POSITION OVERVIEWReporting to the VP, Technology Architecture & Application Services, the Assistant Vice President (AVP), Application Services leads BDC's software engineering organization and provides the engineering capabilities, platforms, and talent required to deliver technology solutions that power our business and digital transformation.
You'll provide strategic leadership to software development, quality assurance, and engineering management teams - building high-performing groups, modernizing our technology, and championing a culture of innovation and operational excellence.
You'll be accountable for the engineering excellence, reliability, security and continuous evolution of BDC's application portfolio. Through modern engineering practices, platforms, tools and technical leadership, you'll enable Product Management and Delivery teams to successfully deliver business value across the organization.
This is a pivotal role at a pivotal time: our technology organization is transforming to modernize platforms, accelerate delivery, and harness emerging technologies like AI. We're looking for a leader who can inspire teams, drive change, and deliver large-scale modernization.
CHALLENGES TO BE MET - Champion engineering excellence - Elevate standards across software development through modern methodologies, automation, DevSecOps, and lifecycle management. Track quality, reliability, security, developer productivity, and technical debt reduction.
- Drive modernization - Lead cloud adoption, platform modernization, and technology refresh initiatives while keeping the application portfolio secure, scalable, and resilient.
- Advance platform engineering & AI - Evolve development toolchains, CI/CD, and self-service capabilities to elevate the developer experience. Lead the responsible adoption of AI-enabled software engineering and generative AI to boost delivery and efficiency.
- Build and grow talent - Recruit, mentor, and retain top technical leaders. Shape organizational design, succession planning, and career paths, and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, inclusion, and learning.
- Set the engineering strategy & enable delivery excellence
Define the vision and direction for Application Services, partnering with business, product, and delivery leaders to align roadmaps, priorities, and capacity. Strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of delivery functions by providing modern engineering practices, platforms, tooling, automation, and technical talent that improve delivery predictability, quality, speed, and business value. Manage budgets, workforce plans, and external engineering capacity
- Manage partners & ensure compliance - Build strong relationships with stakeholders and strategic vendors, support procurement and contract negotiations, and champion secure-by-design practices that meet security, resilience, and regulatory requirements.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, IT, or a related field (Master's an asset).
- 10+ years of progressive leadership in software engineering, application development, or technology delivery.
- Experience leading large technology organizations (100+ professionals, including consultants) through managers and senior leaders.
- Proven success driving application modernization, cloud transformation, and engineering capability improvements.
- Strong grasp of modern engineering practices - Agile, DevSecOps, CI/CD, automation, cloud-native, and platform engineering - plus familiarity with AI-enabled software development.
- Experience managing complex vendor ecosystems and strategic partnerships.
- Strong business acumen and a track record of influencing senior executives and cross-functional teams.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
- Bilingualism (English and French) is essential.
