Principal Software Developer Manager

The Opportunity Ulteig and its affiliated companies are hiring for a Principal Software Engineering Manager based in Costa Rica to lead and grow a team of Software Engineers solving complex technical problems through enterprise-grade, Azure-based solutions. This is a hands-on leadership role for an accomplished full-stack engineer who can move confidently from strategy and architecture through design, development, testing, telemetry, and delivery. The Principal Software Engineer Manager combines people leadership, technical thought leadership, operational planning, and selective direct engineering contribution. The role is accountable for advancing engineering practices, establishing clear performance expectations, translating departmental objectives into team-level plans and measurable goals, and helping teams deliver secure, reliable, scalable, and maintainable solutions. This leader partners closely with Product, Delivery, Architecture, Security, Enterprise Technology, and business stakeholders to align engineering capacity, staffing, prioritization, and delivery outcomes with product and business priorities. This position is in Costa Rica, supports Ulteig's software engineering organization, and collaborates with distributed teams and stakeholders across the company. This position reports to the Director of Software Engineering and resides within Ulteig's Digital organization. **Please note that resumes must be submitted in English for the application to be considered** What You’ll Do Lead, mentor, coach, and develop Software Engineers, creating meaningful opportunities for growth, expanded responsibility, and technical leadership. Develop team staffing plans, workforce forecasts, and hiring strategies to recruit, retain, and grow high-performing engineering talent aligned to product and business priorities. Translate departmental objectives, business priorities, and product goals into team-level operational plans, roadmaps, and measurable engineering performance goals. Drive end-to-end solution delivery across architecture, user experience, design, code, automated testing, security, deployment, observability, and operational support. Provide technical oversight and direction for software solutions while selectively contributing to high-priority or complex initiatives through code, design reviews, troubleshooting, and technical decision-making. Design and develop cloud-native, SaaS web applications and services using the Microsoft Azure platform. Guide architectural decisions for scalable, resilient, secure, and maintainable solutions, including tiered and distributed architectures. Establish and reinforce standards for code quality, testing, continuous integration and delivery, telemetry, documentation, and technical debt management. Partner with product, design, quality, security, cloud, data, and business teams to advance the desired customer and employee experience. Create clarity, remove obstacles, manage delivery risks, and sustain progress across multiple workstreams and priorities. Manage team capacity, resource allocation, and prioritization to balance delivery commitments, support needs, technical debt reduction, and innovation initiatives. Monitor and improve team productivity, engagement, workload balance, and delivery performance through defined metrics, regular inspection, and continuous improvement initiatives. Manage team budgets and resource planning recommendations, including contractor utilization, software tools, training investments, and other capacity-related needs. Contribute to the continued evolution of iterative product delivery, DevOps practices, and engineering maturity. Provide thought leadership across the software engineering community and promote reuse, shared patterns, continuous learning, and innovation. Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, experimentation, servant leadership, and disciplined execution. Recruit and retain high-performing engineering talent while building an inclusive, accountable, and highly collaborative team environment. Additional duties may include tasks beyond what is listed, such as special projects, assisting colleagues, or new initiatives. A willingness to adapt to changing priorities and support team efforts enhances collaboration and growth opportunities. People Leadership Responsibilities Model and promote a First Team mindset. Ensure the right people with the right skills are positioned to meet business and delivery needs through thoughtful staffing plans, workforce forecasting, hiring strategies, and resource allocation. Foster a safe, inclusive, and engaging workplace where diverse perspectives strengthen outcomes. Establish performance expectations, conduct performance reviews, provide timely coaching and feedback, and address performance concerns with clarity, urgency, and care. Ensure key communications, priorities, technical decisions, and organizational context are shared clearly with teams and stakeholders. Strengthen team culture, employee engagement, workload balance, engineering excellence, delivery performance, and shared accountability through meaningful metrics and continuous improvement. Provide strategic direction, people leadership, budget stewardship, capacity planning, and technical oversight in support of individual, team, department, and organizational goals. What We Expect from You Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a comparable technical field; equivalent practical experience may be considered. 8+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including experience leading software development teams and delivering complex production solutions. Demonstrated success as both a people leader and a senior-level individual contributor in full-stack software development. Demonstrated success in workforce planning, talent selection, and team development, with the ability to build teams that support long-term organizational success. Strong experience designing, building, integrating, testing, deploying, and supporting cloud-based applications on Microsoft Azure. Hands-on experience with Azure services and engineering capabilities such as Application Insights, Microsoft Entra ID, Key Vault, Kubernetes, Azure DevOps, and Event Hubs, or comparable services. Advanced development experience with C# and .NET, JavaScript or TypeScript, and a modern front-end framework such as React or Vue. Experience with automated testing frameworks and practices, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing using tools such as xUnit and Cypress or comparable technologies. Experience with APIs, event-driven integration, tiered or distributed architectures, and modern DevOps and CI/CD practices. Strong architecture, problem-solving, debugging, troubleshooting, and production support skills. Ability to balance strategic leadership, people management, delivery accountability, and meaningful hands-on technical contribution. Excellent cross-discipline, cross-team, and stakeholder collaboration skills, including the ability to communicate technical decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences. Growth mindset with a commitment to quality, continuous improvement, knowledge sharing, and helping others succeed. Ability to work in a hybrid schedule: 3 days in the office, 2 days from home. Must possess strong verbal and written English communication skills (CEFR level B2–C1). You should be comfortable articulating complex ideas and collaborating effectively within a global professional environment. Must have authorization to work legally in Costa Rica for any employer. As you consider applying for a position, we encourage you to think outside the box – because we do! You might not meet 100% of the skills listed in a description, but we are committed to hiring people with exceptional talent, ability and potential, and then creating an environment where they can become the best versions of themselves. We don’t want to miss out on the possibility of speaking with the next outstanding Ulteig team members, so please apply if you think this role is a great match for your unique skills and strengths. What You Can Expect from Ulteig Ulteig, and its affiliated companies, is a purpose driven organization that has built a culture focused on people – both our clients and our employees –for over 80 years. Working at Ulteig is more than a job, opening opportunities to make an impact by creating and solving for a sustainable future. We recognize our success relies heavily on the dedication and focus of our workforce; this is why we make investing in our employees a top priority. We prioritize flexibility and staying connected to meet your needs and help you achieve your goals. We value your unique perspective, respect your individuality and celebrate your contributions. At Ulteig, we take our own success and the success of our clients personally. We offer our team members: Flexible Workplace Competitive Pay Comprehensive Benefits Package Collaborative Environment Innovative Culture Our vision is to be the most trusted partners transforming our world’s critical infrastructure. Ulteig, and its affiliated companies, connects people and resources to develop compelling, integrated solutions across multiple Lifeline Sectors®, including Power, Renewables, Transportation and Water. Ulteig is a trusted partner in engineering North America’s essential infrastructure and leverages its expertise with a wide range of public and private clients. At Ulteig, and its affiliated companies, we care deeply about our team, listening to their needs and ensuring they have the tools necessary to be productive. Regardless of where you work, you are empowered to build a workday that best suits your strengths. We strive to ensure a balance and separation between home and work life. We support a flexible working schedule so employees are able to focus on what's important to them. If you would like to be a part of a company that empowers their employees, apply today! Ulteig, and its affiliated companies, is a Drug Free Workplace ACHIEVE | GROW | COLLABORATE This position will be posted for a minimum of 3 days and will continue to be posted for an average of 60 days until a qualified applicant is selected or the position has been cancelled. Notice to Recruiters and Staffing Agencies: To protect the interests of all parties, Ulteig, nor any of its affiliated companies, will not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from a candidate or an approved vendor that has a written and signed agreement in place with Ulteig. Please do not contact or forward resumes to our company employees or locations. Any unsolicited resumes will be considered Ulteig property. Ulteig is not responsible for any charges or fees related to unsolicited resumes.