Careers

Software Development Manager

FULL-TIME POSITION | September  27, 2018

General

ControlSoft Inc. has an immediate opening for a full-time Software Development Manager. This position is responsible for delivering new software products which meet the requirements specified by ControlSoft project engineers, sales & marketing personnel and our customers.  The deliverables are the software, the method by which the software will be licensed and distributed, the technical content necessary to create user documentation and the material which will be used to train customers and internal personnel in the software.

This position will be responsible to act as the main technical liaison between ControlSoft and our major customers.  The candidate must ensure that the technical requirements of our major customers are being satisfied by our products in the time frame required.  It is critical that our key customers maintain confidence in our ability to deliver quality, reliable software in the time frame which meets their demands.

The expectation is for this position to be a “working” management position.  The candidate is expected to personally assess the design and architecture of our existing software products and recommend and manage any necessary redesigns required to keep our products competitive in the marketplace.  The candidate should ensure that a portion of his/her time is built into the schedule of one or more of the development projects as either a software architect, lead software designer or project manager.   The candidate is also expected to establish a standard Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process for the Company.

This position is responsible for managing the process by which the company responds to field problem reports from either customers or company personnel.

The performance of this individual will be determined by his/her ability to deliver new versions of our software products on-time (per the development schedule), on budget, of high quality (i.e. minimum number of field problem reports) and with the specified features included.

Location

Cleveland, Ohio

Key Responsibilities

• Develop software products which fulfill the requirement specifications generated by either the internal marketing group or by customers. Of special importance is developing products which meet the requirements of those companies that comprise our list of “key accounts”.  Development project deliverables should include everything required to commercialize the product; the software itself, technical documentation for the product (instruction manuals, quick start guides, etc.), licensing mechanism, the medium by which we distribute the software, etc.
• Act as the technical liaison between the Company and our clients who are considered “key accounts”. These will include companies from the Chemical, Oil & Gas, Food & Beverage, Power and Glass manufacturing industries.  Visit with the clients multiple times per year to assess their needs and to thoroughly document any enhancements required to our products to meet their demands.  Understand the timing of expected deliverables and build project schedules which meet the requirements.  Help define and execute our “Voice-of-Customer” process.
• Continue with (and continue to improve) our present practice of bi-monthly meetings between our Product Development group and our global project engineering team. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit feedback from the project engineers on the priorities of our Product Development agenda.  Document the results of these meetings.
• Define and document the Company’s product development process. This should include all steps in the process: specification, prototyping, software development, testing requirements, new control algorithm development, drafting technical documentation, etc.  The development process should be comprised of several Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s).  Manage all development projects to the defined process.
• Annually produce a development schedule (Gantt chart form) for all activities to be undertaken in the calendar year. Development schedule should contain dates for all major milestones.  Each project should also have an associated project budget.  The development schedules should be updated as necessary as new information becomes available during the development process.
• In order to create development schedules the position must develop and maintain an estimation tool which is based on the Company’s defined product development process. This estimation tool should be updated frequently as better “actual” data is compiled.
• Define and select the tools to be used by the Product Development team to perform their work. Specifically, the tools used for software development and code management should be determined after an evaluation of competitive products available in the marketplace.
• Create the system and define the process by which the Company responds to problem reports (problem reports can be generated by either customers or internal personnel). Once the system is created and the process defined all procedures should be followed when responding to these reports.  In particular extra diligence should be placed on those software defects reported by our “key account” customers.  All software defects reported by these two customers must be treated with the highest level of urgency and resolution of these defects given the highest priority.  Target response time to problem reports should be one day.  Estimates of time to achieve problem resolution should be provided to customers as quickly as possible.
• Develop and deliver technical presentations to existing and potential customers regarding 1) the Company’s product development capabilities (personnel, tools, resources, experience), and 2) the Company’s near term (12-24 month) product development docket. Vet all presentations with Company management.
• Define the process by which we respond to Customer Special requests for feature enhancements to our existing product lines. Handle all such requests when they are received and take responsibility for responding to the customer with a feasibility analysis, pricing and schedule. Address all Customer Special requests which are generated by our key partners with the highest degree of urgency and priority.
• Determine the staffing requirements for the Product Development group required to complete the assigned tasks. Ensure all assigned personnel receive the training necessary to successfully complete the tasks which are assigned to them.
• Help strengthen the Company’s brand image as a technology leader by delivering technical papers at industry conferences, user’s group or conventions.
• Produce a Quarterly Report which provides a comprehensive status update on all Product Development activities. Present this report to Company management.
• Ensure that a reasonable % of his/her time is “booked” to active projects. The candidate is expected to materially contribute to the development process in many capacities and may act as the project manager, software architect or lead software designer for several projects.  This is a “working manager” position.

Education and Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in developing software products for industrial use (direct experience developing software related to process control preferred).
• Familiarity with various software programming techniques and software development tools is a must.
• Engineering degree required (computer engineering or software engineering degree preferred).
• Must possess strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Should have a demonstrated history of managing professional personnel.

Contact Info

Submit your resume to careers@controlsoftinc.com. When submitting your resume, please include Position No. 2018-ENG-1805.