Contract Software Engineer Remote Jobs in Birmingham, AL

The Sr. Manager, Software Delivery & Operations serves as the operational backbone of our software engineering and product organization. Reporting directly to the VP Services and Software Product and working closely with the VP of Cloud Engineering and the Director of App Development, this role ensures that our ~50-person engineering organization plans, builds, and ships software with consistency, visibility, and discipline. In this role, you will lead and oversee a portfolio of 15+ concurrent software projects, with a strong emphasis on operational excellence, data-driven decision-making, and continuous improvement.  

This is a high-trust, high-visibility role for someone who thrives at the intersection of process, people, and delivery - someone who can see across teams, connect the dots, and remove friction before it becomes a problem.

Software Program Management

• Lead cross-functional program planning, tracking, and execution across Cloud Engineering and App Development teams.
• Identify, assess, and proactively mitigate program-level risks and dependencies.
• Coordinates with the Device program manager for firmware releases and integration testing.
• Maintain a clear view of program-level dependencies, milestones, and risks; proactively surface issues to engineering and product leadership.
• Facilitate planning ceremonies (quarterly planning, goal setting, PI planning, sprint reviews) and ensure alignment between teams.
• Serve as the coordination layer between Cloud Engineering and App Development.
• Facilitate and lead Executive Leadership communications and reporting.

Build & Release Management

• Own the end-to-end software release process - from build pipelines to go/no-go decisions to deployment communication.
• Maintain release calendars, coordinate environment readiness, and manage release dependencies across teams.
• Partner with engineering leads to ensure release criteria are defined, understood, and consistently met.
• Drive continuous improvement of release processes; reduce time-to-release and release-related incidents over time.
• Coordinate with Apple and Google as appropriate to resolve app release blockers.

Engineering Resource Planning

• Maintain a current, accurate view of engineering capacity across Cloud and App development - headcount, skills, allocation, and upcoming gaps.
• Assist in preparing annual budgets.
• Track and flag resource constraints that put roadmap commitments at risk.

Delivery Metrics & Reporting

• Define, track, and report on key delivery health metrics: cycle time, release frequency, planning accuracy, and team throughput.
• Build and maintain dashboards and reporting rhythms that give leadership a real-time view of engineering delivery health.
• Use data to identify systemic issues and inform process decisions - not just to report status.

Process Improvement & Ways of Working

• Continuously assess and improve how the engineering organization plans, prioritizes, and executes work.
• Follow, evangelize, and update the Playbook.
• Establish and maintain standards for how teams use Azure DevOps for planning, tracking, and release management.
• Drive adoption of consistent practices across Cloud and App Development teams without over-engineering process.
• Lead or facilitate retrospectives and improvement initiatives with measurable outcomes.

Team Leadership

• Manage, mentor, and develop 1-2 direct reports (e.g., program coordinator, release manager).
• Model and reinforce our Operating Principles

Required

• 5+ years of software program management experience in a software product company operating at scale.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Azure DevOps (or equivalent - boards, pipelines, release management).
• Proficiency with MS Excel.
• Experience supporting engineering organizations of 30+ people across multiple teams.
• Strong cross-functional communication skills - equally effective with engineers, product managers, and senior leadership.
• Track record of improving delivery processes with measurable results.
• Experience managing build and release processes in a CI/CD environment.

Preferred

• Experience working within a scaling/growing engineering organization.
• Familiarity with both cloud/infrastructure and application development team dynamics.
• Background in delivery metrics, engineering analytics, or data-driven planning.
• PMP, SAFe, or equivalent certification - or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• People management experience, even at small team scale.
• Experience with change management methodologies and driving organizational adoption. 
• Ability to coach, mentor, and develop junior program and project managers. 

In the first 90 days, you have:

• A clear map of every active program, its status, owners, and risks across both engineering teams.
• Validated that release processes are documented, understood, and running consistently.
• Used the delivery metrics dashboard and reviewed it with leadership.

In the first year:

• The seam between Cloud Engineering and App Development is well-coordinated with minimal escalations.
• Release frequency and reliability have measurably improved.
• Engineering resource planning is proactive - leadership has visibility 1-2 quarters out.

• The engineering org runs with a consistent, well-understood delivery process - and people feel it.