Head of Engineering

SkyWatch; Kitchener; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading earth observation technology company in Canada is seeking a Head of Engineering to guide its engineering team through transformative changes. This is a hands-on technical leader role, emphasizing not only management but also direct contributions to software development. The ideal candidate will champion modern engineering practices, leverage AI-assisted development tools, and ensure a productive work environment. What you build here can have a direct impact on diverse applications, from climate monitoring to national defense.

Qualifications

• Ability to build software and manage engineering practices effectively.
• Experience in implementing meaningful process changes.
• Proficient with AI-assisted development tools.
• Strong skills in people management and team leadership.
• Familiar with cloud-native platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead the engineering team in developing software products.
• Design and improve engineering processes and standards.
• Integrate AI tools into engineering workflows.
• Manage workflow from product intent to production.
• Invest in engineering infrastructure for long-term productivity.

Skills

Hands-on technical depth

Experience leading engineering teams

Fluency with AI-assisted development

People leadership skills

Experience with cloud-native architectures

Job description

Company Description:

SkyWatch is at the forefront of revolutionizing how earth observation data is accessed and utilized globally. Our innovative platform empowers businesses, researchers, and governments to easily integrate satellite data into their operations, driving informed decision-making and unlocking new opportunities for growth and efficiency. Founded on the principle of democratizing access to space-based technology, SkyWatch provides a seamless interface that aggregates data from numerous satellite sources, offering unparalleled access and insights. Whether monitoring agriculture, managing infrastructure, or advancing scientific research, our scalable solutions cater to diverse industries with a commitment to reliability, security, and sustainability.

Our Products:

Our suite of applications is tailored to meet the diverse needs of users on the SkyWatch platform. Whether you are an individual purchasing data for a project, a business seeking to store and share geospatial data, a GIS specialist in need of imagery for maps or workflows, a developer looking to build innovative solutions with our API, or a data provider seeking to sell to our user network, you can do it with SkyWatch.

Our Culture:

Culture is the personality of a company. It is our company's shared beliefs, values, and practices. At SkyWatch, our culture is incredibly important to us, and we practice it every day. Both as a company and in our products, we value simplicity, dependability, and empathy. Let’s face it — the best jobs boil down to a handful of things: getting the chance to work with amazing people in a great culture with leaders who have your back while pursuing a vision that you can get passionate about.Please note that SkyWatch may use AI throughout various portions of the talent process.

The Role

We are looking for a Head of Engineering to lead our engineering team through a period of meaningful evolution in how we build software. This is not a management-only position. You are a technical leader first — someone who earns credibility by building, not just directing. You will own engineering operations, delivery, people leadership, and the developer experience. You will work closely with the CTO, who focuses on technology strategy and customer-facing work, and the CPO, who owns the product roadmap. Your job is to make the team excellent at turning product intent into production software, quickly and reliably. The right person for this role has strong opinions about modern engineering practices, is already using AI-assisted development tools productively, and is excited about building the systems and culture that let a small team punch well above its weight.

What You'll Do

Lead the team

Own people leadership for the full engineering team: 1:1s, career development, performance management, hiring, and team health. Build a culture of ownership, customer empathy, and technical craftsmanship. Manage a team that includes experienced senior engineers with strong technical opinions.

Own how we build

Design and evolve our engineering processes, tooling, and quality standards. Build internal scaffolding, templates, and guardrails that make it easy to do the right thing and hard to do the wrong thing. Invest in automated quality controls that catch problems before they reach anyone downstream. You care about cycle time, developer experience, and the gap between intent and production.

Champion modern tooling

We believe AI-assisted development is a genuine multiplier for small teams, not a novelty. You should already be using these tools effectively and have a point of view on how to integrate them into real engineering workflows. You will lead by example and help the team adopt new practices at a pace that builds confidence rather than resistance.

Drive delivery

Own the flow of work from intent to production. Make sure the team is working on the right things in the right order. Unblock people when they are stuck. Work with product leadership to ensure decision gates keep work aligned with customer needs without becoming bottlenecks.

Build engineering infrastructure

Invest in the systems that make the team more productive over time: CI/CD pipelines, testing infrastructure, service documentation, onboarding tooling, and security scanning. The goal is a codebase and development environment that any engineer can navigate and contribute to quickly.

Scope & Boundaries

This role has clear boundaries with the CTO and CPO. You own how we build. The CTO owns technology strategy, key partnerships, and customer-facing technical work. The CPO owns what we build and why. You collaborate closely with both, but you are the authority on engineering operations, process, and team leadership.

What We're Looking For

You should have

• Hands-on technical depth. You can build, not just manage. You write code, review architecture, and earn the respect of strong engineers through your craft.
• Experience leading engineering teams through meaningful process or tooling changes — not just maintaining the status quo.
• Real fluency with AI-assisted development. You are already using these tools productively, not just evaluating them.
• People leadership skills that go beyond scheduling stand-ups. You can coach, give hard feedback, navigate strong personalities, and build trust.
• Experience with cloud-native, serverless architectures.
• A bias toward building internal tooling and developer experience as a force multiplier for the team.

Bonus points

• Experience in geospatial, Earth observation, or data platform domains.
• Familiarity with government compliance and certification requirements.
• Experience transitioning engineering work from external vendors to in-house teams.
• Background building internal platforms, developer tooling, or engineering enablement Systems.

Why This Role

This is a building role, not a caretaking role. You are joining at a moment where the engineering organization is being deliberately reshaped, and you will have real authority to define how it works. The team is small enough that your decisions have immediate, visible impact, and the domain is genuinely interesting — satellite imagery touches problems from climate monitoring to food security to national defense. You will work alongside a CTO who is stepping back from day-to-day engineering leadership to focus on strategy and customers, giving you real ownership rather than a shared steering wheel.

Accessibility at SkyWatch

At SkyWatch, we believe every candidate deserves a fair and inclusive experience. If you require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, please let us know — we're happy to work with you to ensure your needs are met.

To request an accommodation, please advise any member of the talent team or contact us at [e-mail].