Director, Software Development

Job description

DIRECTOR, SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Calgary, AB — Full-time THE ROLE Financial software runs underneath the biggest decisions people make. When it's good, it saves real money over years. When it's not, those losses compound just as quietly. Most of it was built to capture value, not create it. Neo is building the alternative. Neo has been Canada's fastest-growing company three years running. The engineering organization behind that growth runs 150 services in production, deploys hundreds of times a week, and serves over one million customers on a platform built entirely in-house. A Director of Software Development at Neo leads multiple squads and the engineering managers running them. You're the connective layer between business priorities and what engineering actually delivers. That means staying close enough to the work to have credibility, while operating at the level where you're setting performance expectations, shaping the pipeline, and developing the leads who do the daily management. The scope is real. You're accountable for delivery, quality, tech debt balance, and the talent in your area. You'll own the 1-2 quarter planning horizon across your teams, keep the roadmap clear and prioritized, and make sure everyone knows what matters and why. You're present during incidents. When the pipeline is out of balance, you fix it. When a squad lead needs to grow, that's yours too. The engineering organization is growing fast enough that a strong director changes the trajectory of multiple teams, not just maintains them. That means developing managers who are genuinely good at their jobs, holding a high bar on delivery and quality, and being the kind of leader people want to work for. This role requires someone who has done real performance management, built genuine team density, and has a clear point of view on what high-functioning engineering actually looks like in practice. WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING - Lead a group of engineering managers and their squads, owning delivery, quality, and people development across your area - Partner with Product and Business stakeholders to anticipate hurdles before they hit the sprint; co-owning the "why" behind every build so squads move with speed and conviction. - Keep the roadmap clear and prioritized in alignment with your partners at a 1-2 quarter horizon. Flag scope and deadline concerns early. Hold the team accountable to their commitments - Set urgency and performance expectations that go beyond what teams would reach on their own; monitor performance and act on issues when they come up - Develop squad leads into strong managers; give them ownership, hold them to it, and close the gaps when they need support - Make sure engineering and product stakeholders have the information they need before they have to ask for it - Champion engineering concerns upward: scope, deadlines, resources, technical sustainability. Come with proposed solutions, not just problems. - Own the in-office culture on your teams; understand why it matters for collaboration and make sure your leads do too - Drive recruiting across your area: sourcing, interviews, candidate experience, and closing the people who raise the bar - Make sure automated testing, QA practices, and tech debt management are genuinely owned by your teams, not just talked about - Be present during incidents; make sure triage happens well and the right resources are engaged WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR - You care deeply about what you do and about making banking better for everyone. - You lead, not just manage. Your teams know where they're going and why it matters. That clarity is something you create, not something you wait for. - You've managed engineering managers before and have strong opinions about what good management at that layer actually requires - You've run performance management for real: given hard feedback, built improvement plans, made decisions to let people go - You can maintain a 1-2 quarter planning view without losing sight of the day-to-day delivery that makes or breaks it - You're technical enough to earn credibility with senior engineers. You can get into architecture discussions, code reviews, and production issues without being out of your depth. - You understand what drives team velocity, not just the process mechanics but what actually drives people: engagement, clarity, and trust - Engineering concerns get to leadership. Business context gets to the team. You make both happen. - You're direct. You don't optimize for being liked. You optimize for your teams being engaged and doing excellent work. This is not a good fit if your management experience has been mostly in large orgs where moving slowly is safe. Neo moves fast and expects its directors to bring clarity when things are uncertain, not wait for it. WHY NEO Real scope at a company where the decisions you make this year show up in the product next quarter. Neo's engineering organization is at the stage where a strong director can change the trajectory of multiple teams, not just maintain them. Competitive salaries beating the top tech companies in Calgary. Eligible for STIP: cash bonuses tied to company milestones. Equity through stock options that are in the money from day one. Over four to five years, total compensation at Neo outpaces what you'd make staying where you are. Three consecutive years as Canada's fastest-growing company on the Deloitte Fast 50. $400M+ raised. Over one million customers on a platform built entirely in-house. Relocation support available for candidates moving to Calgary. Comprehensive health benefits, 21 days PTO, and parental top-up. Successful candidates will be required to complete a security screening including a criminal record check and credit check. By continuing with your application, you agree to the Candidate Privacy Notice https://www.neofinancial.com/candidate-privacy-policy.pdf, which guides how we process your personal information for the purpose of your application.