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Lead Application Modernization Consultant

Role overview

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of progressive software engineering, application development, or related experience
  • 3+ years in application modernization, cloud architecture, or technical delivery leadership
  • Hands-on proficiency in at least one mainstream programming language, such as Java, .NET, or Python
  • Experience leading modernization of large-scale, complex applications

Responsibilities

  • Lead an agile delivery team or significant workstream within a larger program, owning technical outcomes
  • Own technical and delivery risk, proactively identifying and mitigating risks
  • Drive application modernization efforts by assessing legacy codebases and recommending appropriate dispositions
  • Develop assessments and target-state designs that provide clients with a clear path from legacy to modernized solutions

Key facts

  • Remote from: United States
  • Freelance
  • Senior (5-10 years)
  • Lead Development Representative
  • $125K – $168K / year
  • English

Hard skills

Other skills

  • Coaching
  • Collaboration
  • Accountability
  • Curiosity

About the company

Ensono logo

Ensono

  • Cloud & IT Infrastructure
  • Large
  • 1,001–5,000
Ensono is an expert technology adviser and managed service provider. As a relentless ally, we accelerate clients’ digital transformation to achieve business outcomes that stand to last. Our dedicated team helps organizations optimize today’s systems across any hybrid environment with services such as consulting, mainframe and application modernization, public cloud migration and cloud-native development. With certified experts in AWS, Azure and Google Cloud and recognized as Microsoft Datacenter Transformation Partner of the Year, Ensono has over 2,900 associates globally and is headquartered in greater Chicago. We care about your success, offering comprehensive strategic and managed services for mission-critical applications. Our Advisory and Consulting services can help upfront with an application strategy or find the right places for your applications – whether it’s public, multi or hybrid cloud, or mainframe. And because we span across all mission-critical platforms, we can meet you wherever you are in your digital transformation journey, with 24/7 support when you need it. We are your relentless ally, flexing with you when challenges emerge so you don’t feel stuck in place. With cross-platform certifications and decades of experience, our technology experts become an extension of your team so you’re continuously innovating – doing more with less while remaining secure. And that’s just the beginning.

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Job description

Lead Application Modernization Consultant

At Ensono, our Purpose is to be a relentless ally, disrupting the status quo and unleashing our clients to Do Great Things!  We enable our clients to achieve key business outcomes that reshape how our world runs. As an expert technology adviser and managed service provider with cross-platform certifications, Ensono empowers our clients to keep up with continuous change and embrace innovation.

We can Do Great Things because we have great Associates. The Ensono Core Values unify our diverse talents and are woven into how we do business. These five traits are the key to achieving our purpose:

Honesty, Reliability, Curiosity, Collaboration, and Passion.

About the role and what you'll be doing: 

As a Lead Application Modernization Consultant at Ensono, you will lead an agile delivery team or a significant workstream within a larger program, owning technical outcomes, delivery quality, and the developer experience. You will remain hands-on across architecture, design, and development while ensuring solutions achieve measurable business outcomes for our clients.

You will strengthen the Connected Services competency by advancing standards, documentation, and reusable modernization patterns, and by supporting discovery, assessments, and pre-sales activities as needed.

You will also coach and mentor engineers in modern development practices, including the responsible use of AI assistants and agents, while fostering a collaborative, psychologically safe environment that prioritizes intent, quality, accountability, and learning.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead an agile delivery team or significant workstream within a larger program, owning technical outcomes and the developer experience while ensuring solutions deliver measurable business outcomes for clients.
  • Own technical and delivery risk within your scope, proactively identifying, tracking, and mitigating risks related to legacy dependencies, migration patterns, new technologies, and AI-assisted approaches.
  • Remain hands-on in architecture, design, and development while overseeing multiple work packages and ensuring solutions align with agreed architectures, engineering standards, and Ensono best practices.
  • Drive application modernization efforts by assessing legacy codebases, building application and capability inventories, and recommending appropriate dispositions, including rehost, refactor, re-platform, retire, retain, or replace.
  • Develop assessments and target-state designs that provide clients with a clear, credible path from legacy environments to modernized solutions.
  • Lead discovery and planning activities with clients to define problem statements, desired business outcomes, success criteria, technical constraints, and delivery priorities.
  • Champion spec-driven development by clearly documenting requirements, architectural intent, non-functional expectations, architecture decision records (ADRs), and acceptance criteria.
  • Promote a modern developer experience, including the effective and responsible use of AI-assisted tools to accelerate legacy analysis and improve productivity, quality, and feedback cycles.
  • Maintain strong engineering judgment and accountability while ensuring key architectural and delivery decisions are transparent and well documented.
  • Provide technical leadership within the Connected Services competency, setting clear expectations for engineering quality, delivery, and developer experience.

We want all new Associates to succeed in their roles at Ensono. That's why we've outlined the job requirements below. To be considered for this role, it's important that you meet all Required Qualifications. If you do not meet all of the Preferred Qualifications, we still encourage you to apply. 

What You Will Need:

  • 7+ years of progressive software engineering, application development, or related experience, including 3+ years in application modernization, cloud architecture, or technical delivery leadership.
  • Demonstrated experience leading modernization of large-scale, complex, high-availability applications, including cloud-native and microservices architectures.
  • Hands-on proficiency in at least one mainstream programming language, such as Java, .NET, or Python, with the ability to analyze and reason through legacy codebases.
  • Experience assessing legacy application estates, developing application inventories, and recommending modernization strategies such as rehost, refactor, re-platform, retire, retain, or replace.
  • Experience leading solution design and translating business requirements into technical architectures, specifications, ADRs, acceptance criteria, and executable delivery plans.
  • Strong experience designing distributed systems on Azure, AWS, or GCP, including architectural trade-offs, scalability, availability, performance, and other non-functional requirements.
  • Experience establishing engineering standards and quality practices, including automation, testing, documentation, quality gates, and reusable development patterns.
  • Demonstrated experience identifying and managing technical, architectural, and delivery risks across the software development lifecycle.
  • Experience using AI-assisted development tools to support code analysis, development, testing, documentation, or modernization while maintaining engineering oversight and accountability.
  • Demonstrated experience providing technical leadership, coaching, and mentorship to engineers while maintaining accountability for quality and delivery.
  • Strong client-facing communication skills with the ability to provide clear technical direction, explain architectural decisions, and align teams around desired outcomes.
  • Proven ownership of technical outcomes, including clear documentation, continuous improvement, and development of reusable engineering assets.

Bonus Qualifications

  • Experience supporting application modernization discovery, assessments, solutioning, or pre-sales activities.
  • Experience creating reusable engineering assets, standards, reference architectures, documentation, or modernization patterns across multiple engagements.
  • Experience supporting technical interviews, engineering assessments, or broader capability-building initiatives.
  • Experience working with AI-assisted development tools or agents in enterprise software engineering environments.
  • Relevant cloud or architecture certifications from Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.

Why Ensono?

Ensono is a place to make better happen – for our clients and for your career. You can do great things through innovation or collaboration, by learning or volunteering, or to promote diversity and inclusion. You can do great things for your own health or for a healthier planet. Whatever it means to you to do great things we want Ensono to be the place you can do it. 

We are a client-facing business, but we do encourage clients to allow us to work remotely most of the time so if you are not required to be on a client site, you can choose to work from home or in our Ensono offices.

Some of our benefits include:

  • Unlimited Paid Days Off
  • Three health plan options
  • 401k with company match
  • Eligibility for dental, vision, short and long-term disability, life and AD&D coverage, and flexible spending accounts
  • Family Forming Benefit including fertility coverage and adoption/surrogacy reimbursement
  • Paid childbearing and paternal leave
  • Education Reimbursement, Student Loan Assistance or 529 College Funding
  • Sabbatical leave
  • Wellness program
  • Flexible work schedule


As of the date of this posting, a good faith estimate of the current pay scale for this role is $125,000 to $168,000 annually based on a full-time schedule. Please note that placement in the range may vary based on numerous factors including but not limited to skills, experience, internal equity, and business needs. In addition to base salary, other compensation programs, depending on eligibility, include an annual bonus plan based on company and individual performance, and an equity grant under our Associate Equity Appreciation Program.

Ensono is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We are committed to providing equal employment to our Associates and building a diverse and inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected basis, in accordance with applicable law.

Pay transparency nondiscrimination statement/posting OFCCP’s pay transparency policy can be found on OFCCP’s website.

If you need accommodation at any point during the application or interview process, please let your recruiter know or email USTalentAcquisition@ensono.com.

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