Application Development Operations Manager

Edgewater Federal Solutions is seeking a Application Development Operations Manager to support a major national laboratory.

The Application Development Operations Manager is a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing a large, distributed team of application development professionals (70+ staff), many of whom are embedded within customer organizations. This role emphasizes organizational leadership, workforce strategy, and operational excellence rather than day-to-day technical delivery. The OM ensures effective staffing, strong employee performance, and alignment with evolving technology and client needs. The position requires a strong technical foundation in modern development practices, DevOps, automation, and software delivery frameworks to support hiring, workforce planning, and operational oversight, while also maintaining close engagement with customer stakeholders and ensuring compliance with all required policies.

Responsibilities Organizational Leadership & Operations

• Lead and supervise a large, distributed operational workforce to achieve performance targets and deliver high-quality services
• Serve as the primary escalation point for personnel, operational issues, and customer concerns, ensuring timely and effective resolution
• Participate in regular operational meetings with the Customer Representative to review progress, performance, and strategic initiatives
• Attend customer meetings to provide updates, insights, and recommendations on operations and workforce performance
• Foster a high-performance, accountable culture across embedded teams

Workforce Management & Leadership

• Oversee the full employee lifecycle including hiring, onboarding, performance management, career development, and retention
• Partner with HR on employee relations, organizational design, and compensation strategies
• Conduct performance evaluations, coaching, and development planning for staff at all levels
• Identify skills gaps and implement workforce development and upskilling strategies

Recruiting & Talent Acquisition

• Gather requirements from stakeholders for highly complex technical roles
• Develop and refine job descriptions aligned with evolving technical and mission needs
• Lead and participate in candidate evaluation, including technical vetting and cultural fit assessment

Technical & Functional Oversight

• Maintain a strong foundational understanding of software development, DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, automation, and modern architectures
• Provide informed input on technical workforce needs, role definitions, and organizational capabilities
• Ensure alignment with software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices, Agile/Scrum methodologies, and modern delivery frameworks
• Support teams utilizing tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, and similar platforms

Operational Excellence & Process Improvement

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance service delivery and employee experience
• Develop, implement, and continuously refine operational processes to maximize efficiency and minimize cost
• Monitor and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify trends, risks, and improvement opportunities
• Establish metrics and reporting frameworks to track organizational health and performance

Compliance, Risk, and Governance

• Ensure compliance with customer site security, safety, and operational policies and procedures
• Support secure and compliant operations in environments requiring DOE clearance standards
• Identify and mitigate risks related to workforce, operations, and delivery

Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, business leaders, and customer organizations
• Act as a bridge between embedded staff and centralized leadership to ensure alignment and communication
• Provide workforce insights, operational updates, and strategic recommendations to leadership
• Strengthen long-term partnerships across mission and business areas

Success Measures

• Strong team performance, engagement, and retention across a distributed workforce
• Effective staffing and hiring for complex technical roles
• Positive customer and senior leadership feedback
• Measurable improvements in operational efficiency, KPI performance, and service quality
• Consistent compliance with security, safety, and operational requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field (or equivalent experience)
• Minimum 4+ years of directly related experience demonstrating the ability to perform operational leadership responsibilities (typically higher in practice for this scope)
• Ability to obtain a DOE Q Clearance (candidate may start uncleared)
• Must reside in the Albuquerque area due to on-site work requirements
• Must be US Citizen

Required Skills:

• Proven experience in operations management or a similar leadership role managing technical teams

• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills

• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities, with the ability to engage at all levels

• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing priorities in dynamic environments

• Foundational technical knowledge in:

• Software development and programming concepts

• Software architecture and SDLC

• DevOps, CI/CD, and automation practices

Desired Skills:

• Proficiency or familiarity with programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, or JavaScript
• Experience with Agile/Scrum frameworks and sprint planning tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps)
• Experience managing large, distributed, or embedded technical teams
• Familiarity with enterprise or mission-critical systems and environments
• Demonstrated success in workforce planning, organizational design, and scaling technical teams

About Us: Edgewater Federal Solutions is a privately held government contracting firm located in Frederick, MD. The company was founded in 2002 with the vision of being highly recognized and admired for supporting customer missions through employee empowerment, exceptional services and timely delivery. Edgewater Federal Solutions is ISO 9001, 20000-1, 270001 certified, appraised at CMMI Level 3 Maturity for Development and Services, and has been named in the Top Workplaces in the Greater Washington Area Small Companies for 2018 through 2025.

It has been and continues to be the policy of Edgewater Federal Solutions to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, and/or other statuses protected by applicable law.