Software Development Senior Manager

Sidley Austin•Chicago, IL

13d•$141,400 - $230,400•Hybrid

About The Position

The Software Development Senior Manager is a senior technical leader responsible for architecting, building, and operating the firm's cloud-native automation platform. The position requires deep expertise in Azure cloud architecture, distributed systems, and software engineering. It is primarily a technical leadership role, with people management as a secondary focus, and is suited to someone with a strong background in cloud engineering, platform engineering, or full-stack development with DevOps expertise. The role leads the platform's distributed architecture and .NET backend development, oversees Azure DevOps pipelines and deployment workflows, and improves performance, cost, and operational complexity. It also manages and mentors software engineers, with a focus on developing cloud engineering skills.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience with demonstrable cloud architecture expertise.
At least 10 years of experience in software engineering, application development, information technology, or a related technical field.
At least 6 years of hands-on software engineering experience, including developing cloud-based applications and solutions.
At least 3 years of direct people management experience, including leading and developing software engineering teams.
Strong technical foundation and ability to provide technical guidance, mentor engineers, and delegate effectively while empowering team members to own execution.
Experience leading and delivering greenfield or net-new enterprise-grade applications and solutions, or comparable large-scale software development initiatives.
Experience with modern application development technologies and cloud platforms, including .NET, React, Microsoft Azure, or comparable technologies.
Proven ability to mentor software engineers on cloud-native development patterns, distributed systems concepts, and cloud architecture.
Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts, strategies, and recommendations to senior leadership and key stakeholders.
Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, judgment, interpersonal communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and ability to work harmoniously with others.
Ability to preserve confidentiality and exercise discretion, work under pressure, and manage multiple projects with competing deadlines and priorities.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

At least 6 years of hands-on software engineering experience building cloud-native applications on Azure.
At least 3 years of experience with Azure Container Apps, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), or equivalent container orchestration platforms.
At least 2 years of people management experience leading software engineering teams.
A proven track record delivering production distributed systems using microservices architecture and event-driven patterns.
Hands-on experience with Azure Service Bus and Azure database services, including Azure SQL Database with Elastic Pools, Azure PostgreSQL Flexible Server, managed identity authentication, connection pooling, and private endpoint configuration.
Deep understanding of microservices communication patterns, including synchronous HTTP, asynchronous messaging, event-driven architecture, and service discovery.
Proficiency in C# and .NET (minimum .NET 6, preferably .NET 8 or later), including .NET Core Web API with Controllers, async/await and Task-based asynchronous programming, LINQ and lambda expressions, dependency injection and Options pattern, and Entity Framework Core.
Proficiency in TypeScript/JavaScript, including Node.js development, asynchronous patterns, npm/pnpm package management, CommonJS and ES modules, and Bash or PowerShell scripting for deployment automation and troubleshooting.
Experience with container image build and deployment workflows, including Dockerfile optimization, multi-stage builds, and Azure Container Registry integration.
Strong code review skills, including constructive feedback on backend APIs, infrastructure code, and integration logic, and a systematic approach to troubleshooting complex distributed systems issues.
Strong analytical skills for capacity planning, performance optimization, and cost analysis.
Expert-level experience with Azure DevOps YAML pipelines, including multi-stage pipelines, pipeline templates, variable groups, and environment-based deployments.
Azure certifications: AZ-400 (Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions), AZ-305 (Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions), AZ-204 (Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure), or AZ-104 (Microsoft Azure Administrator).
Experience with .NET Aspire for cloud-native application orchestration and service discovery.
Experience with CQRS and Mediator patterns, such as MediatR or equivalent.
Experience with Event Grid and Event Hubs for event-driven architectures.
Agile/Scrum certifications, such as Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or SAFe Agilist.
Experience in professional services, including legal, financial services, accounting, or consulting.
Understanding of enterprise security and compliance requirements, including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR.
Familiarity with legal technology or document management systems.
Deep Azure networking expertise, including VNETs, subnets, Network Security Groups, private endpoints, Private DNS Zones, VNET peering, Application Gateway, and NAT Gateway.
Ability to diagnose Azure networking problems, including DNS resolution failures, private endpoint connectivity issues, and Application Gateway routing problems.
Expert-level Bicep or Terraform proficiency, including reading, writing, and debugging complex Infrastructure-as-Code modules of 500 or more lines.

Responsibilities

Design and evolve the distributed system architecture for the cloud-native automation platform, including Azure Container Apps, Service Bus, PostgreSQL, Redis, and Blob Storage.
Design event-driven architectures using Azure Service Bus for high-volume asynchronous processing.
Optimize platform performance, cost, and operational complexity through architectural improvements.
Lead .NET backend development, including ASP.NET Core APIs, CQRS with MediatR, Entity Framework Core, and FluentValidation.
Conduct code reviews to ensure adherence to SOLID principles, asynchronous programming best practices, and distributed systems patterns.
Own and evolve multi-stage Azure DevOps YAML pipelines, including multi-phase infrastructure deployment, container image builds, and environment-specific deployments.
Manage and mentor software engineers, focusing on cloud engineering skill development.