Director, Technology

BDC; Montreal; Hybrid; CAD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Pension plan

Wellness & health spending account

Employee Savings & Investment Plan

Job summary

BDC is hiring a senior technology leader to guide the Mission AI initiative, architect the AI platform, and drive delivery for Canadian SMEs. You will manage a hybrid team, balance build/buy decisions, and advance secure, scalable AI solutions in a regulated environment.

You will recruit and mentor AI engineers, partner with vendors, and ensure timely milestones from MVP to nationwide rollout. A strong coding discipline and strategic business acumen are essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software development.
• 7+ years in technical leadership.
• Active coder on a daily basis.
• Ability to deploy to production independently.
• Advanced AI expertise with products based on large language models (agents, RAG, evaluations).
• Knowledge of model ecosystems (commercial/open-source/Canadian).
• Proficiency in cloud architecture, APIs, data pipelines, and application security.
• Ability to explain technical risk to a business stakeholder.

Responsibilities

• Define architecture, data model, security requirements, and delivery plan.
• Deliver diagnostic MVP and test with pilot SMEs.
• Hire AI developers and establish development/evaluation practices.
• Lead AI platform development and governance.
• Oversee vendor management and platform operations; ensure security and availability.

Skills

Software leadership

Engineering leadership

Cloud architecture

AI/ML expertise

Production coding

APIs & pipelines

Security governance

Vendor evaluation

Job description

We Are Banking At Another Level.

We Are Banking At Another Level.

Choosing BDC as your employer means working in a healthy, inclusive, and skilled workplace that puts forward the best conditions to bring together unique teams where employees are empowered to act. It also means being at the centre of ambitious economic and financial projects to see further and to do things differently, to fuel the success of Canadian entrepreneurs.

Choosing BDC As Your Employer Also Means

• Flexible and competitive benefits, including an Employee Savings and Investment Plan where BDC matches part of your voluntary contributions, a Defined Benefit Pension Plan, a $750 wellness and health care spending account, to name a few
• In addition to paid vacation each year, five personal days, sick days as necessary, and our offices are closed from December 25 to January 1
• A hybrid work model that truly balances work and personal life
• Opportunities for learning, training and development, and much more...

Explore the BDC Way in our Culture Book

Position Overview

BDC Mission AI helps small and medium-sized businesses identify their needs, matches them with Canadian AI solutions, and tests these tools in real-world business settings. To do this, we’re building a self-sufficient and agile AI platform, moving at a startup’s pace.

CHALLENGES TO BE MET

• AI Architecture and Platform
• Define the architecture and technology roadmap for the AI platform, including decisions on whether to build, buy, or partner.
• Deliver platform milestones, from the diagnostic MVP to its phased rollout to Canadian SMEs.
• Establish AI system evaluation, human oversight, and tracking of operating costs.
• Development and Team Leadership
• Recruit, lead, and develop the AI development team; establish best practices for delivery, quality, and AI-assisted development.
• Internal and External Technology
• Develop the team’s internal tools: radar, pilot tracking, and metrics dashboards.
• Provide the team with AI agents and automations that increase their autonomy and productivity; make Mission AI a model for AI-driven work.
• Manage technology vendors and platform operations: availability, access, security, and disaster recovery.
• Integrate BDC systems only when necessary, using lightweight connections.
• Obtain BDC’s security and data protection approvals without slowing down delivery.
• Conduct technical due diligence on investments: architecture, code quality, AI defensibility, data, security, intellectual property, costs, and scalability.
• Evaluate the security and integrability of solutions with the relevant teams prior to approval.
• Metrics and Data
• Measure usage and productivity gains at 3, 6, and 12 months.
• Conduct assessments and create a dynamic map of SMB needs.

Priorities for the First 90 Days

• Define the architecture, data model, security requirements, and delivery plan.
• Deliver the diagnostic MVP and test it with pilot SMEs.
• Hire the first AI developers and establish development and evaluation practices.

What Success Looks Like (12–18 Months)

• Platform milestones achieved, from the MVP to nationwide rollout.
• Quality of AI recommendations and responses, reliability, cost per diagnosis.
• Technical deliverables completed on schedule; team autonomy.

What We’re Looking For

• 10 or more years in software development
• At least 7 years in technical leadership as well
• Someone who still codes on a daily basis
• Active developer: proficiency in a modern programming language and the ability to deploy to production independently.
• Advanced AI expertise: products in production based on large language models (agents, RAG, evaluations, costs, and performance).
• Knowledge of the model ecosystem (commercial, open-source, and Canadian) and the ability to select the right model for the use case.
• Proficiency in cloud architecture, APIs, data pipelines, and application security.
• Ability to explain a technical risk to a business stakeholder and to critically evaluate a startup or vendor.

Assets

• Experience as a CTO or founding engineer at a startup or scale-up: strongly preferred.
• Technical due diligence for investments (funds, venture studios, acquisitions).
• Visible contributions: open-source projects, technical publications, launched AI products.
• Knowledge of security requirements in regulated environments (financial institutions or government).

What Will Make The Difference

• Pragmatic builder: prototypes in days, deploys to production in weeks.
• Stays at the cutting edge of AI and applies it practically, without chasing every trend.
• Keeps the user in focus: an SME owner with no IT staff or spare time.
• Builds a platform where AI is the driving force, not an add-on, and empowers the entire team to work differently.

Why join BDC?

Combine the scale and mission of a national development bank with the autonomy of a startup. You’ll contribute to one of BDC’s most ambitious initiatives and shape the adoption of AI by Canadian SMEs.

Proudly one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers, we are committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible environment where all employees can thrive and feel empowered to bring their whole selves to work. If you require an accommodation to complete your application, please do not hesitate to contact us at [e-mail].

While we appreciate all applications, we advise that only the candidates selected to participate in the recruitment process will be contacted.