Technical Manager (.NET / React / QA)

As a Technical Manager, you will lead and grow a high-performing engineering team responsible for Staples Print's full-stack applications, automation quality engineering, and platform reliability. You will own the end-to-end delivery of complex initiatives spanning .NET/C#, React, QA automation, and Java services, setting architectural direction, establishing engineering standards, and ensuring your team ships with quality and velocity. This is a people-first, delivery-focused leadership role: you will hire, mentor, and develop engineers at all levels, translate business goals into executable technical roadmaps, remove blockers relentlessly, and hold yourself and your team accountable to outcomes, not just activity. You bring an architectural mindset, an unwavering will be done attitude, and the ability to balance short-term delivery demands with long-term platform health. You will partner closely with Product Management, Architecture, and senior stakeholders across Staples Digital Solutions to shape the technical strategy for the Staples Print GCC team in Chennai.

Duties & Responsibilities

· Design, architect, and develop scalable full-stack applications using .NET / ASP.NET Core (C#) on the backend and React / TypeScript on the frontend.

· Define and enforce system architecture patterns for distributed, microservices-based, and event-driven systems emphasizing resilience, scalability, and maintainability.

· Develop and optimize RESTful APIs, microservices, and integrations with messaging platforms (Azure Service Bus, Kafka, or Solace).

· Integrate AI-backed APIs and LLM services into platform features such as personalization, intelligent search, and AI-assisted order workflows by connecting to established AI services and embedding their outputs into application logic.

· Design secure, scalable integration patterns for consuming AI/ML APIs and services (e.g., Azure OpenAI, OpenAI API, Azure Cognitive Services) within the application stack.

· Apply practical prompt engineering techniques, manage context windows effectively, and implement output validation to ensure LLM API responses are safe, relevant, and usable within the application.

· Collaborate with data and analytics teams to consume ML model outputs via APIs and embed predictions into application logic (e.g., personalization, recommendations) no ML model building required.

· Champion responsible AI practices including bias awareness, content moderation, rate limiting, cost controls, and auditability of AI-generated outputs.

· Use AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Azure AI) to accelerate delivery and promote their adoption across the engineering team.
· Work with data and platform teams to understand how AI services are deployed and monitored, ensuring application-side integrations handle model updates, versioning, and service changes gracefully.
· Lead design reviews, code reviews, and technical spike initiatives; champion best practices in code quality, security, and performance optimization. · Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pair programming, design discussions, and constructive code feedback.
· Collaborate with product managers, UX designers, data teams, and platform engineers to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.
· Drive CI/CD practices, automated testing strategies, and release readiness across the team.
· Monitor production systems, diagnose complex performance and reliability issues, and lead root-cause analysis and resolution.
· Contribute to technical documentation, architecture decision records (ADRs), and runbooks.
· Participate in sprint ceremonies, backlog grooming, and capacity planning.

Requirements

Basic Qualifications · Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience. · 11-14 years of total software engineering experience, with at least 4 years directly managing engineers across a full-stack team. · Demonstrated ability to own and deliver large-scale engineering initiatives end-to-end: from architectural design through production deployment and post-release support. · Strong architectural mindset: experience making design decisions for distributed systems, microservices, RESTful APIs, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native platforms on Azure (App Services, AKS, Service Bus, Key Vault, Entra ID). · Deep hands-on background in .NET / ASP.NET Core / C# and a strong working understanding of React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript frontend development. · Solid understanding of QA automation principles: test pyramid, automation frameworks (Selenium, Playwright), and API/integration test strategies. · Proven track record of building and developing engineering teams: hiring, performance management, coaching, and retention. · Proficiency with CI/CD tooling (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions) and modern DevOps practices. · Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; able to translate technical complexity into business language and influence decisions at senior levels. · Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; data-driven approach to managing team health and delivery metrics (cycle time, defect rates, deployment frequency, MTTR). · Experience with Azure cloud services including App Services, AKS, Service Bus, Key Vault, and Entra ID (Azure AD). · Experience with the full SDLC: requirement analysis, design, testing, deployment, documentation, and post-release support. · Experience with unit, integration, and automation testing frameworks (xUnit, NUnit, Selenium, Playwright). · Experience leading Agile ceremonies: sprint planning, retrospectives, quarterly roadmap planning, and cross-team dependency management. · Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience. · Excellent problem-solving skills with a bias for action and a will be done delivery mindset.

Preferred Qualifications · Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

· Working knowledge of Java and Spring Boot, sufficient to review designs, assess technical debt, and guide the team on backend service decisions. · Hands-on experience with Generative AI, LLM APIs (Azure OpenAI, OpenAI), agentic AI workflows, RAG pipelines, or AI-assisted developer tooling (GitHub Copilot). · Experience with load and performance testing frameworks: JMeter, StressStimulus, Gatling, or k6. · Experience managing distributed teams across onshore/offshore or GCC model structures. · Familiarity with eCommerce or print-on-demand platform engineering. · Experience with observability and monitoring tooling: Splunk, Application Insights, Dynatrace, or similar. · Exposure to prompt engineering, AI-driven test generation, or integrating AI productivity tools into engineering workflows. · Experience with Agile at scale: SAFe, LeSS, or leading multiple scrum teams within a single program. · Familiarity with Blazor (WASM or Server) for .NET-based frontend development. · Experience with secure application development practices and DevSecOps principles (OWASP, secrets management, vulnerability scanning). · Hands-on experience with Generative AI tools/APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Copilot, Azure OpenAI)