  • Team Leadership: Work closely with the IT Operations, development, infrastructure, and product teams to lead, manage, and scale the team as well as build a strong, high-performing culture.
  • Team Empowerment: Empower and inspire the team to build solutions and enable stronger collaboration within Tech and across the company.
  • Technical Assessment: Gain a deep understanding of the structure and company technology to assess what is needed from the team for overall success.
  • Trend Identification: Identify tech trends with a passion for customer-driven design to ensure they are leading the way in the Payments space.
  • Organisational Planning: Define the Tech organisational structure and people plan within the budget.
  • Customer-Centric Delivery: Maintain a customer-first approach when delivering IT projects for the company.
  • Solution Architecture: Lead solution architecture, tech stack, and development methodologies.
  • Technology Roadmap: Define a technology roadmap that ensures the company platform will meet future needs of scale, performance, and usability.
  • Regulatory Compliance: Maintain regulatory standards, including PCI DSS compliance.

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This content is part of Lamwork's career intelligence platform and is developed using structured analysis of real-world job data, including publicly available job descriptions, skill requirements, and hiring patterns.

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