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The Development Lead is a senior, hands-on engineering leader who owns the Air Canada mobile application end to end: the iOS and Android clients, the backend-for-frontend (BFF) and API services that power them, and the build, release and operational tooling that ships the app to customers. The role combines technical leadership (architecture, technical roadmap, engineering standards and technical debt strategy for the mobile platform) with delivery leadership (code quality, release readiness and production stability) across the mobile delivery pods.
As the most senior engineer on the mobile application, the Development Lead is both the design authority for the mobile platform and the primary delivery authority within Air Canada’s enterprise architecture guardrails. The role keeps the app fast, reliable, secure, and accessible in the moments that matter most to customers, from booking and check-in to boarding and irregular operations, while keeping the codebase healthy, current and sustainable for the long term.
Responsibilities:
- Own the technical vision, architecture and mid-to-long-term technical roadmap for the mobile application across both iOS and Android platforms as well as the backend (BFF, APIs and integrations), aligned with enterprise, solution architecture and product strategy.
- Shape the breakdown of complex requirements into clear technical tasks, anticipate risks early, and guide the team through implementation and validation.
- Serve as design authority for the mobile platform and the primary delivery execution authority within enterprise architectural guardrails; define and enforce mobile architecture patterns and standards, and escalate enterprise-level or cross-domain decisions to Enterprise Architecture and leadership.
- Drive readiness for production releases, including completion of quality gates (tests, security checks, performance, accessibility), phased/staged rollouts with halt criteria, runbooks/operational documentation, observability coverage, and mitigation plans that account for shipped app binaries that cannot be rolled back.
- Uphold and enforce engineering standards for coding, testing, documentation, security, accessibility, observability, and responsible AI practices across the mobile application.
- Champion high-quality peer code reviews, including AI-generated code, focusing on maintainability, performance, reliability, security, and adherence to approved patterns.
- Lead and support complex or high-risk feature implementations, balancing delivery timelines with technical quality and operational risk.
- Own the testing strategy (unit, integration, UI/end-to-end, API contract, performance and device/OS compatibility), test automation, and AI evaluation coverage to ensure quality gates are consistently met and defects are prevented.
- Enhance CI/CD pipeline efficiency for mobile and backend, build automation and code signing, and AI-assisted development workflows to improve deployment frequency and developer productivity.
- Partner with Product Owners, QA, Designers, and delivery leads to ensure clarity, feasibility, testability, and timely decision-making on scope changes.
- Provide first-level ownership for mobile application production issues; coordinate triage, restore service, and communicate status and mitigation to stakeholders.
- Lead root cause analysis (RCA) for mobile application incidents/defects and drive corrective and preventive actions; ensure learnings are translated into backlog items and completed.
- Establish and maintain clear, accurate, and up-to-date technical and prompt documentation to support maintainability, onboarding, and operational support.
- Monitor and improve delivery and quality metrics such as defect rates, PR lead time, deployment frequency, rollback and hotfix frequency, and reliability indicators (crash-free sessions, ANR rate, API latency and error rates); leverage data to drive improvement actions.
- Provide day-to-day technical leadership and mentoring through pairing, feedback, and guidance; foster a culture of craftsmanship, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
- Own the mobile technical debt register and remediation roadmap: identify, size and prioritize debt, make its impact visible to Product and leadership, and protect a dedicated share of pod capacity to reduce it.
- Keep the platform current: deliver annual iOS and Android OS releases, toolchain updates, and Apple App Store and Google Play policy and target-API requirements ahead of deadlines; maintain the supported OS and device matrix and retire legacy code, unused features and end-of-life dependencies.
- Design and evolve BFF and API contracts with a mobile-first lens (payload efficiency, versioning, backward compatibility with older app versions still in customers’ hands), and define the approach to feature flags, remote configuration, kill switches and minimum-supported-version policy.
- Own the end-to-end mobile release train in collaboration with Product: release cadence, branching strategy, code freeze, regression and releases.
- Integrate mobile security (OWASP MASVS), privacy-by-design and accessibility (WCAG AA) into design and delivery, partnering with Privacy, Legal and Security on consent, data minimization and app store privacy declarations.
- Remain hands-on: design, develop, test and debug client and backend code, and investigate and fix defects and production issues.
Personal Attributes
- Inspires and energizes engineering teams with a high level of enthusiasm, fostering a culture of excellence and ownership.
- Demonstrates a forward-thinking, innovative mindset - constantly exploring emerging technologies and unconventional solutions to complex challenges.
- Builds and sustains a culture of trust, transparency, and psychological safety, enabling open dialogue and empowering diverse perspectives.
- Challenges assumptions and the status quo with curiosity and courage, driving continuous improvement and elevating team performance.
- Balances strategic vision with hands-on technical guidance, ensuring alignment between business goals and engineering execution.
- Leads by example with integrity, resilience, and a commitment to mentoring others toward their full potential.
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field.
- Minimum five (5) years of experience in software development in a production environment, including at least four (4) years building and shipping consumer
mobile applications at scale through the Apple App Store and Google Play. - Demonstrated experience leading delivery execution within Agile teams, with strong hands-on expertise in native iOS (Swift), working knowledge of Android (Kotlin), and backend development of BFF/API services (e.g., Node.js, NestJS, Java).
- Proven track record managing technical debt, OS upgrades and third-party SDK lifecycles on a long-lived production mobile application.
- Solid experience working with mobile release management and app store processes, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern DevOps practices.
- Proven ability to uphold engineering standards, guide code quality, and support sprint level delivery commitments.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across technical and non-technical roles.
- Demonstrate punctuality and dependability to support overall team success in a fast-paced environment.
Assets
- Experience with AI-assisted development tools, prompt design, or AI evaluation frameworks.
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and cloud-native architecture patterns.
- Exposure to API platforms, integration technologies, or enterprise systems.
- Experience with mobile observability (crash reporting, real-user monitoring) and feature flag or remote configuration platforms.
- Background in airline, travel or other large-scale, regulated, or mission-critical environments.
Conditions of Employment
Candidates must be eligible to work in the country of interest at the time any offer of employment is made and are responsible for obtaining any required work permits, visas, or other authorizations necessary for employment. Prior to their start date, candidates will also need to provide proof of their eligibility to work in the country of interest.
Linguistic Requirements
Based on equal qualifications, preference will be given to bilingual candidates.
Diversity and Inclusion
Air Canada is strongly committed to Diversity and Inclusion and aims to create a healthy, accessible and rewarding work environment which highlights employees’ unique contributions to our company’s success.
As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applications from all to help us build a diverse workforce which reflects the diversity of our customers, and communities, in which we live and serve.
Air Canada thanks all candidates for their interest; however only those selected to continue in the process will be contacted.
