Software Engineering Team Lead

Software Engineering Team Lead

Reports To: Director of Software Engineering

Location: Calgary, AB or remote in Canada

Position Type: Full time

Who We Are

Since 2007, Geoforce has been an industry leader in GPS tracking, providing reliable solutions for over 250,000 assets across 90+ countries. Our comprehensive platform combines rugged GPS devices with advanced software, supported by global satellite and cellular networks. From vehicles to heavy equipment, we deliver the visibility and control businesses need to optimize operations. Trusted by industry leaders like Southwest Airlines, DHL, and SLB (Schlumberger), Geoforce is the go-to partner for smarter asset management. Learn more at www.geoforce.com.

As a rapidly growing company committed to technology innovation and delivering high value services to its clients, Geoforce is constantly looking for high integrity, well-rounded professionals who thrive on challenges, are fascinated by technology, exhibit passion and pride, and don't mind rolling up their sleeves to get a job done.

Who We Need

We are looking for a collaborative and driven Team Lead to lead and manage a self-contained development team in delivering impactful application and platform improvements. As part of the engineering leadership team, you will contribute to setting, communicating, and executing the vision for the people, processes, and technologies we rely on.

The ideal candidate is someone who embodies a growth mindset, can listen actively, and works well as an advisor within the team. This person must be able to drive results without compromising on architectural integrity. They will prioritize long-term sustainability and scalability while balancing immediate delivery goals. We need someone who not only excels in the technical aspects of the role but also guides the team toward long-term success, effectively balancing day-to-day delivery with the broader company vision.

The Team Lead will play four critical roles:

1. People Manager: You will promote continuous learning, support career development, and foster a high-performing team environment that thrives on collaboration and skill growth.
2. Product Trio Partner: Collaborating closely with Product Management and Product Design, you will play a central role in discovery and innovation, ensuring clarity and alignment in delivering customer-focused solutions.
3. Technical Lead: You will guide and enforce best practices in architecture, engineering, and agile processes while managing and reducing technical debt.
4. Delivery Lead: You will own analysis, design, planning and execution of delivery and discovery initiatives for your team.

Job Duties

• Delivery Management: Ensure your team consistently meets delivery commitments and continually improves on timelines, focusing on efficient resource utilization. You’ll promote a culture of accountability and strive to balance immediate delivery with long-term sustainability.
• Collaboration: Work closely with the Product Trio (Product, Design, Engineering) to transform requirements into actionable work items. Ensure a smooth and transparent delivery process through proactive stakeholder engagement and clear communication, minimizing churn and rework.
• Technical Design and Architecture: Lead the team in designing and developing scalable, highly available, and complex systems. You will play a key role in evolving our architecture to ensure reliability and performance across microservices and micro front-ends. You’ll guide the team in making architectural decisions that are aligned with best practices and business objectives, ensuring the system remains adaptable to future needs.
• Adherence to Standards: Lead by example, ensuring your team adheres to Geoforce's engineering & architectural standards and best practices. You’ll contribute to setting and improving these standards, driving technical excellence and innovation.
• Team Skill Development: Actively support the continuous development of your team’s skills around programming languages, architecture, agile practices, and CI/CD techniques. You will empower your team members to become future leaders and contributors to cutting-edge technologies.
• Technical Debt Management: Deliberately manage the balance between taking on technical debt and addressing it. You’ll aim to minimize long-term system degradation while maintaining pace on delivery.
• Dual-Track Development: Ensure discovery work and delivery timelines are met, actively contributing to the optimization of resources and helping drive strategic product discovery efforts.
• Effective Discovery and Feedback Collection: Conduct proactive and thorough discovery work, integrating feedback from stakeholders early and often, helping the team avoid unnecessary rework and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Team Staffing and Management: Maintain a fully staffed, capable, and high-performing engineering team. You will play an active role in recruiting, retaining, and developing top talent, ensuring smooth team operations.
• Hands-On Contribution: When needed, step in as a hands-on developer, contributing to projects tied to key company-wide initiatives.

Knowledge and Skills

Critical

• Strong experience in JavaScript/TypeScript, NestJS, and Next.js, with an emphasis on API design and development.
• Proven experience in designing and developing highly available, scalable, and complex systems.
• Familiarity with microservices and micro front-end architecture, with a strong understanding of cloud-based infrastructure (AWS or Azure).
• Experience integrating Okta or other authentication and identity management systems.
• Understanding of standard programming paradigms (procedural, imperative, functional, declarative).
• Experience with domain driven design principles and domain modeling.
• Ability to map business concerns onto technological solutions and vice versa.
• Experience with Ruby on Rails is a plus, as parts of the system still use it.
• Extensive experience with Agile/Lean values and principles.

Nice to Have

• Experience with multiple programming languages and frameworks.
• Knowledge of various data storage mechanisms, including RDBMS (e.g., Postgres) and key/value stores (e.g., Redis), with an understanding of trade-offs.
• Experience with message-based systems (message bus, message streaming, pub/sub, etc.).
• Familiarity with AWS products and deployment mechanisms, with a preference for experience with EKS (Kubernetes).
• Experience deploying Docker images to Kubernetes clusters.

Education and Work Experience

• 8+ years of experience as a hands-on developer, demonstrating expertise in building complex systems and scalable solutions.
• 3+ years of experience leading the development of teams or specific features, demonstrating strategic thinking, advising stakeholders, and mentoring engineers.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, or a related field is nice to have.