Why This Role Exists
The Director of Engineering ensures PaintScout builds the right product, builds it well, and builds it in a way that scales.
This role leads the engineering organization, strengthens our technical foundation, and ensures we deliver high-quality, reliable, and innovative software that supports PaintScout’s growth. As the platform expands and customer expectations rise, this role keeps the engineering team focused, aligned, and executing with excellence.
They don’t just manage engineers. They build an engineering culture.
They don’t just ship features. They ensure PaintScout ships the right things, the right way, at the right time.
What Great Looks Like
In 2026 this role ensures:
- The engineering roadmap is clear, aligned to company strategy, and consistently delivered.
- The platform is stable, scalable, secure, and modern — with clear architectural direction.
- Engineering velocity is predictable. Quality is high. Uptime is strong.
- Metrics like cycle time, reliability, and defect rates are visible and improving.
- The engineering team is small, high-impact, and growing in capability.
- Coaching, mentorship, and career paths are established.
- Cross-functional collaboration with Product, Design, Customer Success, and Revenue Operations is smooth and proactive.
- Technical debt is managed intentionally, not reactively.
- DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure are mature and reliable.
- The team feels ownership, accountability, and pride in their work.
What the Role Does
Technical Leadership & Strategy
- Sets the technical direction for a modern SaaS platform.
- Makes architectural decisions that ensure scalability, performance, and security.
- Evaluates and implements technologies that improve product performance and team efficiency.
- Establishes engineering best practices, coding standards, and quality processes.
Team Leadership & People Management
- Leads, mentors, and grows a small, high-impact engineering team (5–7 direct reports).
- Builds a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Recruits top engineering talent and develops career paths.
- Creates a healthy, high-trust engineering environment.
Execution & Delivery
- Oversees sprint planning, execution, and delivery of features and platform improvements.
- Ensures high availability, reliability, and performance of the platform.
- Implements metrics-driven engineering management (velocity, quality, uptime, cycle time).
- Ensures long-term maintainability of the codebase.
Operational Excellence
- Owns cloud infrastructure, DevOps, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Ensures compliance with data privacy, security, and industry best practices.
- Manages engineering budget, vendor relationships, and tooling.
The Kind of Person This Fits
- Deep technical expertise paired with strong leadership instincts.
- Calm, thoughtful, and decisive — especially under pressure.
- Obsessed with quality, reliability, and building things that last.
- Enjoys coaching engineers and building high-performing teams.
- Thrives in a startup/growth-stage environment where clarity must be created, not waited for.
- Comfortable balancing speed with long-term technical health.
Why This Role Matters
When this role works:
- The platform becomes a competitive advantage — fast, stable, and scalable.
- Engineers feel supported, challenged, and proud of their work.
- Product and engineering operate as one unified engine.
- Customers experience fewer issues and more value.
- PaintScout grows without breaking its technical foundation.
The Director of Engineering is there to make PaintScout’s product, platform, and engineering team stronger — every single day.
Technical Requirements
Most Important
- Typescript / Node.js / React — Strong proficiency with Typescript across both frontend and backend.
- Document Databases — Experience with document-oriented databases (CouchDB, Cloudant, MongoDB, DynamoDB, etc).
- AWS — Practical experience with Lambda, S3, CloudFront, CloudWatch, SSM, IAM.
- Git & GitHub — Comfortable with branching strategies, pull requests, and code review workflows.
Preferred
- Serverless Architecture — Experience building serverless applications.
- Search Infrastructure — Experience with Elasticsearch or similar.
- CI/CD Pipelines — Experience with GitHub Actions or comparable CI/CD tooling.
- Multi-Tenant SaaS — Understanding of multi-tenant patterns and data isolation.
- GraphQL — Experience with GraphQL APIs, ideally Apollo Client/Server.
Nice to Have
- Third-Party Integration Development — Experience with external APIs and webhook patterns.
- Auth0 — Experience with Auth0 and JWT-based authorization.
- Feature Flagging — Experience with LaunchDarkly or similar platforms.
- AI/LLM Integration — Exposure to integrating AI APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc) into production systems.
- Monorepo Architecture — Familiarity with Turborepo, Yarn, Lerna, or similar tooling.
Qualifications
Experience
- 8–10+ years of professional software engineering experience in modern SaaS environments
- 3–5+ years leading engineering teams (Manager, Senior Manager, or Director level)
- Proven track record owning delivery, architecture, and engineering outcomes
- Experience scaling engineering practices, systems, and teams in a growth‑stage company
Leadership & Management
- Demonstrated ability to build, coach, and retain high‑performing engineering teams
- Strong communication skills, especially when working with founders and cross‑functional leaders
- Ability to create clarity, set direction, and drive accountability
- Experience establishing engineering culture, rituals, and operating rhythms
- Skilled at balancing speed with long‑term technical health
Strategic & Operational Capability
- Ability to translate business goals into technical strategy and execution
- Experience managing engineering budgets, vendor relationships, and tooling
- Strong decision‑making instincts grounded in data, customer needs, and long‑term platform stability
- Comfortable operating in a fast‑moving, founder‑led environment
AI‑Enabled Engineering Competencies
- Experience introducing AI‑assisted development practices to a team
- Ability to redesign engineering processes to incorporate AI safely and effectively
- Understanding of AI‑related risks, quality controls, and governance
- A clear point of view on how AI accelerates engineering velocity and improves quality
Pay: From $175,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Calgary, AB T2E 3H6
