Director AI Engineering

CGI

• $145K — $195K *
Finance & Insurance
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of experience in software delivery or consulting, leading teams.
  • Proven experience in building and leading engineering or delivery teams with an emphasis on talent development.
  • Strong hands-on technical skills in Java, Node.js, and AI coding tools.
  • Expertise in AI product development, including agent-based systems and engineering methodologies.
  • Experience managing client delivery including budgets, plans, and timelines.

Responsibilities

  • Build and lead the AI engineering team, focusing on hiring and development.
  • Ensure successful delivery of AI solutions, maintaining quality and business value.
  • Establish and sustain senior-level client relationships to identify growth opportunities.
  • Engage hands-on with the team by creating demos and complex solutions.
  • Set and oversee technical direction and engineering standards for AI projects.
  • Collaborate on AI roadmaps and business case development with leadership.
  • Foster an inclusive team culture that promotes continuous learning.

Benefits

  • Hybrid work model with flexibility for remote and in-office work.
  • Opportunities for career development and professional growth.
  • Engagement in cutting-edge AI engineering projects.
  • Ability to shape the direction of AI initiatives within the organization.
  • Supportive team culture focused on continuous learning.
Full Job Description
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Director AI Engineering

Category: Leadership and Management Roles

Main location: Canada, Ontario, Toronto

Position ID:J0926-2088

Employment Type: Full Time

Position Description:

We are building a new AI engineering capability within our Toronto Financial Services (TFS) business unit, serving clients across Banking, Insurance, and Wealth Management.

We are looking for a Director, Consulting Services to build and lead this new capability. This is a people leadership role with accountability for the team, delivery, and client relationships. The AI engineering team will report to this role, including Forward Deployed Engineer / AI Co-op, Agentic AI Engineers, Founding AI Engineers, and the Distinguished AI Engineer.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will stay close to the work by building demos, helping shape complex solutions, and setting technical direction alongside the team. As a player-coach, you will develop people, build trusted client relationships, grow the capability, and remain actively engaged in how solutions are designed and built.

This role is hybrid and requires you to work from our downtown Toronto office and/or client office a minimum of two days per week, subject to change at any time.

Your future duties and responsibilities:

Build, grow, and lead the AI engineering team, including hiring, coaching, career development, and performance management.
Own delivery across client engagements, with accountability for timelines, quality, and business value.
Build and maintain senior client relationships, develop trusted partnerships, grow accounts, and identify new opportunities.
Remain hands-on by building demos and proofs of concept and contributing to complex solutions.
Set technical direction and engineering standards for AI solutions in collaboration with the Distinguished AI Engineer.
Shape AI roadmaps and business cases in collaboration with CGI and client leadership.
Own estimates, budgets, and delivery plans for the team's work.
Maintain high standards for quality, security, and reliability across delivered solutions.
Build an inclusive, collaborative team culture that supports continuous learning and professional growth.

Required qualifications to be successful in this role:

12+ years of experience in software delivery or consulting, including experience leading teams.
Demonstrated people leadership experience building and leading engineering or delivery teams, including hiring, coaching, career development, and performance management.
Strong, current hands-on technical skills, with the ability to build demos and complex full-stack solutions using Java and Node.js and AI coding tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Antigravity, or Claude Code.
Strong knowledge of building AI and agent-based products, including prompt, context, harness, and loop engineering.
Demonstrated experience owning client delivery, including estimates, budgets, plans, timelines, and quality.
Experience developing trusted relationships with senior client leaders and identifying opportunities to grow accounts.
Strong technical understanding of APIs, databases including PostgreSQL and MongoDB, and cloud technologies to effectively guide engineering teams.
Ability to connect AI initiatives to defined business outcomes and value.
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain AI concepts clearly to executives, clients, and engineering teams.
Assets
Experience in Banking, Insurance, or Wealth Management.
Experience establishing and growing a new practice or capability.
Consulting or professional services experience.
Public contributions to the AI community through speaking engagements, published writing, or open-source work.
Relevant cloud or delivery certifications, including Azure, AWS, or GCP.

#LI-VK1

**CGI is providing a reasonable estimate of the pay range for this role. The determination of this range includes factors such as skill set level, geographic market, experience and training, and licenses and certifications. Compensation decisions depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $145,000-$195,000. This role is an existing vacancy.**

Use of the term 'engineering' in this job posting refers to the technical sense related to Information Technology (IT) and does not imply that the individual practices engineering or possesses the requisite license as prescribed by the applicable provincial or territorial engineering regulator. We are seeking individuals with expertise in IT engineering-related functions, but licensure from an engineering regulator is not a prerequisite for this position. Engineering is a regulated profession in Canada which is restricted in terms of use of titles and designation.

Skills:
  • Agentic AI
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Financial Services
  • Full Stack Development
  • Full Stack Development
  • Java
  • MongoDB
  • Node.Js
  • Postgre SQL
  • RESTful (Rest-APIs)
  • Amazon Web Services Cloud
  • Azure
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Google Cloud Platform


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