Director of Engineering - infrastructure & Operations

Motive; Vancouver; Hybrid; CAD 229,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Pharmacy, optical and dental care

Paid time off

Disability coverage

401k contribution

Job summary

Motive is seeking a seasoned engineering leader to head Core Infrastructure and Operations Engineering. You will manage a multi-disciplinary team across SRE, Operations, Data & AI Platform, and Database Engineering, owning the cloud platform and driving enterprise-grade reliability for mission-critical systems.

You will define multi-quarter initiatives, partner with product leaders, and drive platform as a product while balancing long-term architecture with business needs.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in software/infrastructure engineering with 5+ years leading Infra/SRE/ops orgs.
• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent required.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with ownership mindset.
• Deep experience with AWS at scale and cost optimization.
• High fluency with AI platforms (LLM governance) and integration.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale a high-performing engineering team for core platform systems.
• Define multi-quarter platform initiatives to improve reliability and leverage.
• Partner with product/engineering to evolve the platform as a product.
• Turn ambiguous, high-impact problems into clear execution plans.
• Drive alignment across teams for complex, interdependent systems.
• Raise the bar on engineering quality and operational excellence.

Skills

Infra/SRE leadership

AWS at scale

AI platforms governance

leadership across time zones

vendor & cost governance

Education

Degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

AWS

AI platforms management

Job description

Director of Engineering - infrastructure & Operations

Who we are:

Motive empowers the people who run physical operations with tools to make their work safer, more productive, and more profitable. For the first time ever, safety, operations and finance teams can manage their drivers, vehicles, equipment, and fleet related spend in a single system. Combined with industry leading AI, the Motive platform gives you complete visibility and control, and significantly reduces manual workloads by automating and simplifying tasks.

Motive serves nearly 100,000 customers – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses – across a wide range of industries, including transportation and logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, retail, and the public sector.

We are looking for a seasoned engineering leader who will lead the Core Infrastructure and Operations Engineering. You will be responsible for managing and mentoring a multi-functional team across SRE, Operations, Data & AI Platform, and Database Engineering. You will own our cloud platform, run infrastructure as a product, and drive enterprise-grade reliability for mission‑critical systems. As an engineering leader you’ll be be called on to lead during critical moments and operate with executives of the company

What You’ll Do:

• Lead and scale a high-performing engineering team responsible for core platform systems used across the company
• Define and drive multi-quarter platform initiatives that improve system reliability, and product leverage
• Partner closely with product and engineering leaders to evolve the platform as a product, balancing long-term architecture with near-term business needs
• Take ambiguous, high-impact problem areas (e.g., system scalability, reliability, platform abstractions) and turn them into clear execution plans
• Drive alignment across multiple teams working on complex, interdependent systems including internal platforms, infrastructure as well as cloud governance.
• Raise the bar on engineering quality, operational excellence, and execution across the platform organization

What We’re Looking For:

• 12+ years in software/infrastructure engineering, including 5+ years leading Infra/SRE/ops orgs and managing managers with a strong sense for systems architecture.
• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent
• Ability to collaborate and work effectively cross functionally with a strong sense of ownership
• Deep experience with AWS at scale (VPC, IAM, multi‑account, core services, observability, cost optimization).
• High AI fluency – able to evaluate, integrate, and govern LLM/AI platforms (AWS Bedrock, Anthropic/Claude, OpenAI) for engineering and ops.
• Experience in interfacing with vendors, partners and cost governance
• Experience and strong understanding of databases and data platforms (OLTP and analytics), Data and ML/AI infrastructure.
• Proven record running high‑reliability platforms (SLOs, incidents, on‑call, postmortems). Experience driving processes and programs to raise the bar and engineering excellence
• Clear communication skills and ability to manage escalations with CEO-level visibility
• Track record of running infrastructure as a product (roadmaps, stakeholder comms, adoption).
• Nice to have
• Background in B2B SaaS or other high‑reliability domains (payments, logistics, safety).
• Leadership of global, distributed teams across time zones.

Pay Transparency

Your compensation may be based on several factors, including education, work experience, and certifications. For certain roles, total compensation may include restricted stock units. Motive offers benefits including health, pharmacy, optical and dental care benefits, paid time off, sick time off, short term and long term disability coverage, life insurance as well as 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). Learn more about our benefits by visiting Motive Perks & Benefits.

The compensation range for this position will depend on where you reside. For this role, the compensation range is:

Canada

$229,000 - $300,000 CAD

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is one of Motive's core values. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.

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All job postings are for existing vacancies. Please note; some interviews or new-hire training sessions may be held in person at one of our global offices.