Applications Development Manager

APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Direct Hire | Milwaukee, WI OR St. Paul / Minneapolis, MN areas | $145,000 $170,000

Position Overview

Reporting to the Vice President, Insurance Platform Delivery, the Applications Development Manager leads the Applications Development team and oversees the development, support, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the organization's software applications and technology solutions. MUST HAVE EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION SKILLS!

This role combines hands-on technical leadership, software development management, team leadership, application delivery, and ownership of processes and governance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop the Applications Development team while establishing accountability and a high-performance culture.
• Oversee the full software development lifecycle , including solution design, development, testing, deployment, release management, production support, and continuous improvement.
• Establish and enforce software development standards, governance, documentation, source control, testing, quality assurance, and release processes.
• Lead software architecture, design reviews, and code reviews , ensuring solutions meet business, technical, security, and scalability requirements.
• Manage configuration and controlled changes for the life insurance policy administration system , including product setup, business rules, workflows, calculations, forms, version control, testing, and environment promotion.
• Develop and manage CI/CD pipelines and DevOps processes to improve the reliability and efficiency of software delivery.
• Provide technical oversight for application development, database development, database management, data integration, and data migration .
• Partner with business leaders, Product Management, QA, and technology teams to translate business requirements into effective technology solutions and establish delivery priorities.
• Prioritize, assign, track, and manage application development, production support, policy administration conversions, projects, and strategic technology initiatives.
• Establish and monitor delivery and operational metrics related to quality, productivity, capacity, performance, and continuous improvement .
• Manage team resources, budgets, tools, and technology to support efficient and cost-effective delivery.
• Participate in hiring, performance management, professional development, and succession planning for the Applications Development team.
• Lead technology, process, and organizational change initiatives while maintaining strong cross-functional relationships.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 10+ years of progressive software development and technology leadership experience.
• Strong hands-on software and database development experience with the ability to provide technical guidance, conduct design/code reviews, and mentor developers.
• Strong experience with the Microsoft technology stack , including:
  • C#
  • .NET
  • Visual Studio
  • Azure DevOps
  • Microsoft Azure
  • Web technologies
  • SQL Server
• Demonstrated experience establishing and managing software development frameworks, governance, source control, documentation, and CI/CD processes .
• Strong understanding of the complete software development lifecycle from architecture and design through implementation, deployment, support, and optimization.
• Experience managing configuration of a life insurance or annuity policy administration system , including product configuration, business rules, workflows, calculations, forms, testing, and controlled environment promotion.
• Proven ability to lead technical teams, implement new processes and standards, and drive technology or organizational change.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills with the ability to translate business requirements into technology solutions.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to work effectively across business and technology teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in life insurance, annuities, or another highly regulated industry .
• Agile software development experience.