Director of Application Development

2020 Companies • Dallas, TX

1d • Remote

About The Position

2020 Companies is seeking an experienced Director of Application Development to lead an agile development team building, supporting, and modernizing enterprise applications. The role advances Pulse, the company’s field operations application built on Salesforce, and leads AI application and automation projects. These systems support scheduling, timekeeping, payroll, billing, and reporting for thousands of field employees nationwide. This is a hands-on leadership position: the Director leads in-house engineers as well as offshore and contract developers, owns the software development lifecycle, and writes and reviews code alongside the team. The role partners with operations, finance, and HR leaders to align applications with business goals and scale, modernize legacy integrations on Azure, and build AI-enabled applications that reduce manual work.

The Director will design and build enterprise applications on Microsoft Azure, advance the Salesforce-based field operations application, and take solutions from requirements through prototype, pilot, production, and ongoing support. The role establishes development standards, owns integrations among core business systems, leads migration of legacy ETL jobs to Azure Data Factory, and ensures payroll, billing, and finance data jobs are accurate, monitored, and timely. It also leads engineering staff and external partners, sets priorities and delivery expectations, and communicates project status, risks, and resource needs to the VP of IT and executive leadership.

The position is listed as regular and remote in Dallas, Texas, with a hybrid or fully remote work arrangement offered. The company describes a collaborative environment focused on AI and automation, competitive annual salary with performance-based incentives, comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits, a 401(k) with company match, paid time off, and opportunities for professional growth and career advancement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 8 years of hands-on software development experience, including at least 3 years leading or managing development teams.
• Proven experience personally designing, building, and supporting production enterprise applications, from database and APIs through front end and deployment.
• Experience owning the full software development lifecycle, from requirements and architecture through testing, deployment, and support.
• Strong hands-on skills in Python and JavaScript or TypeScript, with solid SQL and relational database design skills.
• Experience deploying and operating applications on Microsoft Azure, including App Service, Azure SQL, and Entra ID, with Git-based CI/CD such as GitHub Actions.
• Salesforce development experience, including Apex and Salesforce APIs.
• At least 2 years of experience building AI-enabled applications with large language models, such as agents, assistants, retrieval-based search, or document processing.
• Daily use of AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, or Cursor.
• Experience building and supporting system integrations using REST APIs and ETL tools such as Azure Data Factory.
• Track record of leading development teams that deliver on schedule, including offshore or contract developers.
• Ability to explain technical tradeoffs, cost, and risk to business and executive leaders.

Nice To Haves

• Workday or other HR and payroll system integration experience.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric or Power BI.
• Experience supporting applications for a large, distributed field workforce.

Responsibilities

• Design and build enterprise applications on Microsoft Azure, from data models and APIs through user interfaces, authentication, and deployment.
• Advance the Salesforce-based field operations application in collaboration with the offshore Salesforce development partner, including features, releases, and platform health.
• Take applications from business requirements through prototype, pilot, and production.
• Write code, review pull requests, and prototype solutions alongside the development team.
• Set and enforce standards for source control, code review, testing, CI/CD, and technical documentation.
• Create a solution architecture document for each new build, covering design, security, and operating costs.
• Build AI-enabled applications and agents to replace manual work in operations, finance, and HR.
• Apply large language models to document, image, and audio processing, data summarization, and in-app assistants.
• Drive business process automation, using RPA where appropriate.
• Lead the team's use of AI coding tools while maintaining code quality.
• Measure deployed AI and automation solutions for accuracy, cost, and time saved.
• Lead software, integration, and data engineers, as well as offshore and contract developers.
• Set team priorities, run weekly development reviews, and hold the team accountable for delivery dates.
• Hire, coach, and develop engineers, and cross-train the team on critical systems.
• Manage outside development partners, including statements of work, deliverables, and cost.
• Partner with operations, finance, and HR leaders to translate business needs into technical plans, estimates, and timelines.
• Report project status, risks, and resourcing needs to the VP of IT and executive leadership.
• Own integrations among core business systems, including HR and payroll, CRM, finance, and internal applications.
• Lead migration of legacy ETL jobs to Azure Data Factory, consolidating and simplifying jobs as they move.
• Keep payroll, billing, and finance data jobs accurate and on schedule, with monitoring and alerting in place.
• Troubleshoot and resolve escalated production issues across applications and integrations.

Benefits

• Competitive annual salary with performance-based incentives.
• Comprehensive health benefits.
• Dental benefits.
• Vision benefits.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Generous paid time off policy.
• Paid holidays.
• Professional growth and career advancement opportunities, including mentorship and training.
• Personal development opportunities.
• Professional stretch assignments.
• Long-term career pathing options.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director