Development Manager

Sepire; Illinois; On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Sepire is seeking a Development Manager in Illinois to lead software delivery across internal and offshore teams. You will translate technical priorities into clear execution plans and help improve the company's software delivery practices.

This role requires proven management experience and a strong technical background, including familiarity with Microsoft technology stacks. It is an onsite position aimed at improving accountability and reducing technical debt within the development process.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing software development teams.
• Strong technical background with the ability to understand architecture and system dependencies.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Own day-to-day software delivery execution across internal and offshore developers.
• Translate CTO and business priorities into clear engineering plans.
• Lead, coach, and develop developers and technical contributors.

Skills

Proven experience managing software development teams

Strong technical background

Strong problem-solving skills

Strong communication skills

Ability to manage shifting priorities

Tools

Microsoft technology stacks

.NET

SQL Server

APIs

Azure

Job description

Role Summary

Sepire is looking for a hands‑on, highly accountable Development Manager to lead day‑to‑day software delivery across our internal development team and offshore development partners.

This role is for someone who is technical enough to understand the work, challenge decisions, remove blockers, improve engineering practices, and help the team deliver with better predictability and quality. This is not a passive people manager role. We need someone who can step into complex systems, understand the moving pieces, create structure, and help reduce the amount of direct oversight required from senior technology leadership.

The Development Manager will report to the CTO and will be responsible for turning technical priorities into clear execution plans, improving team accountability, reducing technical debt, and helping mature Sepire’s software delivery practices as the company continues to scale.

This is an onsite role based out of our office.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Delivery Ownership

• Own day‑to‑day software delivery execution across internal and offshore developers.
• Translate CTO and business priorities into clear engineering plans.
• Manage development backlog, sprint planning or work sequencing, and delivery commitments.
• Keep work moving without requiring constant escalation or micromanagement.
• Identify blockers early and drive them to resolution.
• Create visibility into what is being worked on, what is at risk, and what needs leadership attention.

Technical Leadership

• Understand complex business systems, data workflows, integrations, and internal platforms.
• Help reduce technical debt and improve system maintainability.
• Challenge weak designs, unclear requirements, fragile solutions, and one‑off development patterns.
• Improve code review discipline, development standards, documentation, and release readiness.
• Partner with architecture and product leadership to ensure technical work supports long‑term platform goals.
• Help reduce key‑person dependency across critical systems.

Team Leadership and Accountability

• Lead, coach, and develop developers and technical contributors.
• Set clear expectations around quality, communication, ownership, and delivery.
• Create a reliable system of management for technical work.
• Help the team prioritize effectively when business needs shift.
• Build trust with the team while still holding people accountable.
• Identify skill gaps, performance concerns, training needs, and future staffing needs.

Cross‑Functional Delivery Coordination

• Work closely with BA/BSA, QA, PM, product, architecture, and operations teams.
• Ensure requirements are clear enough for development to execute.
• Improve handoffs between BA/BSA, development, QA, and production support.
• Help establish better release gates and readiness standards.
• Communicate delivery risks clearly to technology leadership and business stakeholders.

Process Improvement

• Build repeatable engineering practices that improve predictability and reduce rework.
• Improve documentation habits and system knowledge sharing.
• Help establish practical SDLC discipline without slowing the business down unnecessarily.
• Support future department planning, including team structure, role clarity, offshore/onshore balance, and leadership needs.
• Create a scalable execution model that can support larger clients, more complex projects, and product/platform growth.

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience managing software development teams.
• Strong technical background with the ability to understand architecture, data workflows, integrations, and system dependencies.
• Experience leading both internal developers and offshore development partners.
• Strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity.
• Experience improving engineering delivery, technical debt, documentation, and release discipline.
• Ability to manage shifting priorities without losing control of execution.
• Strong communication skills with both technical and business stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to build accountability without requiring constant executive intervention.
• Comfortable working primarily onsite with leadership and delivery teams.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in a growing mid‑market company where process, structure, and delivery maturity are still evolving.
• Experience with Microsoft technology stacks, including .NET, SQL Server, APIs, Azure, or related platforms.
• Experience with workflow systems, data processing platforms, document generation, print/mail operations, SaaS platforms, or complex operational technology.
• Experience working with BA/BSA, QA, PM, and product teams.
• Experience modernizing legacy systems or improving fragile internal platforms.
• Experience establishing practical engineering management practices in an organization that has grown quickly.

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