Head of Application Development

About Us

The Modern Language Association (MLA) is a mission-driven nonprofit serving approximately 20,000 members in the humanities. We operate at the intersection of scholarship, publishing, and technology—supporting digital platforms, publications, and data systems that power research and academic collaboration. We’re investing in modernizing our digital ecosystem and are looking for a Head of Application Development to lead that evolution.

This is a hands-on leadership role responsible for overseeing our software development function—spanning web platforms, publishing systems, APIs, and data infrastructure. The successful candidate will lead a team of developers, work cross-functionally with stakeholders, and partner with vendors to deliver scalable, secure, and high-quality applications. The Head of Application Development plays a key role in shaping architecture, integration strategy, and long-term technical direction. We are looking for a candidate who wants to help influence how our 140-year-old organization evolves digitally by modernizing a mission-critical digital ecosystem and bringing structure, scalability, security, and strategy to engineering.

Responsibilities

Lead and mentor the application development team
Own delivery of web and application development across platforms
Coordinate internal developers and external vendors
Drive Agile processes (Scrum, Kanban) for predictable delivery
Design and oversee application architecture and systems integration
Create information architecture and functional specifications
Ensure scalability, performance, and maintainability of systems
Contribute hands-on when needed (player-coach model)
Oversee development across CMS platforms (WordPress, Ibexa), CRM integrations (CiviCRM), and data platforms (MarkLogic)
Lead API strategy and microservices integrations
Partner with business stakeholders to translate needs into technical solutions
Communicate project status clearly to leadership and cross-functional teams
Support enterprise software selection and vendor evaluation security and quality
Promote and implement secure development practices
Contribute to IT security architecture and governance
Drive QA processes and documentation standards

Our Tech Stack

You should be comfortable navigating a modern, mixed ecosystem including the following:

Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+), React (limited use)
Backend: PHP (Symfony), REST APIs
CMS / CRM: WordPress, CiviCRM, Ibexa
Cloud: AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront, IAM)
Databases: MySQL / MariaDB
DevOps: Docker, CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, AWS CodePipeline)
Monitoring: CloudWatch, New Relic, Datadog
Version Control: Git / GitHub
Security: RBAC, API auth, AWS best practices

Required Qualifications

8–12+ years in application development, including 3–5+ years in leadership
Experience managing full-stack teams and external vendors
Strong background in web platforms, APIs, and system integration
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred)
Solid understanding of modern web architecture
Experience with CMS-driven ecosystems (WordPress or similar)
Familiarity with data platforms / search / NoSQL (MarkLogic a plus)
Ability to evaluate and evolve legacy and modern systems together

Leadership Style

Collaborative, pragmatic, and solutions-oriented
Comfortable operating in a mission-driven, nonprofit environment
Strong communicator—can translate technical concepts to nontechnical stakeholders
Balances strategy with execution

This is a full-time, mainly remote position, with an in-person requirement for the two annual all-staff meetings and when otherwise needed at the MLA’s office in downtown Manhattan. You must be able to work legally in the United States. Salary is commensurate with experience, in the range of $135,000–$145,000. The MLA provides generous vacation and sick time, flexible work hours, a 403(b) retirement plan, and individual health and dental plans with no shared premium cost.

Please submit a cover letter and résumé to [email protected]. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

The MLA is an equal opportunity employer and is firmly committed to complying with all federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws.