Application Development Manager

Job description

Fehr & Peers is a transportation planning and engineering firm that helps public and private clients make confident, well-informed decisions about transportation. We bring together data, technology, and community insight to design safer, more effective ways for people and goods to move. We are hiring an Application Development Manager to lead a three-person Application Development team within our 11-person IT group. This is a player-coach role for someone who still enjoys writing code, mentoring developers, solving technical problems, and bringing structure to how software gets built, reviewed, secured, and maintained. The tools your team builds will support employees across the firm and, at times, the project work we deliver for clients. That may include internal applications, enterprise system integrations, custom data tools, dashboards, and analysis platforms used by planners, engineers, data scientists, and project teams. You will also serve as a practical technology advisor across the firm, helping colleagues understand what is possible, make thoughtful choices about tools and AI-assisted development, and translate technical tradeoffs into clear guidance people can act on. This is a hybrid role based in either Roseville or Sacramento offices. You’ll typically come into the office two days per week, with occasional travel to Walnut Creek (usually quarterly). **Why This Role Is Different** This is not a traditional software manager role. You will stay close to the code, and help shape development practices in an environment where technology directly supports planners, engineers, data scientists, and project teams. You will have room to build structure, but you will also need to be practical, collaborative, and comfortable advising people who may not think like developers. ### What You'll Do **Lead A Small, Hands-On Development Team** - Lead, mentor, and grow a three-person team focused on application development, database engineering, enterprise applications, and internal tooling - Set priorities and balance enterprise application support, custom tools, client-related project needs, and time-sensitive requests from across the firm - Coach developers through hands-on technical guidance, not just delegation - Model a leadership style rooted in fairness, openness, humility, problem-solving, and respect for people’s lives inside and outside of work **Build And Support Tools That Help People Work Better** - Design, develop, and maintain internal applications, shared tooling, and system integrations - Support custom data tools, dashboards, data processing pipelines, and analysis platforms used in project work - Support enterprise systems such as SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Esri ArcGIS, Deltek Vantagepoint, and Box - Keep database infrastructure reliable, secure, fast, and well documented - Establish practical support standards for applications used by internal staff and project teams **Advise Across The Firm** - Advise colleagues on when to build, buy, integrate, automate, or use AI-assisted development - Partner with leaders and project teams to understand needs, priorities, risks, and tradeoffs - Explain development priorities, timelines, and technical decisions in plain language - Provide training and guidance that helps staff use technology more effectively **Use AI-Assisted Development Responsibly** - Use tools such as Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, or GitHub Copilot as part of your own development workflow - Model responsible AI-assisted development practices for the team - Coach team members on how to use AI coding tools while continuing to build strong engineering fundamentals - Guide development of custom AI tools, such as Model Context Protocol servers and Retrieval Augmented Generation scripts - Help staff outside the Application Development team use AI coding tools thoughtfully and safely **Strengthen Development Practices and Governance** - Develop and refine software development life cycle processes so multiple developers can work effectively on the same codebase - Design and implement code review processes for tools built with or without AI assistance - Continue rolling out our GitLab tiered governance model, including sandbox, internal, and production tiers - Maintain coding, security, and deployment standards across our development ecosystem - Work with IT Operations and cybersecurity colleagues to keep development, staging, and production environments appropriately segmented and secured ### What You'll Bring **Minimum Qualifications** - 5+ years of experience in software development, DevOps, or a closely related field - 2+ years of experience in leadership, management, or senior technical mentorship - Hands-on development experience, including writing code and building applications - Strong proficiency in Python and JavaScript or TypeScript - Experience with modern development practices, including type hints, virtual environments, and dependency management - Experience with Flask or a comparable web application framework - Familiarity with deployment patterns such as WSGI, Gunicorn, and Nginx reverse proxies - Comfort working in a Linux server environment, including Ubuntu and systemd service management - Experience with Git-based version control and repository governance, ideally GitLab - Experience with relational databases and infrastructure that supports business-critical applications - Practical experience using AI coding assistants or agentic AI tools, such as Claude Code or GitHub Copilot, in a professional development workflow - Demonstrated success mentoring junior or mid-level developers - Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical colleagues **Preferred Qualifications** - Experience supporting enterprise business applications such as ERP systems, GIS platforms, or content and collaboration platforms - Experience with platforms such as Deltek Vantagepoint, Esri ArcGIS, PostGIS, Leaflet, OpenStreetMap, SharePoint, Box, Microsoft 365, or Entra ID - Experience designing code review, quality assurance, or governance processes for software built with AI assistance - Experience building or supporting client-facing tools or data deliverables in a consulting or professional services environment - Experience building internal developer platforms, shared component libraries, or design systems - Familiarity with AI governance concepts, cybersecurity best practices, or professional services environments **What Success Looks Like** In your first year, the Application Development team has clearer priorities, stronger development practices, and more consistent code review and deployment standards. Internal tools are easier to support and maintain. Developers are growing their skills, staff across the firm know when and how to ask for technology guidance, and AI-assisted development is being used in ways that are useful, responsible, and sustainable.