BrightLeaf Group is looking for a senior technical leader who can drive engineering excellence, coach high-performing teams, and deliver mission-critical web applications and digital platforms for state and local government clients — with calm, clarity, and discipline.
ABOUT THE ROLE
The Web Applications Director is the senior technical leader of BrightLeaf’s web application practice. Reporting directly to the COO of Client Delivery & Services, you’ll own delivery excellence across our Drupal-based and custom web applications and Employee Experience (EXP) platform implementations — while building the engineering culture, standards, and playbooks that make it all repeatable and scalable.
This is a hands-on leadership role. You’ll set direction, make architecture calls, mentor teams, partner with government agency clients, and be the steady hand when things get complex. You’ll also play a direct role in business development — bringing technical authority to proposals, client presentations, and opportunity solutioning.
WHAT YOU’LL OWN
Web Application Delivery
- Own delivery quality and client outcomes across BrightLeaf’s web application engagements — new builds, enhancements, migrations, integrations, and ongoing maintenance and support
- Serve as BrightLeaf’s Drupal authority in client-facing technical conversations — including architecture reviews, platform assessments, and technical discovery sessions with agency IT teams and development leads. Government agency clients with sophisticated technical teams expect to engage with a peer; this role delivers on that expectation
- Lead, mentor, and set the technical standard for BrightLeaf’s development team — establishing architectural patterns, code quality expectations, and development best practices that the team operates by
- Ensure UX/UI, accessibility, and other team members are integrated effectively into project teams, delivering to client standards and BrightLeaf’s quality bar
- Ensure WCAG accessibility compliance is core to all development workflows — as a quality standard
- Serve as the senior delivery point of contact for active engagements — ensuring projects are on scope, on schedule, and meeting client expectations
- Anticipate and resolve delivery risks before they become client issues; escalate to the COO when executive involvement is needed
Architecture & Technical Decision-Making
- Own key architecture decisions and patterns for Drupal and custom application work
- Guide platform, hosting, and integration choices based on client constraints
- Document and communicate decisions across engineering and PM teams
Engineering Quality
- Establish and enforce coding standards, branching strategies, peer review, and definition of done
- Drive appropriate testing practices — unit, integration, regression, and accessibility
- Ensure security best practices across secure coding, dependency management, and access control
- Build a culture of defect prevention and continuous improvement
Playbooks & Scalability
- Establish and systematize BrightLeaf’s AI-driven delivery practice — creating scalable SOPs, QA standards, and onboarding frameworks across engagements
- Advance CI/CD pipelines, release practices, and operational handoffs to match the scale of a growing organization
- Codify institutional expertise into repeatable delivery frameworks — turning what works into what scales
- Implement delivery dashboards that give leadership real-time visibility into project health, team capacity, and risks
EXP Platform Delivery
- Lead delivery of BrightLeaf’s EXP platform implementations for government agency clients
- Partner with the EXP Director on delivery methodology, client onboarding, and platform configuration standards specific to the government market
- Ensure EXP implementations produce strong client outcomes and serve as references for future pursuits
Team Leadership & Coaching
- Mentor developers, tech leads, project managers, and other team members
- Support hiring, onboarding, and skills development
- Set clear expectations and build accountability, ownership, and a learning culture
Client Technical Partnership
- Lead technical discoveries, solution walkthroughs, and client-facing escalation resolution
- Communicate tradeoffs clearly to non-technical government stakeholders
- Serve as BrightLeaf’s trusted technical advisor and Drupal authority for key accounts — including clients with sophisticated agency IT and development teams who expect to engage with a peer
Business Development
- Serve as BrightLeaf’s technical sales advisor on new pursuits — providing solutioning expertise, scope definition, and effort estimation that makes proposals credible and competitive
- Participate in client presentations and capability demonstrations, representing BrightLeaf’s technical approach with authority and clarity
- Contribute to proposal development — writing or reviewing technical sections, approach narratives, and past performance documentation
- Identify growth opportunities within active client accounts and surface them to the COO for consideration
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- 7+ years of progressive web/application development experience, with 3+ years in a senior leadership or director-level role
- Deep Drupal expertise (v9/10) — custom modules, site building, content migration, multisite architecture. Must be recognized as a Drupal authority by technically deep development teams and sophisticated government agency clients alike
- Strong full-stack background: PHP, JavaScript/Node.js, HTML5, CSS3, LAMP/LEMP environments
- Demonstrated experience delivering web applications for government, education, or regulated-sector clients
- Solid understanding of WCAG accessibility compliance
- Experience managing blended internal/subcontractor teams in distributed or remote environments
- Demonstrated ability to systematize and scale delivery operations — maturing SOPs, QA frameworks, engineering standards, and CI/CD practices alongside a growing technical team
- Strong communication and stakeholder skills; comfortable presenting to agency leadership and navigating government procurement
★ PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with government contracting environments
- AWS, Acquia, or government-grade cloud hosting experience
- Familiarity with NIST, FedRAMP, or TX-RAMP cybersecurity frameworks
- Experience with Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid delivery methodologies
- State or local government client experience
- Experience implementing AI-enabled project delivery dashboards and operational reporting tools
WHY BRIGHTLEAF?
BrightLeaf Group is an Austin-based digital transformation firm with 30+ years serving Texas state and local government agencies. We specialize in web applications, accessibility, EXP platforms, and strategic digital communications — and we take quality seriously.
This is a rare opportunity to lead a focused, expert technical practice, shape its engineering culture, and make a direct impact on how government agencies serve the public.
- A senior leadership role with real authority over a growing delivery practice
- The opportunity to build an AI-enabled, best-in-class delivery infrastructure for an expanding company
- Direct collaboration with an experienced COO and CEO who are invested in making this role successful
- A technically strong team in a positive, supportive, team-oriented environment
- Remote-first work with an Austin, Texas home base for periodic team and client connection
- Competitive compensation commensurate with experience
- A mission-driven company focused on modernizing government services through technology and talent
Interested? Please apply. We’d love to hear from leaders who are ready to build something that matters.
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