Application Development Manager

Fehr & Peers • Walnut Creek, CA

9h

About The Position

Fehr & Peers is seeking an Application Development Manager to lead a three-person team within their IT group. This is a player-coach role requiring hands-on coding, mentoring developers, problem-solving, and establishing structure for software development, review, security, and maintenance. The applications developed will support firm employees and client projects, including internal applications, enterprise system integrations, custom data tools, dashboards, and analysis platforms. The role also involves serving as a technology advisor, helping colleagues understand technological possibilities, make tool choices, and translate technical tradeoffs. This role is distinct from traditional software management, emphasizing close involvement with code and shaping development practices in an environment where technology directly supports planners, engineers, data scientists, and project teams. It requires practicality, collaboration, and the ability to advise non-developers.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience in software development, DevOps, or a closely related field.
• 2+ years of experience in leadership, management, or senior technical mentorship.
• Hands-on development experience, including writing code and building applications.
• Strong proficiency in Python and JavaScript or TypeScript.
• Experience with modern development practices, including type hints, virtual environments, and dependency management.
• Experience with Flask or a comparable web application framework.
• Familiarity with deployment patterns such as WSGI, Gunicorn, and Nginx reverse proxies.
• Comfort working in a Linux server environment, including Ubuntu and systemd service management.
• Experience with Git-based version control and repository governance, ideally GitLab.
• Experience with relational databases and infrastructure that supports business-critical applications.
• Practical experience using AI coding assistants or agentic AI tools, such as Claude Code or GitHub Copilot, in a professional development workflow.
• Demonstrated success mentoring junior or mid-level developers.
• Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical colleagues.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting enterprise business applications such as ERP systems, GIS platforms, or content and collaboration platforms.
• Experience with platforms such as Deltek Vantagepoint, Esri ArcGIS, PostGIS, Leaflet, OpenStreetMap, SharePoint, Box, Microsoft 365, or Entra ID.
• Experience designing code review, quality assurance, or governance processes for software built with AI assistance.
• Experience building or supporting client-facing tools or data deliverables in a consulting or professional services environment.
• Experience building internal developer platforms, shared component libraries, or design systems.
• Familiarity with AI governance concepts, cybersecurity best practices, or professional services environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a three-person team focused on application development, database engineering, enterprise applications, and internal tooling.
• Set priorities and balance enterprise application support, custom tools, client-related project needs, and time-sensitive requests.
• Coach developers through hands-on technical guidance.
• Model a leadership style rooted in fairness, openness, humility, problem-solving, and respect for people’s lives.
• Design, develop, and maintain internal applications, shared tooling, and system integrations.
• Support custom data tools, dashboards, data processing pipelines, and analysis platforms used in project work.
• Support enterprise systems such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Esri ArcGIS, Deltek Vantagepoint, and Box.
• Keep database infrastructure reliable, secure, fast, and well documented.
• Establish practical support standards for applications used by internal staff and project teams.
• Advise colleagues on when to build, buy, integrate, automate, or use AI-assisted development.
• Partner with leaders and project teams to understand needs, priorities, risks, and tradeoffs.
• Explain development priorities, timelines, and technical decisions in plain language.
• Provide training and guidance that helps staff use technology more effectively.
• Use tools such as Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, or GitHub Copilot as part of your own development workflow.
• Model responsible AI-assisted development practices for the team.
• Coach team members on how to use AI coding tools while continuing to build strong engineering fundamentals.
• Guide development of custom AI tools, such as Model Context Protocol servers and Retrieval Augmented Generation scripts.
• Help staff outside the Application Development team use AI coding tools thoughtfully and safely.
• Develop and refine software development life cycle processes so multiple developers can work effectively on the same codebase.
• Design and implement code review processes for tools built with or without AI assistance.
• Continue rolling out our GitLab tiered governance model, including sandbox, internal, and production tiers.
• Maintain coding, security, and deployment standards across our development ecosystem.
• Work with IT Operations and cybersecurity colleagues to keep development, staging, and production environments appropriately segmented and secured.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life and Disability Insurance.
• 401(k) Plan with matching and profit sharing.
• Flexible Spending Accounts.
• Commuter Benefits.
• Paid Vacation, holidays and sick leave.
• 8 weeks of Paid Parental Leave.
• Mentoring and Career Development programs.
• Research and Development group participation.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed