Software Development Manager

As a Software Development Manager, you will lead the Zookeepers engineering team within RADIXX Engineering, the infrastructure backbone of RADIXX. The team is responsible for production stability, security compliance, delivery automation, and AWS infrastructure health across a broad and growing product portfolio. You will provide leadership and direction for a multi-disciplinary team while helping shape the strategy, operations, and continued evolution of our technology organization.

This role operates in a hybrid capacity, with team members onsite 2 days per week (8 days per month).

Why this role matters

The Zookeepers team plays a critical role in ensuring the reliability, security, and scalability of the RADIXX platform. As Software Development Manager, you will help balance operational excellence with strategic delivery, enabling engineering teams across the organization to build and deploy software with confidence. By leading the team responsible for infrastructure health, delivery automation, and production stability, you will directly influence the quality, performance, and resilience of solutions that support customers around the world.

In this role

• You manage all activities of the Zookeepers engineering team, including SREs, Developers, and dotted-line DevOps and QA functions. You plan and organize work, ensure adequate staffing and resources, and maintain delivery schedules that support production stability and customer satisfaction.

• You manage staff by assigning work, monitoring activities, evaluating performance, administering employment actions, providing coaching and guidance, and supporting professional development and growth across the team.

• You support development of team budgets, operating policies, and procedures, and coordinate work with outside vendors and contractors where applicable.

• You triage and prioritize inbound requests from across the organization, including security initiatives, high-priority defects, AWS infrastructure requests, and compliance activities, ensuring the team remains focused on its core responsibilities.

• You identify and implement strategies and operational efficiencies that enhance engineering reliability, delivery velocity, and internal customer experience while aligning team activities with RADIXX business objectives and engineering standards.

• You communicate and collaborate with Product, Security, Infrastructure, and other engineering teams to coordinate work, resolve cross-functional issues, and support new and ongoing initiatives.

• You lead and contribute to process improvements based on business needs and evaluation of existing procedures. You leverage data, metrics, and system tools to drive efficiency, maximize reliability, and promote a culture of continuous improvement and delivery automation.

• You identify problems, obstacles, and opportunities and proactively act to address them, including managing escalated and critical production issues.

• You prepare reports and analyses that summarize team activities, production stability, delivery outcomes, and key operational metrics, communicating results to peer groups and senior leadership.

What you need to succeed

Leadership & Management skills

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience

• 5-7+ years of people management experience in a software engineering environment with demonstrated leadership success

• Ability to organize, prioritize, and direct work across a multi-discipline team including SRE, Development, QA, and DevOps functions

• Experience managing dotted-line or matrix reporting relationships

• Ability to manage escalated and critical issues calmly and decisively

Technical & Domain Knowledge

• General knowledge of software engineering operations, including infrastructure, delivery pipelines, and production support environments

• Familiarity with AWS infrastructure, security compliance programs, and SRE or platform engineering practices preferred

• Working knowledge of Java, C#, React, and Angular. While hands-on development is not required, you must be able to engage meaningfully with developers and technical leads on architecture, technical trade-offs, and delivery risks

• Awareness of AI/ML trends and tooling as applied to software engineering, including AI-assisted development, automation opportunities, and responsible adoption within engineering workflows

Stakeholder & Communication Skills

• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building skills with the ability to effectively partner across product and engineering organizations

• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate technical concepts for non-technical audiences and vice versa

• Ability to manage expectations, communicate trade-offs clearly, and appropriately challenge decisions when needed

Problem Solving & Operations

• Strong reasoning, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify root causes, resolve issues, and recommend improvements

• Project management skills with the ability to track capacity, commitments, and delivery metrics across multiple workstreams

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and standard engineering collaboration tools

What you can expect from us

• Salary: $150,000 per year with flexibility based on experience

• Opportunity for annual cash bonus and merit increase

• Health, Dental, and Vision benefits starting Day One

• 5% matching 401(k)

• Additional benefits including financial support, pet insurance, mental health resources, volunteer paid days off, employee stock program, foundation donation matching, and more

Why IDEXX

We're proud of the work we do, because our work matters. An innovation leader in every industry we serve since 1983, our team members help pet owners worldwide keep their companion animals healthy and happy, ensure safe drinking water for billions, and help farmers protect livestock and poultry from disease.

We have customers in over 175 countries and a collaborative global workforce. Our culture is one that embraces challenges and encourages learning and discovery. At IDEXX, you'll be supported by competitive compensation, incentives, and benefits while enjoying purposeful work that drives improvement.

Knowing our work makes a meaningful impact on the health and well-being of pets and people is what motivates us every day. If meaningful work and a sense of purpose are at the top of your list, you'll find it here.

Let's pursue what matters together.