Head of Software Engineering

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior / Lead .NET Full Stack Developer to own the design, development, and compliance of enterprise-grade applications in a Microsoft- and Azure-first environment. This role goes beyond coding – you will take on a hands‑on leadership role responsible not only for delivering high-quality, scalable systems, but also for shaping how we build – integrating modern AI capabilities into our development lifecycle and business solutions. In addition, you will manage and mentor software engineers and technical leads (both full‑time and contracted), help evaluate tools and platforms, enforce architectural standards, and play a key role in timeline estimations.

Ultimately, you will oversee engineering execution and team performance, working across the full stack – ASP.Net. Core 8, Angular/React, Azure SQL, Redis, Azure App Configuration, App Insights, and CI/CD pipelines—to build API‑first platforms that are secure, scalable, and maintainable. This role requires equal strength in technical depth, organizational leadership, and business alignment. You will lead a hybrid (full‑time and contracted) engineering organization ensuring efficient delivery, high standards, and strong accountability across all contributors

Essential Functions

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Design and develop enterprise applications: Build secure, scalable APIs and applications using .NET 8 / C# 12, ASP.NET Core, and Azure SQL with DDD-inspired layered architecture.
• Define coding standards: Define, execute, and enforce the company’s software engineering strategy, development practices, and technology governance.
• Event-driven architecture: Design and operate Azure Service Bus / Storage Queues / Functions solutions with idempotency, DLQs, retries, and backoff strategies.
• AI-driven development & innovation: Work with IT leadership to lead the integration of AI across products, internal tools, and engineering workflows. Establish best practices for AI development, including evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and governance.

Performance & Infrastructure

• Performance optimization: Conduct SQL profiling/tuning, query plan analysis, indexing strategies, and concurrency/isolation planning; optimize Azure capacity and costs.
• Security implementation: Deploy secure authentication/authorization using Okta, API Key + Bearer tokens, and scope-based access controls.
• Configuration management: Manage environment configuration via Azure App Configuration with CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps.

Operations & Reliability

• Production ownership: Lead Severity incident triage, Root Cause Analysis, and post-mortems; define runbooks, SLOs.
• Monitoring and observability: Integrate Azure Application Insights for telemetry and system monitoring.
• Deployment leadership: Manage deployments across Dev → UAT → Prod environments, ensuring compliance with enterprise release practices.

Team Leadership & Process Management

• Own team ceremonies & flow: Facilitate agile ceremonies including standups, backlog refinement, estimation, and sprint planning; drive throughput and reduce work-in-progress.
• Code reviews & mentorship: Establish review standards, conduct pair programming sessions, and mentor developers to elevate team quality and velocity.
• Testing strategy: Enforce comprehensive testing approaches including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing with coverage goals and quality gates in CI pipelines.

Strategic Development

• Modernization planning: Lead migration from legacy frontend technologies to modern frameworks using incremental approaches with feature toggles and risk mitigation strategies.
• Technical translation: Convert business requirements into technical solutions, balancing maintainability, performance, and extensibility.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Participate in design reviews, architectural planning sessions, and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards.
• Executive partnership: Partner with IT and business leadership to provide high level estimates, prioritize initiatives, and translate business strategy into technical execution.

Skills/Qualifications:

• Proven experience leading engineering teams at scale.
• Expert in C#, .NET 8, ASP.NET Core (Web API, Razor Pages).
• Demonstrated experience incorporating AI/ML or LLM-based solutions into products or workflows.
• Proven experience with Azure App Configuration, Application Insights, and Health Check library.
• Deep understanding of Domain-Driven Design (DDD), SOLID principles, and repository patterns.
• Experience with Azure DevOps Pipelines (CI/CD), YAML/classic, and multi-environment release management.
• Familiar with common design patterns: Command, Strategy, Factory, Provider, Feature Toggle.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills, ability to mentor and govern junior developers.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to prioritize work based on ROI and strategic impact.
• Preferred: Microsoft certifications (Azure Solutions Architect, .NET, or DevOps Engineer).
• Strategic Thinking & Execution
• Team Mentorship and Collaboration
• Operations Excellence & Accountability

Experience:

• 10+ years of related experience, with at least 5-8 years in a senior leadership role.
• Experience managing outsourced or contracted development teams (onshore and near/offshore).

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Microsoft certifications preferred (Azure Solutions Architect, .NET, or DevOps Engineer).