Lead Software Developer
Our developers have been contributing code to major organizations and open source projects for over 25 years now. They’ve also been writing books, speaking at conferences, and helping push software development forward -- changing companies and even industries along the way.
As consultants, we work on-site with our clients to ensure we’re delivering the best possible solution. Our Lead Dev plays an important role in leading these projects to success.
Curious what makes a developer a Lead around these parts? A lead is:
- Often the day-to-day primary point of contact with our clients
- Able to strategically lead a project team to successful delivery
- Excited to mentor, influence and lead a team of ThoughtWorkers and clients
- An expert in at least one language or domain, and maybe in 2 or more
We believe that to flourish in this role, you're good at:
Technical Skills
- Architecture. You should be comfortable working with your team to craft a design: choosing the appropriate technology and designing a solution that both answers the problem at hand, and stays within constraints.
- Coding. Our Leads never go post-technical. We think that it’s important for technical leadership to continue to code. Our clients don’t all work in one language or platform, and neither do we. As a lead, we’re looking for a breadth of experience in a lot of languages, and expertise in one or two: Java, javascript, and Ruby are high on our list. (Other notables: Python, Scala, .NET, Clojure.) You should also be up to speed on practices like TDD, continuous integration, pairing, and infrastructure automation.
- Understanding and often playing a major part in the entire cycle of software consulting and delivery, from ideation, to project conception, to UX, to code, to testing, to deployment, and around again.
- Agile. We believe strongly in agile delivery practices, having implemented them for ourselves and our clients for a long time now. You should be very comfortable working with Agile, Lean and Continuous Delivery practices -- and love it as much as we do.
Soft Skills
- Mentoring a team and bringing them up to speed on new languages and skills. We all learn from each other, but with the breadth of technical experience you’ll bring to the table, you’ll be an invaluable teacher to your less-experienced peers.
- Thinking big and acting fast. You’ll need a startup mentality with enterprise awareness. That means you can manage competing priorities, that you’re ready to pivot or adjust plans quickly, and that you understand the role you and your team play in major organizations’ tech strategies.
- Influencing priorities, for both the team and the client. You understand both the business problem and the technical solution, and you’re able to advocate for excellence and effect change when necessary.
- Finesse. As consultants, we navigate within our client’s organizations to influence big decision makers and win trust. In this job, you’ll be using your people skills as much as your coding skills.
And here’s some of the perks of being part of a unique organization like ThoughtWorks.
A few important things to know:
- Travel is required. Projects are almost exclusively on customer site, so ThoughtWorkers need to be flexible and up for extensive travel. Most of our consultants travel every week and fly home for weekends. We do our best to take people’s personal situations into account, but we know it’s not for everyone.
- Residing near one of our North America offices in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Atlanta or San Francisco is preferable although not necessary.
Not quite ready to apply? Or maybe this isn’t the right role for you?
That’s OK, you can stay in touch with AccessThoughtWorks, our learning community (tick 'contact me about recruitment opportunities' to hear about jobs in the future).
Ref:*CI
It is the policy of ThoughtWorks, Inc. to provide a work environment free of discrimination. The Company will take affirmative action to ensure applicants and ThoughtWorks employees are treated without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ethnic origin, veteran status, family status, disability, sexual orientation, gender expression or gender identity. This also includes individuals who are perceived to have any of the aforementioned attributes. ThoughtWorks will adhere to all federal, state, and municipal laws and regulations governing employment.
#LI-NA