Q:

Best translation for “software-development manager”

I’m interested in learning the job title for a person who has HR responsibility for a group of developers (software-development manager in English).
I’ve been looking at a few sites, and I’m trying to understand the differences between Entwicklungsleiter, Entwicklungsmanager, and Entwicklungschef. Are these three terms interchangeable, or are there subtle differences between them? 
For example, it seems that Entwicklungsleiter is often translated as director, a head of a department. In English, a director often has a group of managers reporting to him or her, so that might not be the best term.

A:

I don't have a definitive answer but I am a software developer in Germany so here comes my experience: 
I have heard Entwicklungsleiter and Entwicklungsmanager but not Entwicklungschef.
Softeareentwicklungsleiter seems too long even for Germans but I've seen Leiter Softwareentwicklung or Abteilungsleiter Softwareentwicklung used in several companies. The Leiter Softwareentwicklung usually managed multiple teams and had the HR responsibilities of hiring/firing, disciplinary measures, salary negotiations and performance reviews. 
The day-to-day management of assigning tasks, tracking progress, motivating the team and making decisions the developers can't or don't want to make alone, is usually done by someone called Projektleiter, technischer Projektleiter, Software Projektleiter, or Teamleiter Softwareentwicklung (sometimes + topic the team works on).
What do you need the title for? If it's a CV, just put whatever you like and explain in a sentence or two what exactly you did at that job.

