Software and AI Team Lead

At AXYZ, we build more than world-class CNC machines—we build careers.

AXYZ is a leading global manufacturer of CNC Router Machines and Knife Systems. Designed and built at our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Waterdown, Ontario, our machines are supplied and supported through a global network of sales and service professionals and authorized dealers.

Our teams are engaged, innovative, and passionate about driving meaningful change throughout our organization, our customers’ businesses, and the communities where we live and work.

Learn more about us at www.axyz.com

About the Role

We are hiring a Software and AI Team Lead to lead our software-development team and support the reliable delivery of high-quality software across AXYZ’s products and business systems.

This is a player-coach role, divided approximately equally between team leadership and hands-on software development. You will lead three software developers and one software tester while contributing as the team’s fourth developer.

You will establish priorities, guide architecture and testing practices, manage software requests and escalations, and ensure stable software is released on a predictable schedule. You will also serve as the primary developer for AXYZ’s CRM and provide technical leadership for AXYZCAM and the planned addition of PanelBUILDER-like functionality over the next 12–18 months.

A key part of this role is establishing disciplined and practical uses of AI throughout the software-development lifecycle. The ideal candidate knows how to use AI to improve engineering speed and quality while maintaining human ownership of architecture, product knowledge, testing, security, and the final result.

Duties and Responsibilities

Team Leadership and Delivery

• Lead, coach, and develop three software developers and one software tester while contributing as the team’s fourth developer
• Establish clear priorities, owners, acceptance criteria, and delivery dates across the software portfolio
• Gather requirements from Product, Engineering, Service, Applications, Sales, IT, and other stakeholders
• Translate stakeholder needs into prioritized and achievable software work
• Delegate work based on capability, context, urgency, and business requirements, or handle it directly when appropriate
• Lead effective planning, review, and follow-up routines
• Remove blockers and maintain accountability from initial requirement through tested release
• Support team development through coaching, feedback, shared learning, and clear technical standards

Quality, Testing, and Release Management

• Establish and maintain a predictable schedule of stable software releases
• Manage the full release process, including scoping, development, validation, deployment, release notes, and stakeholder communication
• Implement repeatable testing practices with clear acceptance criteria, test plans, supporting evidence, and release gates
• Ensure reported issues are reproduced, understood, and root-caused before fixes are implemented
• Verify that fixes resolve the complete issue without introducing regressions
• Lead disciplined manual testing on physical machines using appropriate configurations and operating scenarios
• Coordinate machine testing safely with Engineering, Service, Applications, and Production
• Expand automated unit, integration, and regression testing where it provides practical value
• Integrate automated testing into daily development and release workflows

Software Intake, Triage, and Escalation

• Serve as the primary point of contact and escalation for software-development requests, service tickets, Quality Issue Reports (QIRs), and customer or internal issues
• Assess scope, severity, priority, product risk, and required technical expertise
• Assign clear ownership and establish an appropriate path to resolution
• Track work from intake through implementation, testing, documentation, and final release
• Ensure important issues are investigated logically and resolved within an appropriate timeframe
• Keep stakeholders informed of progress, risks, decisions, and expected delivery dates
• Translate technical findings into practical guidance for Service, Applications, Sales, leadership, and customers

AI-Accelerated Engineering and Tooling

• Spend approximately half of the role designing, coding, reviewing, testing, and releasing software
• Lead by example through disciplined and responsible AI-assisted development
• Establish practical AI-supported workflows for requirements refinement, codebase exploration, implementation, code review, test generation, validation, debugging, and documentation
• Move the team from ad hoc AI use toward repeatable engineering practices with clear review and accountability
• Ensure the team maintains a deep understanding of AXYZ’s architecture, codebase, product behaviour, and operating constraints
• Maintain human ownership of design, risk assessment, testing, and final approval, even when AI contributes substantially to an implementation
• Evaluate AI tools, coding assistants, agent workflows, and development practices
• Establish appropriate security, quality, confidentiality, and responsible-use guardrails
• Measure the effect of AI-supported practices on throughput, cycle time, testing, documentation, and software quality

CRM and Product Development

• Serve as the primary developer for AXYZ’s CRM
• Manage the intake, prioritization, implementation, testing, and release of CRM and web-development changes
• Use AI responsibly to accelerate requirements, implementation, testing, data work, troubleshooting, and documentation
• Ensure CRM changes are secure, maintainable, well tested, and aligned with business requirements
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Applications, Service, Sales, and IT to translate customer and business needs into practical software solutions
• Provide hands-on technical leadership for AXYZCAM and the planned addition of PanelBUILDER-like functionality

Architecture, Documentation, and Continuous Improvement

• Own and strengthen AXYZ’s software architecture, emphasizing maintainability, testability, observability, security, and long-term product stability
• Ensure architectural decisions reflect a strong understanding of the existing codebase, product domain, and system constraints
• Carefully review AI-generated changes before they are incorporated into AXYZ software
• Establish standards for code review, source control, dependency management, technical decisions, testing, and release management
• Maintain clear documentation of expected product behaviour so teams can distinguish intended operation from software defects
• Use AI-assisted workflows to help keep technical documentation accurate and current
• Identify and reduce technical debt affecting product stability, development speed, testability, or supportability
• Promote continuous improvement in development practices, tools, workflows, and team capability

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related discipline
• Equivalent practical education and experience will be considered

Experience

• Minimum five years of professional software-development experience delivering, releasing, and supporting production systems
• Demonstrated experience leading developers, technical projects, or software delivery
• Experience prioritizing work, coaching team members, delegating responsibilities, and maintaining accountability
• Proven hands-on use of AI-assisted development tools while maintaining strong architecture, review, testing, and quality practices
• Experience managing stakeholder-driven web or business-application development from requirements through release
• Experience in CNC, industrial automation, motion control, manufacturing software, or another complex engineered-product environment is a strong asset

Technical Skills

• Strong software-engineering fundamentals, including architecture, debugging, code review, source control, dependency management, testing, and release management
• Proficiency in one or more languages relevant to AXYZ’s environment, such as C, C#/.NET, Rust, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL, or PHP
• Strong web-application and CRM development capability, including secure data handling, integrations, testing, and deployment
• Practical experience with AI coding assistants, large-language-model APIs, agentic workflows, evaluations, security, and responsible-use controls
• Ability to apply AI throughout the software lifecycle without outsourcing architectural judgment, product understanding, or accountability
• Ability to design and execute manual tests for complex physical systems and expand automated testing where it adds value
• Knowledge of CNC workflows, industrial communication, motion control, or machine automation is preferred

Leadership and Communication Skills

• Player-coach mindset with the technical credibility and willingness to lead from the codebase
• Strong ownership, follow-through, prioritization, delegation, and decision-making skills
• Ability to balance hands-on development with team leadership and delivery responsibilities
• Ability to teach disciplined AI-engineering practices through coaching, standards, examples, and constructive review
• Clear communication with technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Curious and pragmatic, with sound judgment regarding architecture, risk, testing, and where AI creates lasting value

We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require accommodation at any stage of the hiring process, please let us know, and we will work with you to meet your needs in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

We conduct a combination of in-person and virtual interviews. Virtual interviews are conducted using Microsoft Teams and may be recorded and transcribed. We may use AI-enabled tools to support our hiring team with notetaking, interview summarization, and internal training. These tools are not used to make hiring or recruitment decisions.

Salary $100,000 - $125,000