Software Developer Lead

Date Opened: Thursday, April 02, 2026 12:00 AM

Close Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026 12:00 AM

Department: Charlotte Area Transit System Department

Application & Database Development

Salary: $106,196.00 - $132,745.00 Commensurate with Experience

Welcome to the City of Charlotte

Charlotte is America’s Queen City, opening her arms to a diverse and inclusive community of residents, businesses and visitors alike. Here you will find a safe, family-oriented city where people work together to help everyone thrive. The mission of the City of Charlotte is to deliver quality public services and promote the safety, health, and quality of life for all residents.

Our guiding principles include:

• Attracting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce

• Valuing teamwork, openness, accountability, productivity, and employee development

• Providing all customers with courteous, responsive, accessible, and seamless quality services

• Taking initiative to identify, analyze, and solve problems

• Collaborating with stakeholders to make informed decisions

SUMMARY

The Lead Software Developer (Full Stack) serves as the technical person for the design, development, integration, and optimization of enterprise and operational systems supporting transit operations. This role leads full lifecycle software development across customer-facing, operational, and back-office platforms while ensuring seamless integration with core transit technologies including scheduling, dispatch, real-time operations, and public data services.

The position requires deep expertise in modern web and application development, relational databases (SQL Server and Oracle), and transit industry systems such as Giro Hastus, Vontas OnRoute, and GTFS-based data feeds. The Lead Developer will guide technical strategy, mentor development staff, and ensure all applications meet performance, security, and regulatory requirements and other work as needed.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Serve as the technical lead and primary developer for the organization's full-stack application ecosystem.
• Design scalable, secure, and resilient application architectures supporting operations, planning, maintenance, and customer information systems.
• Establish and enforce coding standards, documentation practices, and software development governance.
• Lead system modernization, legacy system refactoring, and cloud migration initiatives.
• Evaluate and recommend new technologies, frameworks, and development tools.

Full Stack Application Development

• Lead the development of web-based, mobile, and enterprise applications using modern front-end and back-end frameworks.
• Develop RESTful and event-driven APIs to support system integrations.
• Implement responsive user interfaces optimized for operational and field staff.
• Oversee application performance tuning, testing, and deployment pipelines.
• Manage version control, CI/CD pipelines, and release management.

Database & Data Management

• Design, develop, and optimize relational databases using SQL Server and Oracle.
• Create and maintain complex queries, stored procedures, views, and ETL processes.
• Ensure data integrity, availability, security, and regulatory compliance.
• Support enterprise reporting, analytics, and real-time operational dashboards.
• Lead database performance monitoring and capacity planning.

Transit Systems Integration

• Design and maintain integrations with core transit systems, including but not limited to:
  • Giro Hastus (Scheduling, Run Cutting, Rostering)
  • Vontas OnRoute (CAD/AVL, Real-Time Operations)
  • GTFS and GTFS-Realtime feeds

• Develop and manage data pipelines for trip planning, vehicle tracking, and customer information systems.
• Support interoperability between planning, dispatch, fare, maintenance, and customer platforms.
• Ensure real-time data accuracy and service reliability.

Project & Portfolio Management Support

• Lead development efforts across a diverse portfolio of operational and administrative applications.
• Participate in requirements gathering, system analysis, and technical design.
• Collaborate with project managers, operations staff, and external vendors.
• Provide technical estimates, schedules, and risk assessments.
• Support vendor system integrations and third-party software implementations.

Team Leadership & Mentorship

• Lead, mentor, and coach software developers and analysts.
• Conduct code reviews and technical assessments.
• Support workforce development and technical training.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• As part of your responsibility to support the CATS Safety Culture, report safety concerns and issues through the various methods established by CATS as outlined in the ASP. 

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or related field

Experience

• Minimum of 8 - 10 years of professional software development experience.
• Demonstrated experience in enterprise application development.
• Experience working with public sector and transportation systems preferred.

Technical Skills

• Full Stack Development:
  • Front-End: JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Angular, or Vue
  • Back-End: .NET, Python, C#, etc.
  • Web Services: REST, SOAP, JSON, XML

Databases & Dashboard Development

• Advanced SQL development
• Oracle Database Administration and Optimization
• Data warehousing and ETL processes
• Advanced Power Bi Skills  (Preferred)
• Advanced Tableau Skills

Transit Systems:

• Giro Hastus modules
• Vontas OnRoute platform
• GTFS and GTFS-Realtime specification

DevOps & Infrastructure:

• CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.)
• Docker/Kubernetes (preferred)
• Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP preferred)

Security:

• OAuth2, SSO, encryption standards
• Secure API design
• Compliance frameworks

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication abilities.
• Ability to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Strong leadership and collaboration skills.
• High level of professionalism and public service orientation.

Working Conditions & Physical Requirements

• Primarily office-based with occasional field visits.
• Ability to work extended hours during major deployments or emergencies.
• Occasional on-call support for mission-critical systems.
• May require attendance at off-site vendor or industry meetings.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The City’s Background Check Policy requires background checks to be conducted on final internal or external candidate(s) applying for any position with the City of Charlotte. The type of information that will be collected as part of a background check includes, but is not limited to: reference checks, social security verification, education verification, criminal conviction record check, and, if applicable, a credit history check, sex offender registry and motor vehicle records check.

Background checks must be in compliance with all federal and state statutes, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The checks must be consistent with the guidelines set forth by these laws requiring organizations to obtain a candidate’s written authorization before obtaining a criminal background report, motor vehicle records check or credit report; and to properly store and dispose of information derived from such reports.

Final candidates must pass a pre-employment drug-screening test and physical examination. During the selection process, candidates may be asked to take a skills test, and/or participate in other assessments.

The City of Charlotte is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, age, disability, sexual orientation, political affiliation or on the basis of actual or perceived gender as expressed through dress, appearance, or behavior.

Our culture is to serve the community honorably.

HOW TO APPLY

Apply online.

Federal law requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Please tell us if you require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job.

You are welcome to visit the City of Charlotte Human Resources Department lobby, where self-service application kiosks are available. They are located in our office at 700 East 4th Street, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28202. We are open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EST), excluding official City holidays.

For questions about your application or the hiring process, please email Careers@ci.charlotte.nc.us

The City of Charlotte is committed to making our services and programs accessible to all. Upon request, auxiliary aids, written materials in alternate formats, language access, and other reasonable accommodations or modifications will be provided. To make a request, please fill out the Innovation & Technology ADA request form or call 704.336.4120.

BENEFITS

The City of Charlotte provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees.

Click here to learn more about the City of Charlotte’s benefits.

The City of Charlotte is a drug and alcohol-free workplace.