Software Developer Manager

Lotlinx; Oakville, Winnipeg; Hybrid; CAD 135,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading automotive technology firm is seeking a hybrid leadership role that balances people management and hands-on technical guidance. The ideal candidate will manage a small engineering team, drive the technical roadmap, and contribute to building innovative AI systems. Responsibilities include mentoring engineers, managing dependencies, and guiding architectural design. Candidates should have 4+ years of management experience, expertise in AI/ML, and proficiency in Python or Java. The salary range is CAD 135,000 - CAD 150,000, with bonuses available.

Benefits

Competitive compensation

Flex time off

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in a direct management role, leading a team of software engineers.
• Experience working on AI/ML-driven products and understanding the ML lifecycle.
• Practical experience designing and maintaining microservice-based architectures.
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or Java.
• Hands-on experience with AWS and Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

• Mentor and lead a 5-person engineering team, providing feedback and guidance.
• Own the team's technical roadmap and agile processes.
• Serve as point of contact for managing dependencies and clearing roadblocks.
• Lead technical design reviews and guide the building of microservices.

Skills

Leadership

AI/ML Development

Microservices Architecture

Cloud Computing

Team Management

Technical Communication

Kubernetes

Tools

Python

Java

AWS

Kubernetes

LangChain

Job description

Since our founding in 2012, Lotlinx has consistently pioneered advancements in the automotive landscape. We specialize in empowering automobile dealers and manufacturers by providing cutting-edge data and technology, delivering a distinct market advantage for every single vehicle transaction. Today, we stand as the foremost automotive AI and machine learning powered technology, excelling in digital marketing, risk management, and strategic inventory management.

Lotlinx provides employees with a dynamic work environment that is challenging, team-oriented, and full of passionate people. We offer great incentives to our employees, such as competitive compensation and benefits, flex time off, and career development opportunities.

Team Summary

We are expanding beyond our current suite of data-driven products, moving from powerful chatbots to a comprehensive, Agentic AI approach that will be leveraged in every aspect of our business. The AI Platform team is the backbone of this transformation. This team of five talented, multi-disciplinary engineers builds and maintains the core infrastructure and services that all our AI/ML initiatives depend on. We are seeking a dedicated leader to manage, mentor, and develop this critical team.

Role Summary

This is a hybrid leadership role, not a pure "hands-off" manager position. We're looking for a player/coach who will split their time between 60% people leadership & project management and 40% hands-on technical guidance & architecture.You will be responsible for ensuring the productivity of your team. You will partner directly with Product Management to define the roadmap and provide the architectural vision and mentorship to ensure your team builds scalable, reliable, and cutting-edge solutions.

Responsibilities

Leadership & Management (60%):

• Mentor & Lead: Manage the performance and career growth of a 5-person engineering team. Provide continuous feedback, coaching, and mentorship.
• Prioritize & Execute: Own the team's technical roadmap and agile processes. Work closely with product managers and stakeholders to translate ambitious business goals into an actionable, prioritized backlog.
• Collaborate & Unblock: Serve as the primary point of contact for your team, managing dependencies, clearing roadblocks, and fostering a culture of collaboration and accountability.
• Communicate: Effectively communicate your team's progress, technical vision, and challenges to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Resolve Conflict: Skillfully manage team dynamics and facilitate healthy, constructive resolutions to disagreements.

Technical & Architectural (40%):

• Architectural Guidance: Lead technical design reviews and guide the team in building robust, scalable microservices on AWS.
• Hands-On Contribution: Stay in the code. Review PRs, spike new technologies, and contribute to critical components to set a high bar for quality and maintain your technical credibility.
• Set the Standard: Own the technical stack, ensuring we effectively leverage Python, Java, AWS, Kubernetes, and LangChain.
• Drive Quality: Instill best practices for code quality, testing, CI/CD, and observability within your team to ensure optimal performance.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in a direct management role, leading a team of software engineers.
• Critical AI/ML Experience: A strong technical background and demonstrable experience working on AI/ML-driven products. You must understand the ML lifecycle and the practical challenges of building AI systems.
• Microservices Mastery: Deep, practical experience designing, building, and maintaining complex microservice-based architectures.
• Technical Versatility: Strong proficiency in Python AND/OR Java, with professional comfort working in both.
• Cloud & Container Fluency: Proven, hands-on experience with AWS services and container orchestration using Kubernetes.

Nice-to-Haves

• Direct, hands-on experience with LLM orchestration frameworks like LangChain.
• Familiarity with React frontends (to understand the needs of your API consumers).
• A strong interest or background in Agentic AI principles and RAG architectures.
• Experience in the automotive industry or a similar field with massive, complex datasets.

Why Join Us?

• Lead the Transformation: You won't just support the business; you'll lead the core team that is building its AI-driven future.
• Solve Novel Problems: This isn't a maintenance role. You'll be building cutting-edge AI systems on a modern stack.
• Make an Impact: Work with a unique, 15-year proprietary dataset to build products that provide clear value to our clients.
• Stay Technical: This role is designed for a leader who loves technology and wants to stay hands-on, guiding architecture and mentoring engineers directly.

The salary range for this position is $135,000 -$150,000 CAD, with an annual target bonus.

Lotlinx is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.

Lotlinx is not currently able to offer sponsorship for employment visa status.

Lotlinx is headquartered in Peterborough, NH and has locations in Holmdel NJ, Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia, Canada in addition to a large team spanning from the US to Canada.

Our success relies heavily on our customers but also our dedicated talent that continuously moves our platform forward. We value our employees, their abilities and seek to foster an open, cooperative, dynamic environment where the team and company alike can thrive.