Director, Engineering, Platform/Services

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, which manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Director, Engineering, Platform/Services based in the Canada .** The Director of Engineering will lead teams responsible for building and operating critical platforms that support millions of users worldwide. This remote leadership role combines technical strategy, organizational development, and hands-on architectural judgment to deliver reliable, secure, and scalable services. You will oversee core platform capabilities, including location and messaging services, cloud infrastructure, identity systems, and partner integrations. Working closely with Product, Security, Data, and Engineering leaders, you will align technology investments with business priorities and accelerate product innovation. You will anticipate scaling challenges, modernize existing systems, and establish high standards for reliability, performance, and cost efficiency. This is an opportunity to develop strong engineering leaders, foster accountability, and shape the technical foundations of a rapidly growing digital platform. ### Accountabilities - Lead engineering teams responsible for critical platform services, including location and messaging, cloud infrastructure, identity management, and partner ecosystems, ensuring systems can reliably support hundreds of millions of members. - Define technical direction and long-term platform strategy, anticipating architectural bottlenecks, reliability risks, and scalability challenges before they affect users. - Modernize legacy systems thoughtfully, balancing immediate business priorities with long-term investments in performance, security, scalability, and maintainability. - Establish and maintain high engineering standards for service availability, observability, incident response, security, and system resilience. - Build a culture of ownership and accountability in which teams proactively identify problems, make informed decisions, and continuously improve engineering quality. - Develop meaningful engineering metrics covering reliability, performance, infrastructure costs, security, and developer productivity, using data to guide investment decisions and communicate business impact. - Recruit, coach, and develop engineering managers, staff engineers, and technical leaders, empowering them to lead teams and deliver outcomes independently. - Build reusable services, APIs, and shared platforms that reduce duplication, improve developer productivity, and enable product teams to deliver features more quickly. - Expand partner capabilities through secure, scalable integrations that make it easier for external partners to build on the platform. - Connect engineering investments to measurable business outcomes, making informed trade-offs among reliability, scalability, cost, and delivery speed. - Collaborate with Product, Security, Data, and other Engineering leaders to align priorities, resolve ownership and resource conflicts, and translate business strategy into actionable roadmaps. - Represent engineering needs and technical risks to senior leadership, supporting strategic planning and cross-functional decision-making. - Remain engaged in architectural reviews and critical technical decisions while encouraging pragmatic problem-solving and sound engineering judgment. - Champion AI-assisted development, automation, and modern engineering practices to improve productivity, software quality, and delivery efficiency. ### Requirements: - At least 10 years of software engineering experience, including 5 or more years leading engineering teams. - Demonstrated experience managing engineering managers and developing leaders who can independently guide teams and make sound technical decisions. - A strong track record of leading backend or platform engineering for large-scale distributed systems serving millions of users, with B2B or B2C platform experience considered relevant. - Experience leading platform engineering initiatives across cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, and business-critical services; AWS experience is preferred. - Proven ability to translate company strategy into technical roadmaps and communicate engineering priorities, risks, and resource needs to senior leadership. - Experience modernizing legacy systems while balancing existing operational needs with long-term architectural improvements. - Strong cross-functional collaboration skills, including the ability to resolve ownership disagreements, competing priorities, and complex stakeholder challenges. - Excellent technical judgment and the ability to balance reliability, performance, scalability, security, cost, and delivery speed. - Demonstrated ability to build accountable, high-performing engineering teams and foster a culture of continuous improvement. - Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical decisions and their business implications. - Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent practical experience. ### Benefits: - Salary for US-based candidates: $216,500–$318,500 USD, with final compensation determined by experience, skills, job-related knowledge, and geographic location. - Equity compensation: Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) included as part of total compensation. - Healthcare coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance, with premiums fully paid for US employees. - Insurance protection: Life and disability insurance coverage. - Retirement savings: 401(k) plan with company matching. - Paid parental leave: Support for employees welcoming a new child. - Flexible time off: Flexible paid time off, companywide holidays, and scheduled summer and winter shutdowns. - Mental wellness support: Mental Wellness Program and Employee Assistance Program (EAP). - Professional development: Learning and development programs to support continued growth. - Remote work support: Equipment, tools, and reimbursement support to help employees maintain a productive remote working environment. - Membership perks: Complimentary premium membership and tracking devices. - Remote-first culture: A primarily remote working environment for eligible employees in the United States and Canada.