Lead Software Developer

American Quarter Horse Association; Amarillo (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent non-profit organization is seeking a Lead Software Developer to design and implement scalable software solutions. This role requires strong leadership to mentor the engineering team and align technology initiatives with business goals. Ideal candidates will have extensive software engineering experience, proficiency in multiple programming languages, and a solid grasp of cloud platforms. This is a full-time position based in Amarillo, Texas.

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 2–3+ years in a lead or senior role.
• Proven ownership of system design for complex applications.
• Strong proficiency in core stacks and modern front-end frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD and containerization.
• Ability to mentor and conduct code/design reviews.

Responsibilities

• Lead software design and architecture decisions.
• Translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Review code and ensure quality adherence.
• Mentor engineering staff for continuous improvement.
• Stay current with emerging technologies.

Skills

System design/architecture

Software engineering

REST/GraphQL APIs

Database management

Cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP)

Containerization (Docker)

Orchestration (Kubernetes)

Agile frameworks

Education

Bachelor's Degree in CIS

Tools

.NET/C#

Java

Node.js

Python

Angular

React

Vue

Terraform

Bicep

Job description

Join to apply for the Lead Software Developer role at American Quarter Horse Association

Lead the design, development, and implementation of functional, scalable software solutions. Collaborate with management, application architects, and cross-functional teams to align technology initiatives with business objectives. Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to engineering team members to ensure delivery of high-quality solutions that improve organizational operations.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership by guiding software design, architecture, and development decisions, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and industry best practices.
• Drive solution development by analyzing business needs, conferring with stakeholders, and translating requirements into scalable and maintainable technical solutions.
• Oversee system feasibility and solution design by evaluating analysis, problem definition, requirements, and proposed approaches to ensure operational effectiveness.
• Ensure quality and consistency by reviewing code, documentation, flowcharts, diagrams, and technical specifications produced by the team.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards for system specifications, design patterns, and development practices to ensure consistency across projects.
• Enhance operations by conducting high-level systems analysis, identifying improvement opportunities, and recommending changes to policies, procedures, or technologies.
• Mentor and support engineering staff, fostering a culture of continuous learning, innovation, and collaboration.
• Stay current with emerging technologies by studying state-of-the-art tools, frameworks, and techniques, and incorporating relevant innovations into team practices.
• Promote information security best practices to protect systems, data, and business operations.
• Communicate technical direction and progress by collecting, analyzing, and presenting development updates and service-related issues to stakeholders and leadership.
• Advance organizational objectives by ensuring software engineering initiatives contribute to the success of company strategy and goals.
• Perform all other duties as assigned

Education Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in CIS or 10 years’ development experience will be considered in lieu of degree

Key Qualifications & Skills (Lead Software Engineer)

Minimum Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2–3+ years in a lead or senior role.
• Proven ownership of system design/architecture for complex, scalable, and secure applications.
• Strong proficiency in one or more core stacks (e.g., .NET/C#, Java, Node.js, Python) and modern front-end frameworks (e.g., Angular/React/Vue) as applicable.
• Expertise with REST/GraphQL APIs, databases (SQL + NoSQL), and cloud platforms (Azure/AWS/GCP).
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD, IaC (e.g., Terraform, Bicep), containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Solid grasp of software design patterns, domain-driven design, and testing (unit/integration/e2e).
• Demonstrated ability to mentor, conduct code/design reviews, and raise engineering quality bars.
• Strong communicator able to translate technical concepts into clear business impact.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives (Product, UX, Security, Data) and driving roadmaps.
• Background with event-driven and distributed systems; performance tuning and observability (logs, metrics, tracing).
• Knowledge of security best practices (OWASP, threat modeling, secrets management) and compliance needs.
• Familiarity with agile frameworks (Scrum/Kanban), backlog grooming, and release planning.
• Experience with data platforms (ETL/ELT, warehousing, analytics) or ML/AI integration is a plus.
• Leads by example with hands-on contribution while delegating effectively.
• Coaches engineers with clear growth plans, pairing, and constructive feedback.
• Drives technical alignment: facilitates architecture reviews, ADRs, and design decisions.
• Champions engineering standards, reliability, and operational excellence (SLIs/SLOs, incident response).

Soft Skills

• Ownership mindset, bias for action, and pragmatic decision-making.
• Excellent stakeholder management and negotiation skills.
• Clear written/verbal communication; creates crisp documentation and status updates

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

• Non-profit Organizations