Technical Lead – AI & Wealth Management… at Astra-North… · Toronto

Technical Lead – AI & Wealth Management Platform | LLM, Java, Kafka, MicroservicesToronto, ON - Hybrid (4 Days WFO)

About the Role:

ClientLink is a mission-critical wealth management platform that supports portfolio accounting, investment operations, and client servicing across the enterprise. As part of our strategic modernization journey, we are transforming the platform using modern architecture, event-driven integration, cloud-native technologies, and an enterprise AI Engineering Platform that accelerates software delivery through reusable AI capabilities, standardized engineering workflows, and governance.

We are seeking an experienced Principal Technical Lead – AI & Platform Modernization to lead this transformation. This role combines deep technical expertise, people leadership, software architecture, and AI-enabled engineering to deliver the next generation of ClientLink.

As the senior technical leader, you will define the technical vision, lead an engineering team, establish engineering standards, and drive the adoption of AI-enabled software engineering practices that improve delivery velocity, software quality, and developer productivity.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Strategy & Platform Modernization

• Define and execute the technical strategy for the modernization of the ClientLink platform.

• Lead the transformation of legacy applications into modern, scalable, resilient, and maintainable solutions.

• Establish architecture principles, engineering standards, and modernization roadmaps aligned with enterprise technology strategies.

• Drive the adoption of API-first, event-driven, and cloud-native architectural patterns.

• Balance innovation with operational stability by reducing technical debt while delivering business value.

• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend strategic investments that strengthen the platform and improve engineering effectiveness.

AI Engineering Platform Leadership

• Lead the evolution and adoption of the enterprise AI Engineering Platform to modernize the software development lifecycle.

• Drive the use of AI-enabled capabilities across requirements analysis, solution architecture, software design, code generation, testing, documentation, and platform modernization.

• Define reusable AI capabilities, including domain-specific skills, plugins, workflows, prompts, and engineering guardrails that enable secure, consistent, and high-quality software delivery.

• Establish governance and best practices for responsible AI adoption, ensuring compliance with enterprise security, risk management, and software engineering standards.

• Champion AI-enabled developer productivity while maintaining human oversight, technical accountability, and engineering excellence.

• Continuously evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to improve software quality, accelerate delivery, and modernize legacy platforms.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the principal technical authority for ClientLink modernization initiatives.

• Lead architectural design, solution reviews, and technical decision-making across multiple workstreams.

• Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, security, resiliency, scalability, and operational standards.

• Establish engineering best practices for software design, coding, testing, DevSecOps, CI/CD, observability, and production readiness.

• Guide complex technology decisions and provide technical leadership throughout the software development lifecycle.

• Mentor Technical Leads and Senior Software Engineers in modern engineering practices and architecture.

Engineering Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop high-performing software engineering teams.

• Foster a collaborative, innovative, and accountable engineering culture.

• Support hiring, mentoring, performance management, succession planning, and career development.

• Build organizational capability through technical coaching and knowledge sharing.

• Encourage continuous improvement, engineering excellence, and innovation across the development organization.

Delivery Leadership

• Partner with Product Owners, Business System Analysts, Enterprise Architects, Infrastructure, Security, and Operations teams to deliver strategic modernization initiatives.

• Translate business priorities into technical roadmaps and executable delivery plans.

• Lead technical planning, estimation, risk management, and dependency management across multiple concurrent initiatives.

• Ensure solutions are delivered with high quality, predictable execution, and operational readiness.

• Provide technical leadership during production implementations and major incident resolution.

Qualifications

Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related discipline.

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including the design and delivery of large-scale enterprise applications.

• 5+ years of technical leadership experience leading engineering teams and strategic technology initiatives.

• Proven success modernizing complex enterprise platforms using modern architectural patterns.

• Experience leading cross-functional teams in Agile software delivery environments.

Technical Expertise

Strong hands-on experience with several of the following technologies and practices:

• Java and Spring Boot

• RESTful APIs

• Event-driven architecture and Apache Kafka

• Microservices and distributed systems

• Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB

• Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud)

• Docker and Kubernetes

• GitHub Enterprise and modern source control practices

• CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps

• Infrastructure as Code

• Enterprise integration patterns

• Performance engineering and application observability

• Secure software engineering and cybersecurity best practices

AI Engineering Experience

Experience designing, implementing, or adopting enterprise AI capabilities within the software development lifecycle, including:

• AI-enabled software engineering platforms

• Large Language Models (LLMs) supporting software development

• AI-assisted requirements analysis, solution design, code generation, testing, and documentation

• Development of reusable AI capabilities such as skills, plugins, prompts, workflows, and engineering guardrails

• Governance frameworks for responsible AI adoption within enterprise engineering organizations

Leadership Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strategic technology leadership

• Strong software architecture and design expertise

• Exceptional technical problem-solving and analytical skills

• Experience influencing technical direction across multiple teams

• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills

• Ability to mentor and inspire engineering teams

• Passion for innovation, continuous improvement, and engineering excellence

• Ability to balance strategic planning with hands-on technical leadership

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within financial services, wealth management, capital markets, or enterprise banking platforms.

• Experience modernizing mission-critical legacy applications.

• Knowledge of portfolio accounting, investment operations, or securities processing.

• Experience implementing enterprise AI platforms and modern engineering productivity solutions.

• Experience leading cloud transformation and enterprise integration initiatives.

Success Measures

In this role, the candidate will:

• Define and execute the modernization strategy for the ClientLink platform.

• Accelerate software delivery through enterprise AI-enabled engineering capabilities.

• Build and mentor high-performing engineering teams.

• Improve platform scalability, resiliency, security, and operational excellence.

• Reduce technical debt through structured modernization initiatives.

• Establish engineering standards that improve software quality, consistency, and maintainability.

• Deliver strategic technology outcomes aligned with business priorities.

• Position ClientLink as a modern, AI-enabled wealth management platform that supports future innovation and growth.