Manager Of Application Development Jobs in Philadelphia, PA

Job Summary

The Manager of Application Design and Development provides day-to-day leadership for the Defender Association of Philadelphia's application and database services. This newly established position supervises the application development team and is responsible for coordinating application design, database development, systems integration, documentation, testing, maintenance, release planning, and service continuity.

The Manager works closely with the Chief Information Officer and AI Architect to modernize and integrate the Defender's application and data environment. This includes DCM, Microsoft Access applications and related data, Microsoft SQL Server, TAPDA, reporting systems, and other approved applications and interfaces.

The Manager will also help connect applications within the position's area of responsibility to approved artificial intelligence initiatives, including TAPDA's evolution into a broader discovery processing and review platform with agentic assistance. The position supports attorneys, investigators, social workers, mitigators, interns, administrative personnel, and other Defender staff by ensuring that applications and data systems are reliable, accurate, secure, well documented, and responsive to operational needs.

Job Duties

Application Development Leadership

- Manage the daily work of the application design and development team.

- Assign and prioritize application development, database, reporting, integration, maintenance, and support work.

- Establish project schedules, milestones, responsibilities, and expected deliverables.

- Monitor active projects and provide regular status updates, risk assessments, and recommendations to the CIO.

- Review proposed application changes for accuracy, maintainability, security, operational impact, and compatibility with existing systems.

- Coordinate testing, user acceptance, implementation, post-release support, defect correction, and ongoing maintenance.

- Identify technical debt, legacy dependencies, unresolved defects, and single points of failure.

Staff Supervision and Development

- Directly supervise the Applications Specialist and Database Administrator, Database Applications Developer and Administrator, and Software Application Specialist.

- Provide daily work direction, coaching, technical guidance, and clear performance expectations.

- Review work for accuracy, completeness, documentation, quality, and compliance with departmental standards.

- Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, cross-training, and backup coverage within the application team.

- Identify professional development and training needs for assigned staff.

- Provide documented performance feedback to the CIO and participate in formal employee performance reviews.

- Support continuity during staff absences, organizational transitions, and changes in application responsibilities.

Application and Data Area of Responsibility

- Maintain an accurate inventory of internal applications, databases, reports, interfaces, owners, users, dependencies, and support requirements.

- Establish standards for application design, database development, testing, documentation, versioning, release management, and support.

- Evaluate applications for continued use, modernization, consolidation, replacement, or retirement.

- Reduce reliance on undocumented systems, manual workarounds, and individual staff knowledge.

- Develop and maintain an application and data roadmap in coordination with the CIO.

- Help ensure that organizational data is accurate, consistent, appropriately secured, and available to authorized users.

DCM, Microsoft Access, and SQL Consolidation

- Work with the CIO to evaluate and improve the design, use, and long-term direction of DCM.

- Identify duplicative applications, reports, databases, data-entry functions, and integration gaps.

- Develop a coordinated architecture connecting DCM, Microsoft Access applications and data, Microsoft SQL Server, TAPDA, and other approved systems.

- Plan the redesign, consolidation, migration, replacement, or retirement of legacy Microsoft Access applications when appropriate.

- Preserve required business functions and historical data during modernization work.

- Coordinate data validation, reconciliation, testing, rollback planning, documentation, and user acceptance for significant changes.

- Consult affected departments before changing established applications, data structures, reports, or workflows.

TAPDA and Artificial Intelligence Integration

- Work directly with the CIO and AI Architect on approved artificial intelligence and application-integration initiatives.

- Support TAPDA's evolution from a transcription application into a broader discovery processing and review platform with agentic assistance in the interface.

- Identify applications and data within the Manager's area of responsibility that may appropriately integrate with TAPDA or other approved AI-assisted workflows.

- Help establish structured, documented, and secure methods for data exchange among DCM, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, TAPDA, and other organizational applications.

- Participate in the design of application interfaces and data services used by TAPDA and its agentic assistance capabilities.

- Ensure that data supplied to AI-assisted services comes from approved, validated, and authorized sources.

- Support workflows that allow authorized users to search, organize, summarize, compare, and review information while retaining human review and control.

- Ensure that AI-assisted functions do not silently alter authoritative data or bypass established access, approval, or security requirements.

- Support testing, documentation, user acceptance, and controlled implementation of approved AI-enabled features.

Systems Integration and Coordination

- Coordinate application strategy and priorities with the CIO.

- Coordinate with the Senior Systems Administrator and AI Systems Architect regarding infrastructure, security, identity, deployment, backup, storage, and production requirements.

- Coordinate with the Assistant Director of IT - Operations on support readiness, user communication, account requirements, training, and implementation.

- Coordinate with the Assistant Director of IT - Litigation Technology on attorney workflows, discovery review, litigation support, Electronic Records Management, and TAPDA requirements.

- Work with departmental stakeholders to translate operational needs into clear and supportable technical requirements.

- Identify and escalate material security, data-integrity, performance, resource, and architectural concerns before implementation.

Data Quality, Security, Documentation, and Continuity

- Promote accurate, consistent, and reliable use of organizational data.

- Maintain appropriate separation among development, testing, and production environments.

- Ensure application access is based on approved organizational roles and responsibilities.

- Document database structures, data flows, application dependencies, interfaces, service accounts, scheduled processes, source-code locations, and recovery procedures.

- Ensure critical applications can be understood and supported by qualified technical personnel other than the original developer.

- Support backup, audit, continuity, recovery, and disaster-planning requirements for assigned applications.

- Ensure sensitive and confidential information is handled in accordance with Defender policy.

Requirements

Education and Experience

- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, software development, database administration, or a related field preferred. Equivalent combinations of education, technical training, and substantial relevant experience may be considered.

- Demonstrated experience designing, developing, administering, maintaining, or supporting business applications and databases.

- Demonstrated supervisory experience or substantial experience leading technical staff and application projects.

- Experience with Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server.

- Experience with systems integration, data consolidation, application modernization, or legacy-system support.

- Experience gathering requirements and translating operational needs into technical solutions.

- Experience in a legal, nonprofit, government, or similarly complex service environment preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

- Strong knowledge of application design, database development, relational data concepts, testing, documentation, and change management.

- Ability to manage technical employees, establish priorities, evaluate work quality, and maintain accountability.

- Ability to plan and coordinate application integration, data migration, validation, and modernization projects.

- Working knowledge of role-based access, confidentiality, data protection, backup, recovery, and secure application practices.

- Ability to understand AI-assisted workflow concepts and work with the CIO to integrate approved capabilities responsibly.

- Strong analytical, organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.

- Ability to explain technical matters clearly to nontechnical staff and translate business needs into technical requirements.

- Sound judgment when balancing immediate operational needs with long-term system reliability and maintainability.

- Strong commitment to customer service, collaboration, accuracy, documentation, and the mission of public defense.

Physical Requirements

- Prolonged periods sitting or standing while working at a computer.

- Ability to move standard computer equipment weighing up to 25 pounds.

- Regular and reliable attendance, including in-person leadership as operationally required.

- Occasional work outside regular business hours may be required for releases, maintenance, system recovery, or urgent production issues.

Application Process

Interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter through the application process established by the Defender Association's People & Culture Department. Application deadlines and any additional submission requirements will be identified in the posting announcement.