Director, AI Native SDLC

Scotiabank • Toronto, ON

6d • Onsite

About The Position

The Director, AI Native SDLC is a hands-on technical leader and enterprise capability owner responsible for defining, building, and scaling Scotiabank’s AI Native Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC). This role combines deep engineering execution with strategic ownership of SDLC policies, standards, and frameworks, ensuring AI capabilities are embedded safely, consistently, and effectively across all stages of software delivery. As a Director, the incumbent will lead through implementation and influence, shaping enterprise-wide engineering practices by building production-grade systems, while also establishing the governance, documentation, and rollout strategies required for sustained, large-scale adoption across the Bank.

Requirements

• 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including senior technical leadership roles.
• Proven success defining and scaling SDLC frameworks, engineering standards, or developer platforms at enterprise level.
• Hands-on experience integrating LLM APIs into real-world development workflows.
• Experience building custom agents and agent skills for CLI-based harnesses (GitHub Copilot preferred), including packaging for reuse.
• Strong programming expertise in TypeScript/JavaScript or Python; shell scripting is a strong asset.
• Experience building RAG systems end-to-end (ingestion → retrieval → grounding → evaluation).
• Experience designing or integrating MCP servers with strong security and governance controls.
• Deep experience with GitHub Actions and CI/CD, including secure execution of AI agents.
• Demonstrated experience defining policies, standards, and governance frameworks within engineering organizations.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms (Azure preferred), APIs, distributed systems, and DevOps practices.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive enterprise-wide adoption.

Nice To Haves

• Working knowledge of architecture design artifacts (C4 diagrams, ADRs).
• Experience implementing scorecard-based governance with measurable, traceable outcomes.
• Experience with container platforms (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Hands-on experience with devContainers or reproducible development environments.
• Experience building or contributing to developer platforms or internal engineering ecosystems.
• Experience in financial services or highly regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Directly design, build, and deploy core AI-Native SDLC capabilities, including enterprise guidelines, standards, and procedures embedded in tooling, and CLI-based developer platforms (e.g., GitHub Copilot harnesses and extensions).
• Lead development of end-to-end RAG systems (ingestion → retrieval → grounding → evaluation).
• Provide deep technical direction and contribution to MCP server design and integration, ensuring enterprise-grade security (authentication, authorization, auditability).
• Oversee and contribute to secure GitHub Actions implementations, enabling AI agents with controlled permissions and governed artifact handling.
• Maintain hands-on coding involvement (TypeScript/JavaScript or Python) in critical platform components and reference implementations.
• Define, own, and evolve the enterprise AI-Native SDLC framework, covering AI-assisted requirements, architecture, development, testing, and operations; standardized IDE tooling, agent skills, and devContainer environments; and AI integration patterns across CI/CD pipelines and developer workflows.
• Ensure all frameworks are practical, scalable, and grounded in real engineering implementations.
• Drive consistency across business lines through reusable patterns, templates, and reference architectures.
• Establish and own enterprise SDLC policies, engineering standards, and AI usage guidelines.
• Define enforceable guardrails for AI-enabled development, including secure and responsible use of LLMs and agents; data privacy, access control, and model interaction boundaries; and traceability, auditability, and explainability of AI-generated outputs.
• Develop and maintain enterprise engineering standards documentation, approved AI patterns and reference architectures, and secure coding and review standards specific to AI workflows.
• Partner with Risk, Security, Compliance, and Architecture to embed regulatory and enterprise controls.
• Lead creation of enterprise-grade SDLC documentation, including playbooks, engineering patterns, and implementation guides; reference architectures (C4 models, ADRs); and sample pipelines, templates, and reusable assets.
• Define and execute enterprise rollout strategy, including phased adoption models across engineering teams; developer enablement, training, and workshops; and hands-on support for priority and early adopter programs.
• Establish scorecard-based governance models to measure adoption and compliance, engineering quality and risk reduction, and AI effectiveness and productivity impact.
• Shape and deliver a modern, AI-enabled developer experience (DevEx) across the bank.
• Oversee development and packaging of reusable components: agents and agent skill libraries, SDKs and internal frameworks, CLI tools and automation, and CI/CD templates and pipelines.
• Drive adoption of standardized development environments (e.g., devContainers, codified environments).
• Act as a technical thought leader in AI-driven software engineering both internally and externally.
• Influence senior engineering and business stakeholders on AI adoption strategy and execution.
• Mentor engineers, senior engineers, and technical leads through hands-on engagement, code reviews, and architectural guidance.
• Continuously evaluate and introduce emerging AI and engineering capabilities, refining the SDLC based on developer feedback, usage metrics and KPIs, and risk and compliance insights.

Benefits

• Upskilling through online courses, cross-functional development opportunities, and tuition assistance.
• Competitive Rewards program including bonus, flexible vacation, personal, sick days and benefits will start on day one.
• Free tea & coffee, universal washrooms, and lots of space for team collaboration.
• Opportunities for community engagement & belonging with our various programs.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed