Director, Software Engineering

Location: Etobicoke, ON, Canada

Department: General

Who We Are

ZOLEO is redefining what it means to keep people safe beyond traditional coverage. What began as a hardware-led connectivity solution is evolving into a trusted safety and monitoring platform – one that delivers peace of mind, everywhere. Today, we are building a service-driven, duty-of-care platform that goes beyond messaging – ensuring that when it matters most, help is not just reachable, but already in motion.

Our platform is designed for both the person in the field, and the people connected to their safety – because peace of mind travels both ways. By combining advanced intelligence, automation, and a global safety ecosystem, we deliver outcomes – not just connectivity – creating reassurance, accountability, and certainty under stress. At ZOLEO, we’re not just building technology; we’re defining the future of safety. Our impact is real — just ask the people whose lives have been saved thanks to ZOLEO rescue alerts (read their stories). 

Why This Role Matters 

ZOLEO is building the safety platform people trust when nothing else works — no cell signal, no Wi-Fi, no room for error. Delivering on that promise takes engineering teams that turn clear priorities into dependable, high-quality products, consistently and at scale. 

As Director, Software Engineering, you'll own delivery across our product engineering teams — leading Team Leads and engineers, and shaping how the function plans, executes, and delivers. You'll partner directly with the CTO, Product leadership, and senior technical leaders, turning strategy into predictable execution while building the next generation of engineering leaders. 

This is an AI-first engineering environment — Cursor, Claude Code, and agentic workflows are already part of how the team builds. You'll be the one who turns that edge into measurable gains: faster delivery, higher quality, and a team that keeps getting sharper. 

What’s In It for You 

• Function-Level Impact. Own the delivery performance of an engineering organization whose work keeps people safe and connected around the world — what you build here matters, literally. 
• Build Strong Teams and Leaders. Develop Team Leads, deepen the leadership bench, and build the conditions where engineers do their best work — and want to stay. 
• An AI-First Engineering Culture. Shape how the team puts Cursor, Claude Code, and agentic workflows to work — real speed and quality gains, used responsibly. 
• Operational Excellence at Scale. Build the delivery rhythms, measures, and quality practices that make predictable execution the default, not the exception. 
• A Highly Collaborative Mandate. Sit at the table with Technology, Product, and senior engineering partners — shaping priorities, architecture, team design, and where the function goes next. 

What You’ll Do 

• Own Engineering Delivery. Lead commitments, sequencing, capacity, and cross-team dependencies across the product engineering teams — surfacing risks early and keeping a delivery plan the business can count on. 
• Lead and Develop the Function. Manage and develop Team Leads, and drive people leadership across the engineering organization — performance, growth, compensation input, succession planning, and team health. 
• Build and Scale the Team. Own engineering hiring, selection, and onboarding while strengthening the leadership bench as the organization grows and evolves. 
• Drive Operational Excellence. Build planning and delivery rhythms, and use meaningful measures to improve throughput, predictability, and outcomes. Strengthen service ownership, incident learning, testing, automation, observability, and release discipline behind every release. 
• Scale AI-Assisted Engineering. Set the bar for practical, secure, and measurable use of AI tools across planning, implementation, testing, and review — and keep pushing engineering effectiveness forward. 
• Partner Across Product and Technology. Work with Product leadership on priorities and capacity, and with senior technical leaders on architecture, standards, and the support required to put them into practice. 
• Govern Tooling and Vendors. Manage engineering tooling, cloud and model consumption, contractor spend, and relevant vendor relationships. Ensure appropriate access controls, reviews, offboarding, training completion, and adherence to security requirements.

What You Bring 

• Relevant Background. Deep software engineering experience, including leadership of multiple teams and direct management of Engineering Managers, Team Leads, or other engineering leaders. 
• Delivery Leadership. A track record of turning strategy and priorities into credible plans — managing capacity and dependencies, surfacing risk early, and steadily improving delivery predictability. 
• People Leadership. A track record of hiring, coaching, evaluating, and developing engineers and leaders — and building accountable, inclusive, high-performing teams along the way. 
• Technical Judgment. The technical depth to challenge estimates, ask incisive questions about design and architecture, understand meaningful trade-offs, and identify execution risks. 
• Operational Excellence. Experience improving engineering practices such as planning, service ownership, incident review, testing, CI/CD, observability, backlog health, or delivery metrics. 
• AI-Assisted Engineering Mindset. Practical experience using or leading the adoption of AI coding tools and agentic workflows, with a focus on measurable value, responsible use, and sound review practices. 
• Cross-Functional Partnership. The ability to collaborate effectively with Product and Technology leaders, communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders, and balance customer, business, technical, and team needs. 
• Resource Stewardship. Experience managing budgets, vendors, contractors, cloud costs, or engineering tooling with sound judgment and clear accountability. 
• Relevant Product and Organizational Experience. Experience with mobile, cloud, connected-device, or safety-focused products, leading teams through growth or organizational change, or building management capability within a Team Lead model is an asset. 

What We Offer

• Salary Range. $200,000 - $220,000 CAD annual base salary. 
• Flexible Work. A hybrid model; balancing collaboration and lifestyle flexibility.
• Comprehensive Benefits. Health, dental, and flexible spending accounts tailored to your needs.
• Time to Recharge. Vacation and sick days to help you rest, recharge, and stay well.
• Growth Investment. A continuous learning environment backed by a professional development budget.
• Inclusive by Nature. A values-driven workplace where diverse perspectives are celebrated. 

Apply Now

Our recruitment process may use artificial intelligence tools, alongside human review, to assist with the screening or assessment of candidates. 

We are currently hiring for this role and welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible workplace. If you meet around 70% of the qualifications, we still encourage you to apply — we’d love to hear from you. 
 
We’re happy to provide reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process; if you require support, please let us know when you apply, and we’ll work with you to meet your needs.