Head of Engineering

Waterloo, Ontario (Hybrid)

About Us

PolyML builds interpretable machine learning tools that extract powerful signals from complex, high-dimensional datasets. Our technology is proven in manufacturing, and we're expanding into financial services and other data-intensive, regulated sectors — where explainability and trust aren't optional.

PolyML is on the move. We recently closed both an investment round and a multi-year services agreement with a strategic partner.

We work at the intersection of advanced mathematics, computer science, and real-world problem-solving. We're a smart, energetic team building something that matters — and doing it right.

The Opportunity

PolyML is at an inflection point. The technology works. Now we need to scale it. We're hiring a Lead Software Engineer to own and scale our entire engineering function. This is a senior leadership seat - you'll partner directly with the CEO and founders, to own end-to-end engineering strategy, architecture, team growth, and delivery. You'll think in quarters and years while still rolling up your sleeves.

This is a rare opportunity to build alongside a world-class computer scientist. You'll collaborate directly with our Chief Scientist, Gaston Gonnet — co-founder of OpenText and a pioneer in computational mathematics whose work contributed to the development of systems like Maple — and help translate deep mathematical innovation into production-grade systems that real customers depend on.

What You'll Own

• End-to-end architecture across ML, infrastructure, systems, and customer integrations (cloud and on-prem) — setting the technical direction that scales with the business
• Production-scale deployments of our proprietary ML platform, with cost/performance discipline and 24/7 reliability in compute-intensive environments
• SDLC and engineering processes — designing, shipping, and continuously improving the practices that let a small team punch above its weight
• Regulated-customer readiness — secure SDLC, auditability, and compliance alignment (SOC 2 and financial-industry standards)
• Productization — converting one-off deployments into repeatable platform capabilities: APIs, deployment templates, and documentation that enable PolyML to scale commercially
• Team building — scaling the team with intention, knowing who to hire next, when to bring in external expertise, and how to build an engineering culture worth staying for

What You'll Do

Scale the Platform Design and ship distributed compute pipelines at serious scale — cloud or on-prem. Own performance, throughput, and unit economics. Build the production repeatability layer: testing, deployment, observability, and incident response.

Set architectural direction across ML platform, data flow, APIs, and integrations. Drive build-vs-buy decisions and ensure interoperability with industry-standard tooling and deployment patterns.

Ship for Regulated Customers Lead security-by-design (access control, encryption, audit logging, environment isolation). Own compliance and governance expectations — reproducibility, change control, evidence collection — and work directly with customer IT and security teams to get integrations across the finish line.

Productize Convert one-off deployments into repeatable platform capabilities: APIs, deployment templates, and documentation. Work directly with customers to translate requirements into trusted, measurable outcomes.

Build the Team Set execution cadence, mentor engineers, and establish a culture of technical rigor and accountability. Design the org and hiring plan — with sharp judgment on when to hire, when to outsource, and when to simplify.

Lead at the Executive Level Sit alongside the founders as a core technical partner. Contribute directly to company strategy, prioritization, and roadmap. Communicate clearly to investors, customers, and partners — bridging the technical and the commercial.

What We're Looking For

You're pragmatic, hands-on, and comfortable with ambiguity. You write code, debug complex systems, and step in personally when it matters. You act like an owner: you don't wait to be pointed at problems, you find them, frame them, and fix them. You've owned the full product lifecycle and know what it takes to ship in regulated environments (financial services experience is a strong plus).

You operate with a 70/30 split between strategic leadership and individual contribution — and you're honest with yourself about which mode the moment requires.

Required

8+ years in software engineering, and 3+ years in a senior or lead role — ideally in an early-stage or scaling startup where you've had to balance speed with long-term architectural sanity.

Experience in a process-driven organization including leadership and direction of secure SDLC and compliance policies, processes and practices.

Tech Stack/Playground

• Core Development Languages: Python, Darwin
• Platforms: On Prem; Hybrid; AWS/Azure/GCP/ThinkOn
• Infrastructure: Docker, Terraform, Kubernetes, MongoDB, GitLab, Apache Airflow
• In-house ML tools: PolyML Fiins AI and Clara group of algorithms
• Web Stack: TypeScript/React, FastAPI
• Observability: Prometheus, Grafana
• Frontier LLM Integration / Agentic experience a plus

Our World You'll work extensively with Darwin — our proprietary ML language — and the Fiins AI suite, our in-house tooling built alongside a world-class data science team. Deep prior experience with these isn't expected; the ability and curiosity to go deep fast is.

Who You Are

• You define your own agenda — you're not a task-taker, you're a builder
• You thrive in ambiguity and know how to create clarity for your team
• You hold a high technical bar without creating bottlenecks
• You're as comfortable in a customer conversation as you are in a code review
• You care about building things that are trustworthy, interpretable, and built to last

PolyML is based in Waterloo, Ontario. This role is open to hybrid and in-person candidates.

Compensation

PolyML offers a competitive total compensation package. In addition to base salary, the role includes group benefits, eligibility for performance-based bonus and equity participation. Final compensation will be determined based on qualifications, experience, and overall fit for the role.