Director, Cloud Software Development

A. General Description:

The Director of Cloud Software Development is responsible for leading and managing the software development life cycle, underlying data strategy, and the adoption of cloud architecture, cloud data services, and composable web stack for the organization. The role provides expert technical leadership through the design, development, and maintenance of solutions to support the needs of association staff, members, and volunteers. The Director will drive the implementation of agile delivery techniques to foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and customer-centricity. Key responsibilities include diagnosing and resolving complex technical issues, developing and ensuring compliance with standards for programming, data stewardship, and documentation, and providing leadership and coaching to the Software Development Team (SDT).

B. Responsibilities:

1. Lead the team in adopting and leveraging cloud architecture and cloud data services to enhance scalability, reliability, and performance of software solutions.
2. Drive the implementation of a composable web stack to enable faster development, improved maintainability, and enhanced user experience.
3. Champion agile delivery techniques within the team, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and customer-centricity.
4. Continuously evaluate and adopt emerging technologies and best practices in cloud computing, data management, and web development to keep the team at the forefront of innovation.
5. Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues in production systems.
6. Ensure timely and correct deployment and configuration of new solutions while minimizing impact to ongoing association operations; monitor production systems to ensure availability and performance.
7. Provide coaching to Software Development Team and technical guidance for contracted application and data orchestration development.
8. Collaboratively plan and execute long-term software development and data orchestration strategy, overseeing execution of multiple initiatives with responsibility for ensuring alignment with organizational goals.

C. Contacts:

To accomplish responsibilities listed above, the incumbent has contact with:

1. All levels of National Office staff. 
2. Software and information technology services vendors; and external users of similar technologies. 
3. Contacts are for the purpose of diagnosis and resolution of technical problems, project planning, coordinating software installations, data infrastructure, and evaluating software and services. 

D. Freedom to Act:

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) sets forth scope of activity in assigned areas and assigns special projects with broad objectives and deadlines.  The incumbent reviews project requests and advises the CIO on estimated time and staff requirements, along with exceptional project characteristics that may affect the CIO’s decision regarding priorities, assignments of personnel, changes in planned resource allocation, or formation of special purpose teams.

The incumbent is the primary decision maker in selecting the appropriate technical architecture to be used for specific projects. This individual advises the ISD on issues that have potential policy and standards impact and ensures the correct implementation of technical standards by the team.  Completed work is reviewed for its effectiveness in meeting user requirements, accuracy of estimated timeframes and projected problem areas and resolution, and achievement of productive and harmonious relationships in coordinating the projects with technical staff, users and management.

E. Qualifications – Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills:

Knowledge and skills typically acquired through:

• Ten or more years of related experience in software development system deployment, system performance tuning, business process analysis, technical leadership of development teams
• Five or more years of related experience in developing, implementing, and maintaining customer-facing browser-based applications using the latest technologies.
• Five or more years of related experience in database design engineering, standards, and methodology. 
• Obtaining a bachelor’s degree in computer science or information systems management.

Scope and depth of technical skills/knowledge:

• Proven experience in leading teams of five or more in the adoption and implementation of cloud architecture and cloud data services, such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform.
• Demonstrated understanding of composable web stack principles and hands-on experience with modern web frameworks and technologies.
• Demonstrated knowledge of agile delivery methodologies, such as Scrum or Kanban, and a track record of successfully implementing agile practices within software development teams.
• Familiarity with DevOps principles and experience in establishing CI/CD pipelines to streamline software delivery processes.
• Proficiency with programming languages and development environments including .NET, C#, VSCode/Visual Studio, Azure DevOps, JS Frameworks, Git/GitHub, and Composable Web Models/Infrastructure
• Demonstrated ability to design, develop, and deploy external customer facing, Web and API applications
• Complex data replication, data transfer, and database integration design and configuration experience
• Familiarity with Windows Server network configuration as it applies to software development and deployment
• Familiarity with database and application modeling and documentation
• Complex database security design and administration experience

Scope and depth of nontechnical skills/knowledge:

• Demonstrated ability to coach technical staff in a dynamic environment.
• Strong teamwork skills.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Analytical problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to write technical documentation for use by internal and external technical staff.
• Experience successfully managing multiple, concurrent projects.
• Project planning and management experience
• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new software applications.

F. National Office EEO Policy:

It is the policy of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to provide equal opportunity to all employees without regard for race, sex, national origin, religion, marital status, disability, veteran's status, age, sexual orientation or LGBT status, genetic information, citizenship, or any other factor protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws and ASHA's Bylaws. This policy applies to recruiting, hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation and benefits, upward mobility, training and development, access to facilities, termination, and other personnel actions. Under the direction of the Chief Executive Officer, with a firm commitment from coaches at all levels within the organizational structure of the National Office, affirmative action will be taken to ensure the full utilization of members of racial/ethnic minority groups, women, persons with disabilities, and Vietnam and disabled veterans within our workforce.

G. Disclaimer:

“This description is intended to provide an overview of the responsibilities and duties of the position. It is not all inclusive. The incumbent in the position will be expected to perform other duties as required. The responsibilities may change over time. This description is provided for informational purposes only and does not form the basis of a contract.”