CIBC

Director, Developer Experience, Simplii Technology

CIBC$120K — $150K *
Finance & Insurance
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in leadership roles.
  • Expertise in Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, and cloud platforms like Azure and AWS.
  • Proven experience in building developer platforms at scale.
  • In-depth knowledge of AI-assisted software development lifecycle (SDLC) and related tools.
  • Skilled in recruiting and retaining top engineering talent in competitive markets.
  • Experience working within federally regulated financial environments.
  • Strong communication skills for creating standards and governance documents.

Responsibilities

  • Set the vision and strategy for the AI-native software development lifecycle.
  • Design and manage the developer workflow for streamlined engineering processes.
  • Lead the adoption and governance of AI tools in engineering, focusing on cost management.
  • Recruit and develop a high-performing team of engineers over 18 months.
  • Define collaboration processes with product engineering, security, and compliance teams.
  • Own and report on key performance metrics related to developer experience and AI tool adoption.
  • Ensure all AI capabilities comply with regulatory requirements.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and incentive pay, plus banking benefits.
  • Benefits program and defined benefit pension plan.
  • Employee share purchase plan and vacation package.
  • Wellbeing support and a social recognition program.
  • Paid Purpose Day for growth and development initiatives.
Full Job Description

What You'll Be Doing

As Director of Developer Experience at Simplii Technology, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping the future of engineering at Simplii Financial. You’ll build and lead a new team dedicated to making every engineer at Simplii faster, more consistent, and fully supported by AI. Your mandate is to design and own our AI-native software development lifecycle, including our CI/CD platform, internal AI gateway, developer workflows, and the governance needed for a regulated bank. You’ll partner with senior leaders across engineering, security, risk, and compliance to ensure our investments in AI-assisted development are both ambitious and defensible. This is a founding leadership opportunity where your hands-on technical judgement will set the tone for engineering culture and standards for years to come.

 

At CIBC we enable the work environment most optimal for you to thrive in your role. You'll have the flexibility to manage your work activities within a hybrid work arrangement where you'll spend 1-3 days per week on-site, while other days will be remote.

 

How You'll Succeed

  • Strategic Leadership and Roadmap Ownership – Set the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Simplii’s AI-native software development lifecycle in collaboration with executive leadership.
  • Developer Platform and Workflow Management – Design, implement, and continuously evolve the paved-road developer workflow, ensuring every engineer follows a streamlined, AI-assisted process.
  • AI Tool Governance and Adoption – Lead the selection, adoption, measurement, and governance of AI tools used in engineering, including cost management and sunset processes.
  • Team Building and Talent Development – Recruit, mentor, and grow a founding team of senior and staff-level engineers, scaling the function to approximately twelve members within eighteen months.
  • Stakeholder Engagement and Operating Model Design – Define how the Developer Experience team collaborates with product engineering, security, risk, compliance, FinOps, and the data office.
  • Outcome Ownership and Measurement Own and report on key metrics such as cycle time, deployment frequency, change failure rate, developer satisfaction, AI-tool adoption, and AI cost per active developer.
  • Regulatory Compliance and Risk Partnership – Ensure all AI capabilities meet obligations under OSFI E-23, B-10, B-13, AIDA, and PIPEDA, partnering closely with Risk and the CISO’s office.
  • External Representation –Represent Simplii Technology externally through speaking engagements, partner conversations, and industry forums to build engineering brand.

Who You Are

  • You’re an experienced engineering leader. You bring at least twelve years of software engineering experience, including five or more years leading engineering teams or organizations.
  • You have deep, hands-on technical experience. You bring at least five years of experience working with all of the following: Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java; Azure (primary), AWS (selective), Kubernetes, and Docker; coding-assistant ecosystems, agent frameworks, evaluation harnesses, retrieval/RAG, and vector databases (such as pgvector and Pinecone); tool-integration patterns including Model Context Protocol; observability and FinOps tools like Datadog, OpenTelemetry, Sentry, and cost-attribution tooling; and source control and CI/CD using GitHub, GitHub Actions, and internal release platforms.
  • You’ve built developer platforms at scale. You have a proven track record of building or scaling developer experience, platform engineering, or productivity functions in complex environments.
  • You’re fluent in AI-assisted SDLC. You understand coding assistants, agent workflows, evaluation, retrieval, and tool-integration patterns at a depth sufficient to set architectural direction.
  • You’re skilled in talent acquisition and retention. You have experience recruiting and retaining senior and staff-level engineers in competitive markets.
  • You thrive in regulated environments. You understand the unique challenges and opportunities of building in a federally regulated financial institution and can balance speed with compliance.
  • You’re an excellent communicator. Your written communication sets the standard for RFCs, governance documents, and strategic briefs.
  • Values matter to you. You believe in doing what’s right for clients, colleagues, and the business, and you act with integrity in all that you do.

What CIBC Offers

At CIBC, your goals are a priority. We start with your strengths and ambitions as an employee and strive to create opportunities to tap into your potential. We aspire to give you a career, rather than just a paycheck.

  • We work to recognize you in meaningful, personalized ways including a competitive salary, incentive pay, banking benefits, a benefits program*, defined benefit pension plan*, an employee share purchase plan, a vacation offering, wellbeing support, and MomentMakers, our social, points-based recognition program.

  • Our spaces and technological toolkit will make it simple to bring together great minds to create innovative solutions that make a difference for our clients.

  • We cultivate a culture where you can express your ambition through initiatives like Purpose Day; a paid day off dedicated for you to use to invest in your growth and development.

*Subject to plan and program terms and conditions

Job Location

Toronto-81 Bay, 16th Floor

Employment Type

Regular

Weekly Hours

37.5

Skills

Business Planning, Information Technology (IT) Projects, Leadership, Project Delivery, Project Management, Strategic Management, Technical Knowledge, Work Collaboratively

About CIBC

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in the city's Financial District. CIBC's Institution Number is 010, and its SWIFT code is CIBCCATT. It is one of two Big Five banks founded in Toronto, the other being the Toronto-Dominion Bank. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was formed through the June 1, 1961, merger of the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Imperial Bank of Canada, the largest merger between chartered banks in Canadian history. The bank has four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking, Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management, and Capital Markets. It has international operations in the United States, the Caribbean, Asia, and United Kingdom; Globally. CIBC serves more than eleven million clients, and has over 40,000 employees. The company ranks at number 172 on the Forbes Global 2000 listing.
Learn more about CIBC
Market Cap
$43.5 billion
Industry
Founded
1867
5 Year Trend
+8.8%

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