Manager, Application Development

Manager, Application Development

At the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, employees come first - that's why we offer a highly competitive compensation and bonus package, and access to a comprehensive benefits program designed to meet the needs of our employees.

The Manager, Application Development is a technology leader within IT Software Engineering & Delivery responsible for leading Agile Delivery capabilities across the department, including Scrum Masters and Business Systems Analysts supporting 10+ delivery teams and 100+ applications. This role is accountable for strengthening Agile execution, business analysis practices, delivery transparency, stakeholder alignment, and predictable delivery outcomes across a broad portfolio of business-critical technology solutions.

This role requires a strong IT leader with software development delivery experience who can partner effectively with business stakeholders, Product Owners, application development teams, Enterprise Architecture, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure, Risk, Compliance, and IT leadership. The Manager is expected to help teams translate business needs into well-defined priorities, facilitate trade-off conversations, remove delivery impediments, and ensure Agile practices are consistently applied to support measurable business and technology outcomes.

The ideal candidate has deep experience leading Agile delivery teams, Scrum Masters, and Business Systems Analysts in a complex software development environment. The role is accountable for owning and maturing the Bank's Agile framework, establishing related standards and processes, driving effective use of Microsoft Azure Dev Ops, strengthening Agile metrics and delivery reporting, and evaluating future opportunities to evolve toward a scaled Agile operating model where appropriate.

Technology Leadership & Agile Excellence

• Lead Agile Delivery capabilities across multiple software delivery teams, ensuring Scrum Masters and Business Systems Analysts are effectively supporting planning, prioritization, requirements readiness, delivery execution, and continuous improvement.
• Provide strong IT delivery leadership across application teams by understanding software development practices, technology dependencies, delivery risks, quality considerations, and business priorities.
• Own and mature the Bank's Agile delivery framework, including standards, ceremonies, role expectations, backlog practices, estimation guidance, delivery metrics, team working agreements, and continuous improvement routines.
• Coach teams on effective Scrum and Kanban practices to improve transparency, flow, prioritization, dependency management, impediment resolution, and predictable delivery outcomes.
• Partner with application development leaders, Product Owners, architects, QA, and business stakeholders to ensure Agile practices support high-quality software delivery, operational readiness, risk management, and business value realization.

Azure Dev Ops Ownership, Metrics & Delivery Transparency

• Own Microsoft Azure Dev Ops as the department's primary Agile planning and delivery management platform, ensuring it effectively supports backlog management, sprint planning, Kanban flow, dependency tracking, delivery reporting, and leadership visibility.
• Define, govern, and continuously improve Azure Dev Ops usage standards, including work item hierarchy, board configuration, tagging, dashboards, queries, metrics, reporting practices, and data quality expectations.
• Establish and monitor Agile delivery metrics, including team health, throughput, cycle time, sprint predictability, backlog readiness, aging work items, defect trends, dependency risks, and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Use delivery data and Agile metrics to identify trends, highlight risks, improve planning, support capacity discussions, and enable fact-based conversations with IT leadership and business partners.
• Drive consistent delivery transparency across teams to support stakeholder communication, leadership decision-making, prioritization, risk management, and continuous improvement.

Scrum Master & Business Systems Analysis Leadership

• Directly lead, coach, and develop…