Position Description
This role is hybrid and requires you to be at our downtown Toronto and/or Client office at a minimum 2 days per week subject to change at any time.
CGI is Canada's largest independent information technology services firm, and after 50 years, we're still growing. We are building a new AI engineering capability within our Toronto Financial Services (TFS) business unit, serving organizations across Banking, Insurance, and Wealth Management.
We are looking for a Distinguished AI Engineering Specialist, the most senior technical individual contributor on the team. This is a Director-level role focused on technical leadership rather than people management.
In this role, you will set the technical direction for AI engineering across TFS while remaining hands-on. You will tackle complex engineering challenges, validate new approaches, develop reference implementations, and establish patterns that other engineers and teams can adopt.
You will help design the systems and engineering practices that support the broader group, advise clients and executives, and provide technical guidance to principal and staff engineers. This opportunity is suited to an experienced AI engineering consultant who has delivered AI systems at scale and wants to continue working directly with technology while providing organization-wide technical leadership.
Your future duties and responsibilities
- Set the technical vision and architecture for AI engineering across TFS.
- Remain hands-on by building complex components, validating new approaches, and developing reference code.
- Design reusable engineering patterns, harnesses, and standards for adoption across teams.
- Address complex technical challenges across teams and client engagements.
- Advise client leaders and CGI executives, connecting AI capabilities to business objectives and value.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to principal and team members.
- Evaluate emerging tools and techniques and lead proofs of concept where appropriate.
- Establish and maintain standards for the quality, safety, reliability, and scalability of AI systems.
- Represent CGI's AI engineering capabilities with clients and the broader professional community.
Required Qualifications To Be Successful In This Role
- 10 to 20 years of experience building and delivering software, including deep and recent hands-on AI engineering experience.
- Strong, current hands-on full-stack development skills, including Java, Node.js, APIs, and data technologies.
- Expert knowledge of PostgreSQL and MongoDB, including database design and performance at scale.
- Demonstrated experience designing and delivering production LLM or agent-based systems used at scale.
- Expertise with AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Antigravity, Claude Code, or comparable tools.
- Expertise in prompt engineering, context engineering, harness engineering, and loop engineering.
- Experience designing large-scale, reliable, secure distributed systems.
- Demonstrated experience establishing evaluation, safety, testing, and reliability practices for production AI systems.
- Ability to provide technical direction across teams, advise executives, and build trusted client relationships.
- Ability to communicate complex AI concepts clearly to engineering teams, business leaders, and clients.
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"CGI is providing a reasonable estimate of the pay range for this role. The determination of this range includes factors such as skill set level, geographic market, experience and training, and licenses and certifications. Compensation decisions depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $115000–$165000. This role is an existing vacancy."
Disclaimer: "Use of the term ‘engineering’ in this job posting refers to the technical sense related to Information Technology (IT) and does not imply that the individual practices engineering or possesses the requisite license as prescribed by the applicable provincial or territorial engineering regulator. We are seeking individuals with expertise in IT engineering-related functions, but licensure from an engineering regulator is not a prerequisite for this position. Engineering is a regulated profession in Canada which is restricted in terms of use of titles and designation."
Together, as owners, let’s turn meaningful insights into action.
Life at CGI is rooted in ownership, teamwork, respect and belonging. Here, you’ll reach your full potential because…
You are invited to be an owner from day 1 as we work together to bring our Dream to life. That’s why we call ourselves CGI Partners rather than employees. We benefit from our collective success and actively shape our company’s strategy and direction.
Your work creates value. You’ll develop innovative solutions and build relationships with teammates and clients while accessing global capabilities to scale your ideas, embrace new opportunities, and benefit from expansive industry and technology expertise.
You’ll shape your career by joining a company built to grow and last. You’ll be supported by leaders who care about your health and well-being and provide you with opportunities to deepen your skills and broaden your horizons.
At CGI, we value the strength that diversity brings and are committed to fostering a workplace where everyone belongs. We collaborate with our clients to build more inclusive communities and empower all CGI partners to thrive. As an equal-opportunity employer, being able to perform your best during the recruitment process is important to us. If you require an accommodation, please inform your recruiter.
That same commitment to fairness extends to how we use technology. To support our recruitment team, AI tools may be used to help assess applications though they never replace human judgement. All hiring decisions remain entirely in the hands of our recruitment professionals.
To learn more about accessibility at CGI, contact us via email. Please note that this email is strictly for accessibility requests and cannot be used for application status inquiries.
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