Manager, Software Development - Financial Risk

Engineering Manager Β· Manager Β· Full Time Β· Remote

Remote (Canada) Β· RemoteCAD 150k – 200k1w ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Lead Wealthsimple's Financial Risk Engineering team as a hands-on technical manager responsible for fraud detection and prevention systems that protect over 4 million Canadian users and $155 billion in assets under administration. This role combines strategic technical leadership with direct engineering contribution, requiring expertise in building cross-functional systems that balance security with user experience while managing real-world risk trade-offs. The ideal candidate will demonstrate deep technical depth in software architecture, experience managing high-performing engineering teams, and proven ability to collaborate across engineering, product, compliance, data science, and fraud prevention functions in a fintech environment.

Responsibilities

  • Technical Roadmap Development and Ownership: Own and evolve the technical roadmap for the Financial Risk Engineering team, aligning engineering capabilities with fraud detection, risk mitigation, and compliance requirements. Make informed prioritization decisions that balance security imperatives against product user experience.
  • Cross-Functional Leadership and Alignment: Act as connective tissue between engineering, product, compliance, fraud countermeasures, and data science functions. Ensure these teams work toward shared objectives rather than siloed goals, translating requirements across technical and non-technical stakeholders with competing priorities.
  • Hands-On Technical Contribution: Maintain active participation in codebase development and architectural decisions. Jump into implementation when critical blockers arise, contribute code reviews, and help unblock the team on complex technical challenges that impact fraud detection systems and risk infrastructure.
  • Engineering Team Building and Development: Build, grow, and mentor an engineering team capable of operating confidently in ambiguous risk and fraud scenarios. Provide career development, technical coaching, and create an environment where engineers can develop expertise in complex, low-visibility financial risk systems.
  • Data Science and Analytics Partnership: Partner with data science and analytics teams to translate fraud signals into production-grade systems that effectively detect and respond to financial risks. Engineer systems that operationalize machine learning models for real-time fraud detection and incident response.
  • AI-Driven Development Practices: Lead adoption and governance of AI tools across the team for incident investigation, code review, development efficiency, and fraud pattern analysis. Shape how the team leverages artificial intelligence to improve engineering productivity and fraud detection capabilities.

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Engineering Team Management

    Demonstrated experience managing and scaling engineering teams, with proven ability to hire, mentor, and retain high-performing software engineers. Must have track record of building team culture and delivering results through others.

  • Hands-On Software Architecture

    Deep technical expertise to contribute directly to architecture decisions and implementation, not just provide managerial oversight. Must be comfortable diving into complex backend systems, code reviews, and technical unblocking.

  • Risk and Compliance Systems Understanding

    Strong background working with risk frameworks, fraud prevention systems, or financial compliance requirements. Understanding of how engineering decisions impact regulatory obligations and risk exposure in financial services.

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration

    Proven ability to build trust and effective partnerships across non-engineering disciplines including product management, compliance teams, data scientists, and fraud analysts. Must excel at translating between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Education

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field

    Formal education in software engineering, computer science, mathematics, or equivalent technical discipline that provides foundational knowledge for managing complex engineering systems.

Experience

  • 5+ Years of Software Engineering Experience

    Substantial hands-on software development background building production systems, with demonstrated mastery of modern software development practices, architectures, and debugging complex issues.

  • 3+ Years of Engineering Leadership or Management

    Experience in an engineering management, technical lead, or engineering manager role responsible for guiding teams, making technical decisions, and mentoring other engineers.

  • Experience in Fintech or Financial Services

    Prior work in financial technology, payments, banking, or cryptocurrency environments where understanding regulatory requirements, fraud prevention, and financial risk is essential to daily work.

Skills

Required

  • Backend System Design

    Ability to design scalable, reliable backend systems that handle real-time fraud detection, risk scoring, and incident response at scale with millions of users and billions in assets.

  • Data Pipeline Architecture

    Experience building and optimizing data pipelines that process large volumes of financial transactions and events in real-time to feed fraud detection and risk analysis systems.

  • API Design and Integration

    Proficiency in designing robust APIs that integrate multiple systems (compliance, fraud prevention, payments, data science) and handle the complexity of coordinating risk decisions across platforms.

  • Technical Communication

    Exceptional ability to communicate complex technical and risk trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders including compliance officers, product managers, and executives with clarity and precision.

  • Ambiguity Management

    Comfort making informed decisions in situations where optimal solutions are unclear, requirements conflict, and outcomes involve real-world risk trade-offs between security and user experience.

  • Team Leadership

    Demonstrated ability to inspire, develop, and lead engineering teams through technical challenges, providing clear direction while maintaining psychological safety and fostering continuous improvement.

Preferred

  • Apache Kafka Streaming

    Nice to have

    Experience building real-time event streaming systems using Apache Kafka for handling high-volume financial transactions and enabling real-time fraud detection capabilities.

  • Apache Flink and Spark

    Nice to have

    Expertise with distributed stream processing frameworks for building scalable data pipelines that analyze fraud patterns and financial risk indicators in real-time or batch processing.

  • Data Engineering

    Nice to have

    Background in data engineering with experience making large, complex datasets accessible and usable for real-time analytics, fraud detection, and machine learning model inference.

  • Machine Learning Operationalization

    Nice to have

    Experience working closely with data scientists to move models from research to production, understanding model deployment, monitoring, and integration into real-time systems.

  • React Frontend Development

    Nice to have

    Full-stack experience building React-based user interfaces, particularly for building error states and user experiences that communicate fraud alerts, account holds, or risky transactions to users.

  • Multi-Language Backend Development

    Nice to have

    Proficiency across multiple backend programming languages and frameworks (Python, Java, Go, Node.js, etc.) enabling flexible technology choices based on performance and maintainability requirements.

  • Payments and Cryptocurrency Systems

    Nice to have

    Specific experience building or managing systems that handle payments, cryptocurrency transactions, or related financial instruments where fraud vectors and risk scenarios are complex.

Tech stack

Languages

PythonJavaGoJavaScript/TypeScriptSQL

Frameworks

ReactSpring BootFastAPIGraphQL

Databases

PostgreSQLRedisElasticsearchMongoDB

Tools

Apache KafkaApache FlinkApache SparkGit and GitHubDocker and KubernetesDatadog or New RelicLooker or TableauJira and Confluence

Other

Machine Learning Operations (MLOps)Fraud Detection SystemsRisk Scoring and ModelingIncident Management and ResponseCompliance and Regulatory RequirementsAI and Large Language Models

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

BaseΒ·CAD 150,000 – 200,000

EquityΒ·Stock options

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Health and Life Insurance

    Top-tier health benefits coverage including medical, dental, and vision insurance, complemented by competitive group life insurance protection.

  • Employer-Matched Group Savings Program

    Long-term retirement savings through Wealthsimple for Business with employer matching contribution, enabling compound wealth building over your career.

  • Generous Paid Time Off

    20 vacation days annually plus 4 wellness days dedicated to personal well-being and renewal, ensuring proper work-life balance for sustained high performance.

  • Unlimited Sick and Mental Health Days

    Unlimited paid leave for illness and mental health support, recognizing that physical and psychological well-being are essential to long-term success and team sustainability.

  • Remote Work Flexibility

    Ability to work outside Canada for up to 90 days per year, providing flexibility to travel, handle personal matters, or explore different environments while maintaining employment.

  • Employee Resource Groups

    Membership in affinity groups including Rainbow (2SLGBTQ community), Women of Wealthsimple, and Black at Wealthsimple, fostering inclusive community and professional development.

  • Hybrid Work Environment

    Collaborative hybrid work model with offices across North America, enabling both remote flexibility and in-person collaboration with over 1,500 talented teammates.

  • Professional Development and Learning

    Access to training, conferences, and learning opportunities to develop technical skills, leadership capabilities, and industry expertise throughout your career.

Full posting

Original listing.

Build something people love

Wealthsimple is Canada’s leading financial innovator. The company offers a full suite of simple, sophisticated financial products across managed investing, do-it-yourself trading, cryptocurrency, tax filing, spending and saving. Wealthsimple currently serves more than 4 million Canadians and holds over $155 billion in assets under administration. The company was founded in 2014 by a team of financial experts and technology entrepreneurs, and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

We're proud of what we've built β€” and we're just getting started. Read our Culture Manual and learn more about how we work.

About the Team

The Financial Risk Engineering team builds the tooling that keeps Wealthsimple's clients safe from fraud, without getting in the way of the experience they signed up for. We sit at the intersection of engineering, product, compliance, fraud countermeasures, and data science, and we're the ones who turn that intersection into working systems. We move fast, but we build thoughtfully. Every decision here is a real trade-off between risk and experience, and we take that seriously. If you want to work on problems where the stakes are real and the answers aren't obvious, this is the team for it.

About the Role

As Manager of Software Development for Financial Risk, you'll lead the team responsible for how Wealthsimple detects and responds to fraud. This is a hands-on technical leadership role: you'll set the roadmap, but you'll also be in the work when it counts. You'll be the connective tissue between engineering, product, compliance, fraud countermeasures, and data science, making sure those teams are solving the same problem instead of five different ones.

In this role you'll have the opportunity to

  • Own and evolve the technical roadmap for the Financial Risk Engineering team

  • Act as the connective layer between engineering, product, compliance, fraud countermeasures, and data science

  • Stay hands-on: jump into the codebase, weigh in on architecture decisions, and help unblock the team when it matters

  • Build and grow a team that can operate confidently in an area where the right answer is rarely obvious

  • Partner with data science and analytics to turn fraud signals into systems that actually catch things

  • Help shape how AI tools get used across the team, from incident investigation to code review

Skills you bring

  • Experience managing engineering teams, with the technical depth to contribute directly, not just direct

  • Comfortable making decisions that involve real trade-offs, without a clear right answer

  • A strong track record partnering across non-engineering functions, like product, compliance, data science, and building trust with each

  • A clear communicator, able to explain technical and risk trade-offs to a range of stakeholders

Nice-to-have's

  • Experience with streaming technologies such as Apache Flink, Apache Spark, or Kafka

  • A data engineering background working with large datasets and making them usable in real time

  • Experience in risk or payments

  • Experience working closely with analytics or data science teams

  • Full stack experience, with React on the frontend and backend experience across various languages and frameworks β€” building an experience when things go wrong for the client is an important area the team is responsible for

Who you are

  • You're comfortable stepping into the code when the team needs it, not just reviewing from a distance

  • You make peace with ambiguity β€” fraud and risk rarely come with a clean answer

  • You build trust across teams that don't always share the same priorities

  • You use AI as part of how you work, not as an afterthought

  • You take ownership of outcomes, not just your own team's output

Why Wealthsimple?

🌸 Top-tier health benefits and life insurance

πŸ“ˆ Long-term group savings with employer match, through Wealthsimple for Business

🌴 20 vacation days, 4 wellness days, and unlimited sick and mental health days per year

✈️ 90 days away: work outside Canada for up to 90 days per year

πŸ‘₯ Employee resource groups, including Rainbow (2SLGBTQ), Women of WS, and Black at WS

🌎 We are a hybrid team with over 1,500 employees across North America. The people are one of the best parts of working here: you'll collaborate with incredibly talented, curious, and driven teammates who are deeply committed to doing great work.

ICYMI

Technology & Innovation at Wealthsimple: We move quickly and build thoughtfully. That means we're always looking for better ways to work β€” whether that's new tools, AI, or rethinking how we approach a problem. We don't expect you to have all the answers, but we do expect curiosity and a willingness to evolve alongside the products we're building.

Inclusion Statement: We're building products for a diverse world, and we need a diverse team to do it well. We strongly encourage applications from everyone, regardless of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.

Accessibility Statement: We're committed to an accessible hiring experience. If you need any accommodations throughout the interview process, please let us know β€” we'll work with you to make sure you have what you need. We also welcome any feedback on how we can better accommodate candidates with accessibility needs.

AI in Hiring: We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our team but don't replace human judgment – all final hiring decisions are made by people. If you have questions about how your data is used, reach out to us.

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