Director of Engineering
Sun Life
Toronto, Ontario
Full-Time
Competitive
HybridDirector
You are as unique as your background, experience and point of view. Here, you’ll be encouraged, empowered and challenged to be your best self. You'll work with dynamic colleagues - experts in their fields - who are eager to share their knowledge with you. Your leaders will inspire and help you reach your potential and soar to new heights. Every day, you'll have new and exciting opportunities to make life brighter for our Clients - who are at the heart of everything we do. Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of individuals, families and communities around the world.
Job Description:
Prospris Sun Life's digital front door for Canadians—startup velocity inside a Fortune 500. We'rerevolutionizing how Canadians access insurance and wealthsolutionsbybuilding a platform that lets people buy products the way they want to: onlinein minutesorvirtuallyviaa team oftrusted, licensedAdvisors.
We'renot playing it safe.We'rebuilding with AIandcreatingomnichannel experiences—at the speed customers now expect.
The Role
You own outcomes—end to end.
As Director of Engineering, you own end-to-end delivery, quality, reliability, and people leadership across multiple squads. You set technical strategy and operating standards—then remove friction so your teams can ship.
You'lloperatewith the velocity and accountability of a tech startup while navigating enterprise systems and stakeholders.You'llchallenge the status quo, build a high-performance engineering culture, and prove Sun Life can move as fast as theInsurTechcompetitorswe'retaking on.
What You'll Do
You set technical strategy and operating standards—thenmake it easy for yourteamstoship.
What Success Looks Like
Squads ship consistently and predictably with high quality, with each release driving business outcomes
You lead Engineering Managersand individual contributors across squads
Teamsoperateautonomously without constant escalation
Engineers are engaged, growing, and delivering impact
Leadership trusts your judgment and commitments
You'vebuilt a system that scales without bottlenecks
You’reaccountable for engineering outcomes tied to customer growth, platform reliability, and business performance
You define and track delivery, quality, and operational metrics to ensure predictable outcomes
You partner with senior leaders on delivery and technical strategy
Who You Are
Engineering leader from product-driven companies—tech startups, scale-ups, or high-velocity digital product orgs
Strategic but execution-focused—you set direction, empower teams, and stay close to delivery, tracking key metrics and using the data to drive decision making
Strong people leader—you build culture, develop talent, holdhigh standards
Technically credible—can challenge architecture, review designs,mentor Staff Engineers
Thrives in ambiguity—comfortable navigating both startup chaos and enterprise constraints
Ownership mentality—accountable for outcomes, not just outputs
Startup DNA—you'vecompeted againstInsurTech/FinTech players and know what it takes to win
WhatYou Bring:
10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 5+ years in engineering leadership roles,withspecificexpertisewithJava (or other suitable back-end languages), React (or other similar modern Javascript) and enterprise integrations. Experience with Salesforce would be an asset.
3+ years leading leaders (e.g., Engineering Managers / Team Leads) and scaling delivery across multiple squads/teams.
Demonstrated success owning end-to-end delivery for customer-facing digital products (planning → build → release →operate), with measurable outcomes.
Experience setting and running an engineering operating cadence (prioritization, planning, execution, dependencies, quality, incident learnings).
Strongtrack recordin hiring and talent development (building high-performing teams, coaching managers, performance management).
Technical breadth and credibility: able to challenge architecture, guide technical strategy, and set standards for quality, reliability, and maintainability.
Experience partnering with Product, Design, and senior stakeholders to navigatetrade-offs, risk, and timelines in a complex environment.
Why This Role
High-Impact Work: Build products that directly shape Sun Life's future, with your code reaching real users quickly
Leadership Opportunity: Lead technical direction, mentor others, and shape the engineering culture of a growing team
Autonomy and Ownership: Make decisions, drive solutions, and see the direct impact of your work
Learn and Grow Fast: Exposure tonew technologies, business problems, and the full product lifecycle in a compressedtimeframe
Collaborative, Innovative Culture: Work with passionate, talented people who move fast and support each other
Flexible Workstyle: In office 2-3days per week, hybrid the rest of the week
The Base Pay range is for the primary location for which the job is posted. It may vary depending on the work location of the successful candidate or other factors. In addition to Base Pay, eligible Sun Life employees participate in various incentive plans, payment under which is discretionary and subject to individual and company performance. Certain sales focused roles have sales incentive plans based on individual or group sales results.
Diversity and inclusion have always been at the core of our values at Sun Life. A diverse workforce with wide perspectives and creative ideas benefits our Clients, the communities where we operate and all of us as colleagues. We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds.
Persons with disabilities who need accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e-mail a request to thebrightside@sunlife.com.
We are proud to be a hybrid organization that offers our employees the choice and flexibility to work from both the office and virtually based on the needs of the business, our Clients and you! Several work options are available and can be discussed throughout the selection process depending on the role requirements and individual needs.
We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, interview scheduling.
We thank all applicants for showing an interest in this position. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
Salary Range:
125,000/125 000 - 195,000/195 000Job Category:
IT - Application DevelopmentPosting End Date:
07/06/2026