Sr Manager - IT Appl Dev

United Airlines•Chicago, IL

12d

About The Position

The Sr. Manager, Application Development & Support – Corporate Systems & Digital Platforms is responsible for delivering and supporting enterprise applications that power corporate functions, including content management platforms for employee intranet, policies and procedures as well as system that support back-office applications including Legal, Government Affairs, and Corporate Real Estate. This role has a dual responsibility: ensuring operational excellence across application development and support, while leading Developer AI Enablement. The Sr. Manager will drive AI-enabled transformation by proactively embedding AI capabilities, tools and practices into workflows to significantly improve developer productivity, code quality, and delivery speed. This leader will partner closely with AI CoE, infrastructure, security, and Responsible AI (RAI) teams to accelerate innovation while ensuring compliance and governance. Partner with business leaders to understand business needs, priorities, and long-term strategy. Translate these into scalable and sustainable technology strategies supporting digital platforms and innovation Lead the adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the team and drive the integration of tools such as GitHub and other AI coding assistants into daily workflow to improve code generation, testing, debugging, documentation and support operations. Establish best practices and guardrails. · Build, lead, and mentor high-performing teams across application development and support functions. · Lead training and upskilling initiatives to ensure teams effectively leverage AI capabilities in their day-to-day work. Ensure teams operate in Agile frameworks (scrum/sprint cycles). · Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous learning, particularly in AI, automation, and modern development practices. · Proactively collaborate with Infrastructure, Security, and Responsible AI (RAI) teams to accelerate project delivery, ensure responsible and compliant AI usage, align on architecture, scalability, and platform standards, act as a connector to remove bottlenecks and improve delivery speed. · Build relationships with senior leadership. Engage and evangelize recommendations to senior leadership teams · Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Actively staying informed about industry trends, user feedback, and technological advancements to drive continuous improvement and innovation within the CMS architecture. · Drive adherence to enterprise security, data privacy, and infrastructure compliance requirements. Ensure applications meet regulatory and internal audit standards while proactively identifying and mitigating risks.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree
Engineering Management, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or related field preferred
7+ years of relevant experience in web development, content management systems, and architecture
Experience in common architecture frameworks such as Microservices, API management
Experience in designing or building applications using AWS (or Azure or GCP) cloud architecture & services and support of highly available and resilient multi-region platforms
Leadership experience managing application development and/or support teams
Experience supporting enterprise SaaS applications and/or digital platforms
Experience working in Agile/DevOps environments
Strong understanding of AI-assisted software development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, others)
Strong understanding of enterprise application architecture, integrations, SaaS ecosystems and ability to design scalable and reliable CMS architectures
Ability to identify opportunities to automate and optimize development and support workflows using AI
Experience driving tool adoption and behavioral change within engineering teams
Ability to measure and track productivity improvements and value realization from AI enablement
Leadership experience and the ability to guide and inspire a team. Project management skills may also be beneficial.
Ability to lead Agile/DevOps teams and improve delivery velocity
Strong business-to-technology translation skills
Data-driven decision-making using KPIs and operational metrics
Strong understanding of security, compliance, and risk management practices
A mindset for continuous learning and staying updated on industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree and/or Certifications in relevant technologies or CMS platforms (e.g., certifications from vendors like Adobe, Sitecore, or Drupal)
AWS certification
Experience evaluating or implementing AI/automation solutions within enterprise systems
Exposure to AI use cases in digital development, agentic development, operational AI
Experience with CMS platforms such as Sitecore
Experience supporting employee portals, intranet platforms, or digital experience ecosystems
Experience with AI/automation tools applied to development or support workflows
Experience working in regulated or highly governed environments
Experience implementing AI-driven developer platforms or internal tooling
Familiarity with prompt engineering and AI-assisted coding best practices
Experience integrating AI capabilities into CI/CD or DevOps pipelines
Practical experience in developing and architecting headless content management systems is highly valued.
Prior roles in web development, software engineering, or system architecture contribute to a solid understanding of CMS requirement
Familiarity with information architecture principles and user experience (UX) design is beneficial for creating CMS solutions that are user-friendly and efficient

Responsibilities

Partner with business leaders to understand business needs, priorities, and long-term strategy.
Translate these into scalable and sustainable technology strategies supporting digital platforms and innovation
Lead the adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the team and drive the integration of tools such as GitHub and other AI coding assistants into daily workflow to improve code generation, testing, debugging, documentation and support operations.
Establish best practices and guardrails.
Build, lead, and mentor high-performing teams across application development and support functions.
Lead training and upskilling initiatives to ensure teams effectively leverage AI capabilities in their day-to-day work.
Ensure teams operate in Agile frameworks (scrum/sprint cycles).
Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous learning, particularly in AI, automation, and modern development practices.
Proactively collaborate with Infrastructure, Security, and Responsible AI (RAI) teams to accelerate project delivery, ensure responsible and compliant AI usage, align on architecture, scalability, and platform standards, act as a connector to remove bottlenecks and improve delivery speed.
Build relationships with senior leadership.
Engage and evangelize recommendations to senior leadership teams
Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Actively staying informed about industry trends, user feedback, and technological advancements to drive continuous improvement and innovation within the CMS architecture.
Drive adherence to enterprise security, data privacy, and infrastructure compliance requirements.
Ensure applications meet regulatory and internal audit standards while proactively identifying and mitigating risks.