Head of Engineering

Martyn Bassett Associates; Toronto; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Martyn Bassett Associates is seeking a Head of Engineering for a client in Toronto to join the executive team and own engineering strategy and delivery. This senior leadership role bridges the founders and the development team, with a 40/60 split between strategy and hands-on work.

You will establish processes, drive technical vision, and scale the engineering org from 5 to 20+ while contributing to production code when it matters.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience including 5+ years in leadership roles.
• Scaled engineering teams from 5 to 20+ with hiring strategy and org design.
• Strong hands-on experience with TypeScript/Node.js/NestJS; comfortable with live coding.
• Experience with MongoDB and AWS services; fintech/payments/regulatory exposure a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead as Head of Engineering, bridging founders and the developer team.
• Own engineering strategy, technical vision, and delivery.
• Scale the engineering team from 5 to 20+ and establish best practices.
• Unblock the team with hands-on coding when necessary; set high technical standards.

Skills

Software engineering

Engineering leadership

B2B SaaS

Hands-on coding

Tools

TypeScript/Node.js/NestJS

MongoDB

AWS (ECS/Fargate, DynamoDB, S3, Lambda, CloudWatch)

Job description

Our client delivers digital identity, income verification, and pre-qualification solutions tailored to automotive finance dealers and lenders. Its mobile identity verification platform helps combat fraud in vehicle financing through an intuitive smartphone application powered by advanced artificial intelligence, biometric authentication, and anti-fraud technology.

The Opportunity:

• You will join as the first-ever Head of Engineering, as the bridge between the Founders and the Developer team.
• This is a senior leadership seat you will join the executive team, partner directly with the CEO, and have end-to-end ownership of engineering strategy, team growth, technical vision, and delivery.
• You will operate as a hands‑on technical leader with a 40/60 split between strategic leadership and individual contribution setting the technical bar, unblocking the team, and diving into production code and complex problems when it matters.
• You will put in place process and people best practices, and grow the Engineering team from 5 to 20+ in the near term.
• You can commute to a downtown Toronto office at least once a week.

The Skills/Requirement Needed to Succeed:

• You have 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in engineering leadership roles (Engineering Manager, Director, Head/VP of Engineering) within a B2B SaaS product company.
• You have scaled engineering teams from small to mid-size (5 → 20+) in the past, building the hiring strategy, org design, and developing technical leads.
• You have strong hands‑on experience with TypeScript/Node.js/NestJS at your most recent role, and are comfortable doing a live Coding assignment within that framework. You've additionally used MongoDB, and have deep knowledge of the AWS ecosystem (ECS/Fargate, DynamoDB, S3, Lambda, CloudWatch).
• Any experience working in fintech, payments, or regulated environments with a focus on compliance (SOC 2, PCI DSS, AML/KYC) will be strongly preferred.