Senior Manager, Application Development

West Coast University•Irvine, CA

About The Position

Reporting to the Director, Applications Development in a multi-faceted, multi-location academic setting, the Sr. Manager, Application Development provides hands-on technical and people leadership across web application engineering, AI-enabled solutions, and application portfolio management for American Career College, West Coast University, and Administration. This role partners closely with the Director to translate institutional strategy into practical technology delivery, driving measurable outcomes that enhance student, faculty, and staff experiences. The Sr. Manager collaborates with global development teams, academic leaders, Information Technology pillar owners, and operations to ensure solutions are architected well, built to standard, and delivered on time. The role leads end-to-end solution design efforts, brings deep Azure platform expertise, and champions an AI-first mindset in all aspects of development. Conducts periodic reviews of the application portfolio and contributes to building business cases for enhancing technology necessary to anticipate institutional needs, enhance stability, and/or improve price/performance.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information systems, electronics engineering, voice/data communications, public/business administration, or a related field required.
10+ years of progressive experience in application development, including at least 3 years in people management or team lead capacity.
Proven experience collaborating with global or distributed development teams across multiple time zones and geographies.
Strong solution design and architecture experience: ability to produce design artifacts, evaluate architectural patterns, and guide teams from concept through implementation.
Deep Azure expertise: hands-on proficiency with Azure PaaS (App Service, Functions, API Management, Service Bus/Event Grid, Key Vault, Application Insights, Azure SQL/Cosmos DB); experience with AKS/containers, CI/CD (GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps), and Infrastructure as Code (Bicep/Terraform).
AI-first mindset with demonstrated experience delivering AI-enabled applications using Azure OpenAI/OpenAI APIs, Azure AI Search, vector stores, and Responsible AI practices.
Ability to identify AI integration opportunities across the application portfolio and drive adoption of AI tooling in day-to-day development workflows.
Hands-on expertise with React and TypeScript; modern front-end build tooling.
Proficiency in .NET 6-10, ASP.NET Core, RESTful APIs, and integration patterns.
Demonstrates a high level of understanding of enterprise architecture discipline and has working knowledge of current and planned Information Technology systems portfolio.
Exceptional communication skills: able to translate technical concepts into business outcomes for diverse audiences including executives, faculty, and partners.
Ability to manage and work effectively in a highly ethnic and culturally diverse student and associate community.
Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
Strong communication skills, both written and verbal.
Must be able to communicate technical matters into messages that can be broadly understood across the organization.
Strong customer service skills.
Ability to self-direct, self-pace, multi-task and function well under pressure of deadlines and conflicting priorities.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in computer science, information systems, electronics engineering, voice/data communications, public/business administration, or a related field preferred.
Experience with CampusVue, Salesforce CRM, Oracle HCM, and Great Plains desired, but not required.
Previous experience with higher education strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end solution design for complex application initiatives; evaluate and recommend architectural patterns aligned with institutional goals.
Produce design artifacts including architecture diagrams, solution overviews, technical specifications, and API contracts.
Partner with enterprise architects and the Director to ensure alignment with the broader technology roadmap.
Serve as the team's Azure subject matter expert; drive adoption of Azure PaaS services including App Service, Functions, API Management, Service Bus/Event Grid, Key Vault, Application Insights, Azure SQL/Cosmos DB, and AKS/containers.
Champion Infrastructure as Code (Bicep/Terraform) and CI/CD practices (GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps).
Guide teams on cloud cost optimization, scalability patterns, and reliability engineering.
Embed an AI-first mindset across all development practices; identify and prioritize opportunities to integrate AI/ML capabilities into existing and new applications.
Deliver AI-enabled experiences using Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, vector stores, and Azure Machine Learning.
Establish AI application development patterns, prompt engineering practices, model evaluation, telemetry, and Responsible AI guardrails in collaboration with Security, Legal, and Compliance.
Manage and collaborate effectively with geographically distributed development teams across multiple time zones; establish clear communication rhythms, shared standards, and asynchronous workflows that support global team productivity.
Foster inclusive team culture and equitable participation across locations.
Coordinate delivery across onshore, offshore, and nearshore resources.
Provide day-to-day technical direction; PR/code reviews, lead design reviews, and unblock complex engineering problems.
Set and uphold engineering standards: coding practices, testing, performance, security, documentation, and accessibility (WCAG 2.2).
Lead development of React/TypeScript front ends and .NET 8/ASP.NET Core APIs and microservices.
Oversee delivery of web applications and services that meet quality, performance, resiliency, and scalability standards.
Manage sprint execution, release planning, and delivery commitments across teams.
Ensure accessibility, security, and compliance requirements are built into every delivery cycle.
Support API-first integration with SIS/ERP/CRM/HCM and LMS ecosystems (e.g., CampusNexus/CampusVue, Salesforce, Oracle HCM, etc.).
Implement data and event integration patterns; partner with Data/Analytics on cloud data management platforms (eg. Databricks/Synapse/Fabric) where applicable.
Implement and maintain CI/CD pipelines, automated quality gates, and environment management.
Embed security and privacy by design: SAST/DAST/secrets scanning, RBAC/least privilege with Entra ID, FERPA/PCI considerations.
Support observability practices using Application Insights/OpenTelemetry; participate in incident response and problem management.
Hire, develop, and coach engineers and technical leads; foster an inclusive, high-accountability team culture.
Communicate effectively across audiences — stakeholder demos, written status updates, and technical deep dives.
Partner with vendors and managed service providers to define SLAs and govern delivery quality.