Company Name: Ashby
Location: Remote – Canada (specifically Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal)
Job Type: Full-time
Salary Range: CA$152.5K – CA$230K yearly (plus Equity, plus Bonus)
Industry: B2B SaaS (Software as a Service) / Recruiting Technology
Job Overview
Ashby is a leading B2B SaaS company that’s revolutionizing Recruiting Technology, empowering businesses across the globe to optimize their hiring processes. We’re seeking an exceptional Software Engineering Manager, Product Engineering to lead our team across Canada. This full-time, Senior-Level role offers a pivotal opportunity to cultivate a unique engineering culture, empower a high-performing team, and directly shape the user-facing products that redefine recruiting.
As an Engineering Manager, you’ll bring a strong engineering background, a passion for shipping exceptional products, and a deep understanding of what truly makes engineers thrive. You’ll challenge the status quo, rethinking traditional processes like sprint planning, and champion an environment where engineers own features end-to-end with significant autonomy. If you’re an empathetic communicator, optimistic about building a large engineering team that functions differently from the “industry standard,” and eager to contribute to a frictionless engineering culture, Ashby invites you to join our groundbreaking team.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide strong engineering background leadership, able to hold in-depth conversations with direct reports from infra to backend to frontend.
- Bring experience shipping products and user-facing experiences to complement the current leadership team, enhancing product delivery.
- Possess deep knowledge of what exceptional engineers look like, how to recruit them, and how to grow them effectively.
- Hold the team to a high standard, providing detailed feedback and seeking feedback for self-improvement.
- Demonstrate proficiency in thinking about product, business, and design; interested in building a team that makes the best decisions without needing direct dictation.
- Believe engineering culture and process can be improved, with experience trying or successfully implementing changes that challenge the status quo.
- Be an excellent and empathetic communicator, able to facilitate change at individual and organizational levels.
- Leverage experience working on successful products in great engineering environments.
- Enjoy coding and find time to stay up-to-date on technology, leading by example.
- Be interested in a supporting role that may involve less “interesting” or visible work compared to direct reports, embracing a servant leadership mindset.
- Empower the team to make product decisions, fostering a sense of ownership.
- Cultivate a team of engineers who thrive with ownership and autonomy, not predominantly early-career/mid-career needing extensive guardrails.
- Champion a philosophy where staff or principal engineers are primarily valued as builders, not just project managers or architecture reviewers.
- Be optimistic and convinced that a large engineering team can function differently than “industry standard” (e.g., without constant sprint planning or extensive PM specs).
- Benefit from experience working at a product company or in a “frictionless engineering culture.”
- Provide feedback on product and technical specs to help engineers improve scope and quality.
- Grow engineers to take on large, loosely defined projects with minimal intervention.
- Rethink industry practices (e.g., pull request reviews) and propose improvements.
- Design and improve interview tracks to recruit top engineering talent.
- Jump into systems and code to debug customer issues, ship bug fixes, or improve developer experience.
- Improve internal tools/processes (e.g., generating/simulating data in demo accounts).
- Manage up to 10 direct reports to ensure paced growth and individual attention.
- Be comfortable with a “no sprint planning” environment where engineers self-manage time.
- Leverage familiarity with TypeScript (frontend & backend), Node.js, React, Apollo GraphQL, Postgres, and Redis (though prior experience not required, it’s a helpful asset).
Qualifications
- Experience Level: Senior-Level (Implied by “Software Engineering Manager” title, the expectation of being a “great (former) engineer,” and leadership responsibilities.)
- Education Requirement: Relevant experience or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field is typically preferred.
- Required Skills:
- Strong engineering background, able to hold in-depth conversations with direct reports from infra to backend to frontend.
- Experience shipping products and user-facing experiences (to complement the current leadership team).
- Knowledge of what exceptional engineers look like, how to recruit them, and how to grow them.
- Holds the team to a high standard and doesn’t shy away from getting into details and giving feedback; seeks feedback for self.
- Good at thinking about product, business, and design; interested in building a team that makes the best decisions without needing direct dictation.
- Believes engineering culture and process can be improved, with experience trying or successfully implementing changes that challenge the status status.
- Excellent and empathetic communicator, able to facilitate change at individual and organizational levels.
- Experience working on successful products in great environments.
- Enjoys coding and finds time to stay up-to-date on technology.
- Interested in a supporting role that may involve less “interesting” or visible work compared to direct reports.
- Empowers the team to make product decisions.
- Comfortable with engineers who thrive with ownership and autonomy.
- Doesn’t believe a staff or principal engineer’s primary role is project management or architecture reviews; values them primarily as builders.
- Optimistic and convinced that a large engineering team can function differently than “industry standard” (e.g., without constant sprint planning or extensive PM specs).
- Experience working at a product company or in a “frictionless engineering culture.”
- Ability to provide feedback on product and technical specs to help engineers improve scope and quality.
- Capable of growing engineers to take on large, loosely defined projects with minimal intervention.
- Ability to rethink industry practices (e.g., pull request reviews) and propose improvements.
- Skill in designing and improving interview tracks.
- Willingness to jump into systems and code to debug customer issues, ship bug fixes, or improve developer experience.
- Ability to improve internal tools/processes (e.g., generating/simulating data in demo accounts).
- Manages up to 10 direct reports to ensure paced growth and individual attention.
- Comfortable with a “no sprint planning” environment where engineers self-manage time.
- Familiarity with TypeScript (frontend & backend), Node.js, React, Apollo GraphQL, Postgres, Redis (though not required).
Salary and Benefits
Ashby offers a highly competitive annual salary for this Full-time Software Engineering Manager, Product Engineering – Canada position, ranging from CA$152.5K – CA$230K yearly, plus Equity and Bonus. We believe in investing in our employees and offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your overall well-being and professional growth. This typically includes robust health insurance options, generous paid time off, and opportunities for continuous learning and career development in a high-growth SaaS environment, complemented by company equity and performance bonuses.
Working Conditions
This is a Full-time, Remote position, operating across Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal). You’ll work from your home office, utilizing various development tools and collaboration platforms. The role demands exceptional leadership, a strong technical background, and the ability to manage a remote team effectively. You will be expected to cultivate a unique engineering culture, empower individual engineers, and challenge traditional processes. While management-focused, there’s a willingness to code and stay hands-on. Some flexibility in work hours may be required to accommodate team meetings across different time zones.
Why Work with Us
At Ashby, we’re building the future of Recruiting Technology, and we’re looking for visionary Software Engineering Managers to lead our product engineering teams. We’re a rapidly growing B2B SaaS company with a culture that values autonomy, ownership, and a deep commitment to solving customer problems through exceptional engineering.
As an Engineering Manager, you’ll have the unique opportunity to build and shape an engineering culture that challenges the status quo, where engineers own features end-to-end and thrive with minimal intervention. You’ll mentor a highly talented team, contribute to product strategy, and remain hands-on with code. If you’re an ambitious leader who believes in empowering builders and creating a frictionless engineering environment, Ashby offers an unparalleled opportunity for your career. Are you ready to lead a team that’s redefining software development in the SaaS industry?
