Director of Engineering

Pivot + Edge; Ottawa; On-site; CAD 185,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Pivot + Edge seeks a Director of Engineering to lead our software engineering function and shape its long-term direction. You will establish the engineering strategy, oversee complex programs, and ensure technology, people, processes and investments align with priorities and customer needs.

You’ll lead engineering managers and professionals, foster an inclusive high-performance culture, and champion modern practices for secure, scalable software in a safety-critical environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience defining and implementing software or technology strategies aligned with business objectives.
• Track record leading development of complex, high-quality software or systems.
• Experience managing budgets, resources, and workforce planning for engineering functions.
• Strong governance, metrics, and reporting discipline across large teams.
• Experience with safety-critical, mission-critical, or regulated environments is preferred.
• Ability to communicate technical topics to executive and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the engineering strategy and multi-year roadmap across software, hardware, and systems.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership for engineering functions including design and workforce planning.
• Lead and develop engineering managers and teams to foster accountability, collaboration, and performance.
• Oversee portfolios of development initiatives with budgets, schedules, and life-cycle management.
• Ensure adherence to secure SDLC, quality standards, and applicable regulatory obligations.
• Establish governance, KPIs, and reporting for delivery, quality, and capacity.
• Deliver high-quality, secure, reliable, scalable software products and solutions.
• Provide executive oversight of risk and mitigation plans; align technology investments with customer needs.

Skills

Software architectures

Distributed systems

Embedded systems

RTOS

Cloud technologies

Microservices

DevOps

CI/CD

Secure SDLC

Cybersecurity compliance

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in software engineering, CS, EE, or CE

Master’s degree or technology/management qualification asset

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Bitbucket

Jama

Microsoft Project

Job description

Our client is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the software engineering function and shape its long-term direction. As a senior leader, you will establish the engineering strategy, provide oversight for complex software development programs, and ensure that their technology, people, processes, and investments support organizational priorities and customer needs.

You will lead and develop engineering managers and technical professionals, foster a high-performing and inclusive culture, and collaborate closely with Product Management, Project Management, Operations, Quality, and Security. You will also champion modern engineering practices, operational excellence, innovation, and the delivery of secure, resilient, and scalable software solutions in a safety-critical environment.

The position is open to Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents.

Key Tasks

• Define and execute the engineering strategy (Software / Hardware / Systems) and multi-year roadmap in alignment with our client’s business objectives, product priorities, and Group technology direction.

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the engineering functions, including organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, talent development, and capability building.

• Lead, coach, and develop engineering managers, technical leaders, and development teams while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, high performance and continuous learning.

• Oversee a portfolio of development initiatives ensuring priorities, resources, dependencies, budgets, schedules, delivery commitments and life cycle management objectives are effectively managed & met.

• Ensure adherence to our client development processes, secure software development practices, quality standards, software assurance requirements, and applicable regulatory or certification obligations.

• Establish governance, key performance indicators, and reporting mechanisms to monitor engineering delivery, product quality, operational effectiveness, workforce capacity, and continuous improvement.

• Ensure the timely delivery of high-quality, secure, reliable, maintainable, and scalable software products and solutions.

• Provide executive-level oversight of technical, delivery, quality, security, and operational risks and ensure that appropriate mitigation and escalation plans are implemented.

• Partner with Product Management, Project Management, Operations, Quality, Sales, and other stakeholders to align technology investments and engineering priorities with customer and business needs.

• Collaborate with our clients’ technology and engineering organizations to promote common standards, reusable platforms, knowledge sharing, and effective integration across organizational boundaries.

• Guide major architectural and technology decisions, including the responsible evaluation and adoption of cloud, microservices, automation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

• Drive improvements to engineering processes, tools, development environments, developer experience, productivity, and software lifecycle maturity.

• Establish resource plans and manage the engineering budget, including staffing, contractors, tools, infrastructure, and other departmental investments.

• Represent our client’s Engineering in leadership forums and communicate strategy, priorities, progress, risks, decisions, and performance to senior management and key stakeholders.

• Support customer, partner, audit, proposal, and business-development activities by providing credible senior-level technical and organizational leadership when required.

Key Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in software engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field. A master’s degree or additional qualification in technology, business, or management is considered an asset.

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in software development, engineering, or product development, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role with responsibility for managers, multiple teams, or a significant engineering function.

• Demonstrated experience defining and implementing software engineering or technology strategies that support organizational objectives and sustainable growth.

• Proven record of leading the development and delivery of complex, high-quality software products or integrated software-intensive systems.

• Experience managing departmental budgets, resource allocation, organizational capacity, portfolio priorities, and workforce planning.

• Strong knowledge of modern software architectures, distributed systems, embedded systems, RTOS, cloud technologies, microservices, DevOps, continuous integration and continuous delivery, and secure software development practices.

• Experience with software assurance, quality management, cybersecurity, compliance, or certification requirements in safety-critical, mission-critical, or otherwise regulated environments is strongly preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to improve engineering governance, processes, performance measures, development environments, and organizational effectiveness.

• Strong business and financial acumen, with the ability to connect engineering decisions and investments to customer value, risk, quality, and business outcomes.

• Exceptional leadership and people-management skills, including experience coaching managers, developing technical leaders, supporting succession planning, and building high-performing teams.

• Excellent judgment and decision-making ability, with a demonstrated capacity to manage ambiguity, competing priorities, and complex organizational or technical risks.

• Excellent communication, influence, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to executive, customer, and non-technical audiences.

• Experience working effectively in a matrixed, international, or cross-functional organization.

• Experience with software development methodologies and tools such as Agile, Scrum, tools (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Jama) and Microsoft Project.

Benefits

We offer you long-term career opportunities with a corporate culture where you count as a person. Guided by values such as partnership and mutual respect we attach importance to a team-oriented working atmosphere. We value fair and good working conditions. We offer an exciting work environment and a range of benefits focused on work-life balance, professional development and flexibility.

Compensation:

Compensation for this position ranges from $185,000 to $215,000 annually plus a bonus, and will be determined based on the successful candidate's skills, experience, and qualifications.