Technical Lead

Purpose Unlimited is an independent financial services company with an unrelenting focus on customer-centric innovation, delivered through technology-driven solutions. Led by entrepreneur Som Seif, the company is developing a diversified product platform aimed at addressing historically underserved segments of the market. Purpose Unlimited’s businesses include Purpose Investments, Advisor Solutions by Purpose, and Driven.

Vacancy Status: This is for a current vacancy

Job Description

Who you are

This role exists to make one squad extraordinary – technically sharper, more ambitious, and more impactful than they thought possible. You own the technical direction of your squad: growing engineers into their best work, setting the architectural standard, and ensuring every line of code connects to a business outcome.

This is not a role where you choose between leadership and craft. You architect systems, coach engineers through hard problems, review pull requests for what they teach and not just what they ship, and then walk into a room of non-technical stakeholders and turn complexity into clarity. AI handles the routine so you can do all of this at a level that was impossible three years ago.

What AI does so you don’t have to

• Handles boilerplate generation, test scaffolding, and routine refactoring – your engineers ship faster and you review for architecture, not syntax.
• Generates sprint analytics and dashboards – you narrate the story behind the numbers, not the numbers themselves.
• Surfaces performance signals and PR patterns before your 1:1s – you walk in prepared to coach, not to gather context.
• Drafts technical documentation and decision records – you add the judgment, trade-offs, and institutional context that make them useful.
• Runs first-pass code review for standards compliance – you focus on design decisions, maintainability, and teaching moments.

What you’ll drive

• Squad growth – build engineers who develop visibly in technical depth, judgment, and ability to operate independently with AI tools.
• Architectural direction – define how systems are designed, how components fit together, and how today's decisions create or foreclose tomorrow's options.
• Engineering-business translation – you and your Product Manager own the backlog together; you challenge assumptions, sharpen priorities, and ensure what gets built solves the right problem.
• Delivery and continuous improvement – own your squad's roadmap end-to-end, decompose ambiguous initiatives into work that ships, and continuously improve how the squad operates.

Qualifications: What you must bring

• Demonstrated experience leading and developing software engineers, including giving hard feedback, navigating difficult conversations, and growing people into roles they didn't think they could fill.
• Deep technical expertise: you've built and shipped production systems with strong foundations in system design, distributed systems, and at least one modern language (we primarily use Python).
• Equal clarity communicating with engineers and executives – translating technical complexity into business language and vice versa, under pressure.
• Hands-on fluency with AI-assisted development tools and a demonstrated ability to integrate AI into how a team works, not just how an individual codes.

What will set you apart

• Experience in financial services, fintech, or wealth management in regulated environments where compliance shapes what can be built, how fast, and in what sequence.
• A track record designing and governing AI-native architectures or deploying agentic AI systems in production.
• Background scaling platforms in a mid-size, growing technology organization where you balanced speed with process maturity.
• A strong point of view on what good engineering culture looks like and the courage to build it, even when it's uncomfortable.
• You think in systems – understanding how architectural decisions create or foreclose options tomorrow.

What success looks like in your first year

• Delivery predictability above 80%; production incidents attributed to your squad's systems decline quarter over quarter.
• At least two engineers take on meaningfully expanded scope or responsibility within 12 months.
• AI-assisted workflows are embedded in how your squad works, measurably improving throughput without sacrificing code quality or architectural standards.
• Product, Design, and senior leadership actively seek your input; your squad's priorities are understood and supported cross-functionally.
• At least one significant process, tooling, or workflow improvement you introduced is adopted and delivering measurable results.

Our Five Values

• Innovation – Bring new ideas, challenge the status quo, and experiment without waiting for permission.
• Courage – Speak up when something isn't working; act with conviction even when it's uncomfortable.
• Owner's Mindset – Take full accountability for your squad's outcomes.
• Client Focus – Place client outcomes at the center of every architectural and delivery decision.
• Winning Through Growth – Invest in your own development and actively contribute to the team's growth.

What It's Like Here

You'll join a team that ships weekly, reviews each other's thinking as seriously as each other's code, and has real autonomy to make architectural calls. Engineering culture is built on Owner's Mindset – you own the outcome, not just the task. Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada; immigration sponsorship is not offered.

Why should you join us?

• We are one of Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers' 2023, 2024, 2025 & 2026.
• We believe in innovation and a vibrant culture - work for an innovative, people-first, financial services firm that values entrepreneurialism.
• We believe in a flexible work structure – A flexible hybrid work model that empowers you to do your best work whether at home or the office.
• We care about your rewards - Competitive compensation including equity program.
• We care about your health – comprehensive group health and dental benefits and life insurance at little to no cost to you. We also offer a Lifestyle Spending Account for all your wellness needs.
• We care about your quality of life - flexible paid time-off policy with unlimited vacation days, and flexible sick and mental health days.
• We care about your family - Paid parental leave for eligible employees with a top-up.
• We care about your future – Generous Group RRSP matching and an optional TFSA program.
• We care about your development – We offer training opportunities and tuition support year-round.

Purpose Unlimited is an equal employer and we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and barrier-free work environment for all employees and candidates. We encourage all qualified candidates to apply and if accommodation is required during any stage of the recruitment process, please contact any member of the People & Culture team at [email protected]. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for interviews will be contacted.

Our work philosophy is a hybrid model allowing for flexibility and collaboration.

Applicants must be legally entitled to work in Canada. Immigration sponsorship is not offered for this role.

We may use artificial intelligence technology to assist in screening, assessing, or selecting applicants for this position. Final hiring decisions are made by qualified human reviewers.