Manager Of Learning Development Jobs in Tennessee

Job Summary:
Thompson Machinery has been a leading Caterpillar dealer since 1944, and they are seeking a Manager of Application Development to lead their application development function. This role involves managing a team of developers to deliver business solutions using the Microsoft Power Platform while collaborating with various stakeholders to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness.
Responsibilities:
• Own end-to-end delivery of application enhancements and new solutions, from intake through release and stabilization.
• Establish clear ownership of scope, priorities, timelines, and outcomes; communicate tradeoffs and constraints proactively.
• Ensure solutions meet functional needs, quality standards, and usability expectations through appropriate testing, validation, and user acceptance.
• Lead development and support of Power Platform solutions, with primary emphasis on Power Apps and Dataverse-based application patterns.
• Define and enforce development standards (environment strategy, security roles, data modeling, naming conventions, solution packaging, and documentation).
• Promote reusable components and consistent patterns to improve delivery speed, maintainability, and user experience.
• Provide technical guidance on Power Platform architecture, including data architecture (Dataverse and/or connected data sources) and integration patterns with external systems via APIs and connectors.
• Lead, coach, and develop application developers; provide role clarity, workload balancing, and growth plans.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure adequate skill coverage and cross-training to reduce single points of failure and support business continuity.
• Consult with business stakeholders to understand current-state workflows, identify process gaps, and define measurable outcomes.
• Translate business needs into clear, actionable requirements and user stories; ensure alignment on scope, acceptance criteria, and change impacts.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (operations, finance, parts, service, rental, and other departments) to ensure solutions fit real-world processes and drive adoption.
• Work closely with the Continuous Improvement team to translate improvement opportunities and future-state processes into software solutions.
• Support pilot-to-scale delivery by rapidly iterating solutions, validating outcomes, and standardizing successful implementations.
• Ensure applications align with Thompson’s security requirements, data access controls, and change management practices.
• Maintain appropriate documentation (solution designs, configuration records, runbooks, and support procedures) to enable supportability and continuity.
• Coordinate with infrastructure, data, security, and support teams to resolve production issues and deliver enhancements with minimal business disruption.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (preferred); equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered.
• 5+ years of progressive experience delivering business applications and leading or mentoring technical teams.
• Demonstrated experience building and supporting solutions using Microsoft Power Platform, with strong working knowledge of Power Apps and related services (e.g., Power Automate and Dataverse).
• Proven ability to consult with business stakeholders, identify process gaps, and translate needs into clear requirements and usable software solutions.
• Strong leadership, collaboration, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across diverse teams and audiences (technical and non-technical).
• Experience establishing delivery practices and standards (intake, prioritization, development practices, testing, documentation, release/change coordination, and production support).
• Working knowledge of application security concepts (role-based access, least privilege, data protection) and the ability to partner with IT security to align solutions to company standards.
Preferred:
• experience with Agile delivery practices
• database concepts (data modeling and relational fundamentals)
• integration patterns connecting business applications to enterprise and external systems via APIs
Company:
Thompson Machinery is the exclusive Caterpillar dealer for Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee, and North Mississippi. Founded in 1944, the company is headquartered in La Vergne, USA, with a team of 1001-5000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.