Software Engineering Manager

kadence; Toronto; On-site; CAD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Kadence seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a Forward Deployed Engineering team building AI-powered solutions for the legal industry. You will blend technical leadership with people management and customer engagement while staying hands-on with modern AI systems.

You will guide cross-functional teams, shape architecture, and drive AI methodologies from concept to scalable production, delivering practical patterns and repeatable success for complex client needs.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering, solutions engineering, or related field; at least 2 years in people leadership.
• Experience leading forward deployed, field, or customer-facing engineering teams.
• Strong customer-facing background: technical discovery, architecture presentations, solution design, and stakeholder communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple cross-functional Forward Deployed Engineering project teams and ensure effective execution.
• Architect and guide scalable, secure AI and software solutions across the full development lifecycle.
• Drive innovation in AI methodologies, MLOps, LLMOps, testing, monitoring, debugging and evaluation.
• Hire, coach, mentor engineers and foster a culture of technical growth and high performance.
• Lead discovery and translate customer requirements into practical AI solutions.
• Develop rapid proofs of concept and pilots and convert successful approaches into repeatable patterns.
• Own technical delivery across projects, remove blockers, and assist with priorities and budgets.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, and Technical Operations to align with roadmap.

Skills

Leadership

Python

AWS (Bedrock CDK EKS ECR)

CI/CD

Docker

Datadog

Stakeholder communication

Tools

Bedrock

CDK

EKS

ECR

Docker

SQL

Datadog

Job description

We are looking for a technically strong, people-focused Engineering Manager to lead a Forward Deployed Engineering team building and scaling AI-powered solutions across the legal industry. This is an opportunity to combine technical leadership, people management, customer engagement, and hands-on work with modern AI systems.

About the Role

• Lead multiple cross-functional Forward Deployed Engineering project teams, ensuring effective execution and resolving technical or delivery challenges
• Architect and guide scalable, secure AI and software solutions across the full development lifecycle
• Drive innovation across AI methodologies, MLOps, LLMOps, testing, monitoring, debugging, and evaluation
• Hire, coach, mentor, and develop engineers while establishing a culture of technical growth and high performance
• Lead discovery and translate complex customer requirements into practical AI solutions
• Guide the development of rapid proofs of concept and pilots, turning successful approaches into repeatable frameworks and engineering patterns
• Own technical delivery across multiple projects, removing blockers, supporting project leads, and managing priorities and budgets where applicable
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, and Technical Operations to ensure customer needs inform the broader product roadmap

About You

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, solutions engineering, or a related technical field, including at least 2 years in a formal or informal people leadership capacity
• Experience leading and developing forward deployed, field, solutions, or customer-facing engineering teams
• A strong customer-facing background, including technical discovery, architecture presentations, solution design, and communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• A track record of scoping, building, and demonstrating rapid proofs of concept and pilots against ambiguous or evolving requirements
• Strong Python development skills and hands-on AWS experience, including services such as Bedrock, CDK, EKS, and ECR
• Experience owning CI/CD pipelines and enterprise deployment platforms, with familiarity across Docker, SQL, database migrations, and observability tools such as Datadog
• Direct experience building and deploying LLM-powered agents, from requirements gathering and solution design through implementation, integration, production handoff, and ongoing optimization
• Experience with agent guardrails, security design, evaluation frameworks, quality testing, backend and frontend development, infrastructure, and production observability
• The ability to translate customer-specific technical challenges into structured feedback that influences product strategy and reusable engineering practices
• Familiarity with legal technology, document review, contract lifecycle management, legal research, or other regulated industries is a plus

This is an opportunity to lead a high-impact technical team at the intersection of AI, software engineering, and customer delivery while helping build systems that professionals can trust with sensitive information.