Fractional Software Development Leader

Fractional Software Development Leader

Rochester, MN – REMOTE

We are seeking a part-time software development leader to oversee a small team of developers during a period of organizational and technology transformation. This individual will be responsible for translating business priorities into a practical development roadmap, providing day-to-day leadership, and driving projects to successful completion with predictable timelines and quality outcomes.

This is a leadership-focused role requiring a balance of technical credibility and delivery management. The ideal candidate can evaluate estimates, guide technical decision-making, assess tradeoffs, and provide oversight of engineering work without serving as the team's primary hands-on developer or owning day-to-day feature implementation.

Worksite Location: Rochester, MN - REMOTE

Hourly Rate: $75-85 DOE

Benefits: Versique offers comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, accident/critical illness insurance, MN ESST, MN PFML, and a 401(k) with a company match.

Roles & Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of software developers, providing direction, coaching, performance feedback, and support to remove obstacles and improve team effectiveness.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to prioritize initiatives, define project scope, establish acceptance criteria, and develop realistic delivery plans.
• Oversee project execution by tracking progress, managing dependencies, mitigating risks, and ensuring work is delivered on time and with high quality.
• Provide technical leadership by reviewing estimates, evaluating architectural and implementation approaches, supporting code review practices, and guiding technical decision-making.
• Identify opportunities to improve development processes, team efficiency, delivery predictability, and overall engineering effectiveness.
• Communicate project status, priorities, risks, and delivery forecasts to leadership and key stakeholders.
• Assess existing projects, backlog priorities, team capacity, workflows, and delivery bottlenecks to establish near-term execution plans.
• Recommend improvements to team structure, planning processes, engineering practices, governance, and long-term technology delivery strategy.
• Collaborate with technical and business teams to facilitate alignment, resolve conflicts, and ensure successful project outcomes.

Required Experience

• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including leadership of software development teams.
• Proven experience managing and coaching engineers while delivering business-critical technology initiatives.
• Experience translating business priorities into actionable roadmaps, timelines, and delivery plans.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, development practices, release management, and technical tradeoffs.
• Ability to assess estimates, review technical approaches, and provide guidance without serving as a primary individual contributor.
• Experience partnering with business stakeholders, managing competing priorities, and communicating progress, risks, and recommendations to leadership.
• Working knowledge of modern web application technologies, including PHP/Laravel and JavaScript frameworks such as Vue.js or React.
• Strong communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Experience

• Experience leading small software teams (3-10 developers).
• Experience with customer-facing applications, SaaS products, payments, authentication, and integrations.
• Familiarity with React Native mobile applications.
• Experience improving software delivery processes, team effectiveness, and engineering operations.

About Versique

Versique: /ver-seek/ adj. being both versatile and unique; n. a high-performance recruiting firm specializing in executive leadership search, direct hire, and interim hiring solutions.

Versique Executive, Professional, & Interim Recruiting is a locally owned and operated hiring and placement firm based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. With specialized practice areas across our three divisions, Versique delivers tailored expertise to a wide range of industries. What sets us apart is our team of recruiters—seasoned professionals who have worked in the very fields they now hire for, providing unmatched industry insight and connections.

We believe people are more than resumes—they are transformative, unlocking the potential for organizational growth and success.

Versique is proud to be an award-winning company, earning recognition on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal's Fast 50 list for 2023. We are also consistently recognized as a Star Tribune Top Workplace and were named a Best Place to Work in 2022 by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

Let's find your people, together.

Versique is an equal-opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse workforce. We consider all qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or veteran status.