Product Engineering Lead (Demand Response)

Job description

ABOUT THE TEAM Demand Response is Spare's core product — powering paratransit and microtransit for 150+ customers worldwide and driving the majority of Spare's revenue. The team builds the software that transit agencies use to plan, dispatch, and optimize on-demand transportation — helping cities move people who depend on these services for work, medical appointments, and daily life. Recent work includes Spare Radio (a real-time driver communication platform tested live in LA), Dispatcher AI and Booking Intelligence (AI-powered tools for smarter dispatch decisions), Cross Fleet Optimization (optimizing trips across multiple vehicle fleets), and Fare Rules V2 (a complete rebuild of how agencies configure complex fare structures). You'd be leading a team of 5 developers doing technically challenging, customer-facing work with real human impact. ABOUT THE ROLE The way software gets built is changing. Developers today aren't just writing code to someone else's spec — they're talking to customers, making design decisions, and owning problems from discovery through shipped solution. AI has dramatically expanded what a single developer can deliver, and the best teams are the ones that lean into this shift. As the Product Engineering Lead, you'll lead a team of strong, cross-functional developers. You hold the technical vision for the product — architecture, reliability, system health — and you're accountable for what your team delivers. You collaborate closely with your PM and designer as a trifecta, and you're the kind of leader who makes everyone around them better. This is roughly a 50/50 split between people leadership and hands-on technical work. This is a hybrid role and requires work from our downtown Vancouver office 3 days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). WHAT YOU'LL DO Lead and grow a high-performing team - Build deep, individualized relationships with every person on your team — understand how they think, what motivates them, and how they can grow - Be a dedicated coach and mentor who gets energy from leveling people up — help your developers become meaningfully stronger engineers, thinkers, and communicators over time - Create an environment where people do the best work of their careers — high trust, high standards, direct feedback - Foster a team culture of ownership, urgency, and pride in the work Own technical vision and delivery - Be the technical authority for the Demand Response product — you're the expert on the codebase and the go-to person for hard technical questions - Make sound architectural decisions and ensure the team strikes the right balance between reliability, tech debt, and feature work - Contribute directly as a senior+ IC — you still write code, review code, and deliver customer value - Take accountability for your team's delivery and communicate proactively with stakeholders about progress, tradeoffs, and risks Push the frontier on AI-assisted development - Be hungry to experiment with new models, tools, and agentic development workflows - Evangelize and raise the bar for AI adoption across your team - Help your team leverage AI to dramatically increase what they can deliver Partner across the business - Collaborate closely with your PM and designer as peers — together you hold the product vision and ensure coherence across everything the team ships - Have enough product and business sense to step in when needed — you can talk to customers, give a compelling demo, and make prioritization calls grounded in customer value - Be an expert on your team's product and customers — know the key accounts, their setups, their challenges WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 5+ years of software development experience, with demonstrated senior-level technical ability - 2+ years leading an engineering team, with a genuine track record of developing people — not just managing work - A passion for growing and leveling up your team. You get energy from helping people reach the next level. You invest deeply in each person and take pride in their growth - Hungry to push the frontier of AI-assisted development. You don't need to be an expert today, but you need to be deeply curious and actively experimenting - Cross-functional range. You're comfortable in product conversations, can engage with design and business context, and think about customer problems and value delivered, not just code and features. - A high bar and a growth mindset. You set ambitious standards for yourself and your team, and you're always looking for ways to improve - Ownership mentality. You take responsibility for outcomes, communicate proactively, and drive forward without waiting for direction NICE TO HAVE - Experience in transit, mobility, or logistics - Experience at a high-growth startup at a similar stage WHY SPARE Spare is a fast-growing startup transforming public transit — our platform powers on-demand and paratransit services for 150+ transit agencies worldwide. We're at a pivotal stage of growth, and the work you do here has direct, visible impact on how cities move people. You'd be joining a team that works hard and rests hard — a culture that values intensity and results during working hours, not performative busyness. We're building at the frontier of how software teams operate, and this role puts you at the center of that evolution. Quarterly travel for team events and leadership offsites. DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification in the job posting. At Spare, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment so we strongly encourage you to apply even if you don't believe you meet every single qualification outlined. We also do our best to respond to all applications we receive.