Senior Director, Engineering, Digital Banking
Toronto
Digital Banking – Digital Banking /
Full Time /
Hybrid
Join a Challenger
Being a traditional bank just isn’t our thing, so we challenge ourselves to get creative in providing innovative banking solutions for Canadians.
How do we get there? With a talented team of inquisitive and agile challengers that break through the status quo. So, if you’re passionate about redefining the future of banking—while having fun—this could be your next big opportunity.
Our company continues to grow, and today we serve more than 670,000 people across Canada through Equitable Bank, Canada's Challenger Bank™, and have been around for more than 50 years. Equitable Bank's wholly-owned subsidiary, Concentra Bank, supports credit unions across Canada that serve more than six million members. Together we have over $125 billion in combined assets under management and administration, with a clear mandate to drive change in Canadian banking to enrich people's lives. Our customers have named our EQ Bank digital platform (eqbank.ca) one of the top banks in Canada on the Forbes World's Best Banks list since 2021.
Purpose of Job
The Senior Director, Engineering is part of the senior team that will enable EQ Bank’s Challenger Bank aspiration using cloud-native technologies and modern delivery methodologies. You will manage multiple cross-functional pods dedicated to launching new products, features, and ongoing business value for a portfolio of apps.
You will evolve our API and Microservice centric architecture, web channels, and other back-end product systems using the foundational Cloud, DevOps, API, and PaaS services to deliver dozens of production releases per month. You will lead strategic and roadmap planning, manage a team of more than 50+ internal and external resources/suppliers, and be part of C-suite conversations about technology transformation for the Bank.
Reporting to the VP of Technology, the Senior Director is accountable for leading the delivery and support of Technology for components of the Digital Banking portfolio, which includes EQBank, Digital Payments and Open API products. As the primary Technology relationship manager and head of delivery, the Senior IT Director will manage all aspects of the delivery portfolio, including: strategic and roadmap planning, managing a high performance team of approximately 50-100 (including external suppliers), managing budget, managing vendor partners and suppliers, and contributing to executive level communications and strategy sessions.
The Senior Director will lead their department through all areas of the SDLC, including Business Analysis, Solution Architecture, Design, Development, Quality Assurance/ Automated QA, Code Management, Release Management and Vendor Management. As new opportunities arise, the Senior IT Director will provide technology assessments, delivery strategies, roadmaps, estimates and recommendations for transitioning ideas into execution. The Senior Director will partner closely with Digital Banking business & operations, Cloud Platforms, Infrastructure & Operations, PMO, Risk, and Compliance/AML/Fraud Management teams.
The Senior Director will oversee the maintenance and support of applications in the portfolio to maintain availability, resiliency, and currency objectives, including championing the resolution/prevention of major incidents through disciplined problem management and proactive activities.
In addition to managing within the portfolio, the Senior Director will also provide practice-oversite and continuous improvement for one or more areas of the SDLC. Given the strong Digital and API focus, the Senior IT Director for Digital Banking will manage and govern the Application Architecture the components they own and the development standards & processes.
This individual is responsible for ensuring the team is highly productive and achieves strategic outcomes while meeting regulatory and internal delivery/governance requirements.
Main Activities:
- Direct accountability for Application Architecture, Business Analysis, Quality Assurance, Source Code Management, Development, and Release Management for a Technology Portfolio
- Manage resource demand forecasts and ensure resources and budget are continuously aligned with business priorities; manage elastic demand/supply capacity pipeline, including a stable of trusted contract or supplier resources to enable or accommodate fast pivots as necessary.
- Provide business domain expertise to manage delivery teams to ensure maximum project scope feasibility and business viability.
- Provide technical expertise and technology investment recommendations for new technologies and application systems.
- Oversee the creation and maintenance of solution designs based on understanding of business objectives and requirements.
- Ensure applications are developed and operate within acceptable Cybersecurity risk levels.
- Estimate and manage a plan for deliveries using delivery methodology expertise across both Agile, Waterfall and hybrid approaches.
- Manage releases, delivery planning and estimation approaches for technology changes and processes related to the delivery of services.
- Ensure quality and testing of technology changes are completed with appropriate diligence before implementing changes to production; appropriately balance schedule objectives vs. quality objectives. Maximize automated testing where possible.
- Primary subject matter expert with specialized knowledge relating to architecture, design, and functionality of the portfolio of systems.
- Manage and resolve production incidents for supported applications and business units (L2/L3).
- Influence product direction and integrate technology from an architectural perspective within the business environment; partner and consult with Business Units on approaches to strategic opportunities.
- Drive and maintain a multi-year Technology Roadmap which includes future strategic objectives and technology-driven changes to maintain currency, capacity, and system health.
- Manage application vendor sourcing, contracts, performance, and ongoing costs with support from Enterprise partners.
- Manage one or more functional practices within IT Delivery by defining and evolving the Standards, Processes and Tools – in this case Development and Architecture.
Knowledge/Skill Requirements:
- Minimum 15+ years of North American experience in technology roles such as Director, Senior Solution Architect, Senior Development Manager, Senior Technical Delivery Lead with proven experience in leading teams of 30+.
- Post-secondary degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related technical degree or equivalent experience is required.
- Strong technical skills with 15+ years of experience working within at least 2-3 of the following departments, or oversight of these departments: Software Delivery & Development, IT Strategy, IT Architecture, DevOps
- Exemplary interpersonal, and presentation skills with expert collaboration and customer-relationship skills with a proven ability to engage with all levels of the staff and management across multiple partner teams
- Expertise in both Agile and Waterfall delivery methodologies with accountability for large scale technology delivery
- Strong experience with all facets of the software development life cycle including code management, environment management, DevOps, and Automated QA
- Strong track record of project and people management with complex deliverables to drive business outcomes
- Proven managerial leadership skills with inspiring, coaching, and building high performance teams. Demonstrated leadership skills including talent development, succession planning, and performance management.
- Proven track record to lead the product life cycle to build, measure, and learn from newly introduced products until market fit is achieved
What we offer [For full-time permanent roles]
💰 Competitive discretionary bonus
✨ Market leading RRSP match program
🩺 Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability benefits
📝 Employee Share Purchase Plan
👶🏽 Maternity/Parental top-up while you care for your little one
🏝 Generous vacation policy and personal days
🖥 Virtual events to connect with your fellow colleagues
🎓 Annual professional development allowance and a comprehensive Career Development program
💛 A fulfilling opportunity to join one of the top FinTechs and help create a new kind of banking experience
The incumbent will be working hybrid and in office time will be spent working from Equitable Bank’s additional office space located at 2200-25 Ontario Street, Toronto, ON.
Equitable Bank is deeply committed to inclusion. Our organization is stronger and our employees thrive when we honour and celebrate everyone’s diverse experiences and perspectives. In tandem with that commitment, we support and encourage our staff to grow not just in their career path, but personally as well.
We commit to providing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment for all applicants. Please let us know of any accommodations needed so that you can bring your best self to the application process and beyond. All candidates considered for hire must successfully pass a criminal background check and credit check to qualify for hire. While we appreciate your interest in applying, an Equitable recruiter will only contact leading candidates whose skills and qualifications closely match the requirements of the position.
We can’t wait to get to know you!
