Development Manager at FreeBalance - Remote Poland — Columbus
Traveler-Friendly Insight
Remote Viability: This Development Manager role at FreeBalance explicitly involves leading geographically distributed teams across multiple time zones, which is a strong signal that async and distributed work is built into the company's DNA. However, as a senior leadership role with direct management responsibilities — including regular stakeholder engagement, team coaching, and cross-functional collaboration — expect a significant number of recurring synchronous meetings rather than a fully async lifestyle.
Timezone Considerations: The role is hinted to be based in Poland (CET/CEST), which aligns well with European and partial APAC/Americas overlap windows. Nomads in Lisbon (WET), Tallinn (EET), or Warsaw itself would be in the ideal timezone band. Southeast Asia (Bangkok, Bali) would create a ~5-6 hour gap from European core hours, making early-morning starts necessary.
Visa Options for Poland: EU citizens work freely. Non-EU candidates may consider Poland's Temporary Residence Permit for work, or the broader EU Blue Card for highly skilled workers — well-suited for this seniority level. Poland does not currently have a dedicated digital nomad visa, but short tourist stays (90 days Schengen) are an option for initial exploration.
Cost of Living vs. Likely Salary: No salary is disclosed, but Director/Manager-level Java roles in Poland typically range €60,000–€100,000+ annually. Popular nomad bases like Lisbon (~€2,200/mo living costs) or Medellín (~€1,000/mo) would offer strong purchasing power at that range. Bangkok (~€900/mo) is feasible but the timezone stretch makes this role challenging.
As a Development Manager, you will lead our global Java software development organization, providing overall leadership, direction, and accountability across multiple engineering teams. You will manage the design, development, modernization, and timely delivery of high-quality enterprise software solutions, ensuring alignment with customer commitments, business objectives, and technical standards.
This role requires a blend of senior engineering leadership, strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration, and deep operational execution. You will guide geographically distributed teams — including engineering managers, technical leads, and individual contributors — while balancing immediate delivery priorities with long-term engineering and platform modernization.
The ideal candidate will combine hands-on technical understanding with extensive leadership experience in enterprise Java architectures, Agile practices, and CMMI process frameworks. You will drive engineering excellence, foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, and engage with global stakeholders to support FreeBalance's strategic technology roadmap.
Main Responsibilities- Lead and manage geographically distributed engineering teams, including engineering managers, technical leads, and individual contributors.
- Oversee the design, development, modernization, and timely delivery of high-quality enterprise software solutions.
- Ensure alignment with customer commitments, business objectives, and technical standards.
- Drive engineering excellence and foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
- Engage with global stakeholders to support FreeBalance's strategic technology roadmap.
- Lead engineering process improvements, organizational transformation, and modernization initiatives.
- Balance immediate delivery priorities with long-term platform modernization goals.
- Strong expertise in Java, Spring, Spring ecosystem projects, Spring Boot, REST APIs, and related technologies.
- Experience with front-end technologies, including JSF/MyFaces, React, or similar frameworks.
- Solid understanding of relational and NoSQL database technologies, SQL, and ORM frameworks such as Hibernate and JPA.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP) and containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
- Proven experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and tools such as JIRA, Confluence, and Git.
- Hands-on understanding of software architecture, REST APIs, and enterprise integration patterns.
- Experience with monolithic, microservices, and event-driven software architectures.
- Knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and modern software delivery tooling.
- Strong understanding of source control, branching strategies, automated testing, code reviews, build systems, and release management practices.
- Ability to evaluate technical architecture, engineering design decisions, and technology trade-offs without needing to serve as the primary hands-on developer.
- Experience working with mature enterprise software platforms involving complex dependencies, legacy technologies, and ongoing modernization requirements.
- Demonstrated experience managing projects aligned with CMMI Level 2 or higher.
- Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent development projects and competing delivery priorities.
- Experience establishing and improving software engineering processes, development standards, and quality controls.
- Strong understanding of software testing strategies, quality assurance, automated testing, and defect management.
- Experience establishing engineering performance metrics and using data to improve delivery predictability, quality, and productivity.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and address systemic engineering challenges, delivery bottlenecks, and technical debt.
- Experience balancing customer-driven development commitments with product roadmap priorities and longer-term technology investments.
- Excellent problem-solving, organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate, coach, and develop engineering teams.
- Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to present complex technical and operational matters to senior leadership.
- Proven ability to influence stakeholders, build consensus, and resolve competing priorities across organizational boundaries.
- Sound judgment, resilience, adaptability, and the ability to remain effective in complex, fast-paced environments.
- Strong decision-making skills, balancing technical quality, delivery urgency, customer commitments, and business objectives.
- Experience leading organizational change and gaining adoption of new engineering practices, processes, and technologies.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in Java software development, including at least 5 years in a leadership or managerial role.
- Demonstrated success leading complex software delivery initiatives in large-scale enterprise environments.
- Proven experience managing geographically distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones and cultures.
The successful candidate will establish and sustain a high-performing global Development organization that consistently delivers reliable, high-quality enterprise software while advancing engineering maturity and modernization.
- Predictable and transparent software delivery aligned with customer and business commitments.
- Strong engineering leadership, clearly defined accountability, and effective collaboration across global teams.
- Measurable improvements in software quality, development efficiency, build stability, and release reliability.
- Sustainable engineering practices supported by appropriate standards, automation, and governance.
- Effective management of competing priorities, technical debt, and complex enterprise delivery requirements.
- Continued modernization of the technology platform and engineering capabilities without compromising customer delivery.
- Strong partnerships across R&D, Professional Services, QA, DevOps, IT, and other business functions.
- A culture of technical excellence, ownership, professional development, and continuous improvement.
FreeBalance solutions support governments around the world in achieving transparency, accountability, and effective management of public resources. The reliability, security, and performance of these solutions directly influence how public sector organizations manage budgets, finances, human resources, procurement, and performance reporting.
We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. FreeBalance is an inclusive employer dedicated to building a diverse workforce to increase the representation of the designated groups based on each country's legislation. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants' needs under the respective labour law throughout all stages of the recruitment process.