Director, Application Development - Customer Digital

Being part of Air Canada is to become part of an iconic Canadian symbol, recently ranked the best Airline in North America. Let your career take flight by joining our diverse and vibrant team at the leading edge of passenger aviation.

The Director of Application Development will lead the design, development, and delivery of some of our most critical customer digital applications and all our in-house cargo applications. Its customer application portfolio consists of aircanada.com’s content related applications (Content Management System (CMS) platform, Homepage), marketing digital assets (Offer Management, DNA) as well as Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM). Its cargo portfolio includes the cargo website (informational and transactional), the cargo distribution API, the cargo digital backend and all the cargo integrations, a portfolio that keeps growing with the new Cargo Management System implementation through the end of 2028.

This role will also be responsible for the Delivery COE and the Innovation COE for all the customer and cargo portfolios. The Delivery COE aims at harmonizing the delivery practice, KPIs, continuous improvements within the portfolio. The Innovation COE aims at improving our digital technology platforms, through continuous improvements (i.e., progressive AI adoption, Continuous Integration /Continuous Development (CI/CD) pipeline enhancements, etc) as well as disruptive innovations through POCs and partnership with Air Canada’s key technology vendors (i.e., transition to Mono Repo, introduction of a new Model Context Protocol (MCP) stack, etc.). This role is key to our digital transformation journey and will be pivotal in empowering the IDD organization to achieve its cost transformation and innovation goals.

This role will also focus on people leadership, including talent acquisition, training, performance management, and fostering a high-performing team culture.

Responsibilities:

• Leadership & Strategy
  • Provide strategic and hands-on leadership for teams building the future marketing and content technology landscape for Air Canada
  • Lead the cargo deliver teams towards a successful implementation of the new Cargo Management System.
  • Deliver disruptive technology driven innovations that dramatically increase revenue or reduce cost.
  • Drive the insourcing strategy by recruiting, developing, and retaining top engineering talent, reducing reliance on vendor-driven delivery models.
  • Collaborate with Product Owners, UX/UI Designers, and Architects to define the product vision, architecture, and development roadmap.
• Technology & Innovation
  • Oversee the delivery of robust, scalable, and secure digital applications, with a focus on performance, user experience, and maintainability.
  • Ensure modern engineering practices are followed, including Agile delivery, CI/CD automation, DevSecOps, test automation, and shift-left testing.
  • Champion the use and integration of Generative AI tooling and AI Agents within the development lifecycle to increase developer productivity and enable rapid iteration.
  • Stay ahead of emerging technologies and assess their relevance and value for digital product development.
  • Foster a culture of engineering excellence through code quality, design standards, peer reviews, and continuous learning.
• Execution & Delivery
  • Own end-to-end product delivery, from development through production deployment and support.
  • Collaborate closely with internal product managers, designers, architects, and quality assurance teams to ensure timely and high-quality product releases.
  • Monitor team performance, manage risks, remove delivery blockers, and drive accountability for outcomes.
  • Ensure proper technical documentation and knowledge-sharing across teams.
• Collaboration & Communication
  • Partner cross-functionally with other IT and Digital leaders, including Architecture, Security, Data, and Infrastructure teams.
  • Engage with key business stakeholders across Digital, Marketing, Loyalty, and HR to ensure alignment between product features and business priorities.
  • Present technical strategies and delivery progress to senior leadership, contributing to enterprise-wide technology planning.
• People & Budget Management
  • Manage operational and capital budgets, ensuring efficient resource allocation and delivery within financial targets.
  • Develop and maintain staffing plans, forecast resource needs, and align capacity to strategic priorities.
  • Support training and professional development programs to grow technical capabilities within the team.
  • Establish performance metrics and continuous improvement practices for team delivery and application performance.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field; equivalent experience may be considered in lieu of formal education.
• 10+ years of experience in digital application development, with at least 5 years in a leadership role managing front-end and back-end development teams.
• Proven success in leading digital transformations, including insourcing and adoption of modern development frameworks and practices.
• Deep technical expertise in web and mobile application development, microservices, cloud-native architecture, and API ecosystems.
• Experience integrating AI/ML technologies or Generative AI into product development lifecycles is a strong asset.
• Strong understanding of Agile, DevOps, and CI/CD best practices.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across both business and technology teams.
• Experience working in or with enterprise-scale organizations, ideally in travel, transportation, or customer experience-driven industries. 
• Demonstrate punctuality and dependability to support overall team success in a fast-paced environment.

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.