Staff Engineer
About the role
Role overview
ChargeLab is looking for a Staff Engineer to set technical direction across engineering and to shape how we design, validate, and deliver software at scale. This role sits on the Engineering Scale track, which owns patterns, frameworks, and specialist depth across the organization. It works alongside the Management track rather than above it.
You'll report to the VP of Engineering rather than to an Engineering Manager, which keeps your time horizon long and your attention on architecture rather than sprint assignment. You don't assign work to engineers. You influence through design, validation, and the standards you set. You'll lead the Architecture Working Group's agenda and roadmap, and you'll partner with Product and customer-facing teams to turn business goals into technically sound plans.
Company details
ChargeLab is the Android of EV charging. We don't build hardware. Instead, we partner with leading manufacturers like Eaton, ABB, and Siemens to bundle their EV chargers with ChargeLab's software. Our end customers include building owners, convenience stores, utilities, and fleets. They leverage our charging station management system (CSMS) and open APIs to manage thousands of EV chargers more efficiently.
By 2030, most new vehicles sold in North America will be EVs. ChargeLab has raised US $30 million to build the world's best software for managing large networks of EV chargers. We currently have 65 full-time employees, including over 40 team members in engineering and product.
Hybrid work
ChargeLab has a beautiful office in Etobicoke with ample parking, subway access, free snacks and coffee, and quiet meeting rooms. Being in the office also means direct, face-to-face access to our Executive Leadership Team.
Engineering team members work from the office on Mondays and Thursdays, when we provide lunch for the team. Thursdays are also our monthly all-hands day. The rest of the week is for focused deep work from home.
We also bring everyone together throughout the year:
- ChargeFest: our annual 3-day onsite in Toronto. Remote team members fly in.
- Quarterly Lab Days: planning days held in the three quarters without ChargeFest.
What you'll do
Own the architecture of specialist domains and the patterns and frameworks that other teams build on.
Make complex systems simple: join well-defined parts through clear seams, keeping architecture "complex, never complicated."
Do hands-on work on the hardest technical problems, and bring that depth into design reviews and planning.
Challenge the status quo with evidence, and retire approaches that no longer serve the business.
Mentor engineers across teams, not only within your own, and raise the bar on engineering quality through review, standards, and coaching.
Partner with Product on how we win, and with customer-facing teams on what they need from the platform.
Lead the planning and roadmap work at Quarterly Lab Days, in quarters where ChargeFest doesn't fall.
Qualifications
A demonstrated record of driving innovation that measurably accelerated a technology organization, not only shipping features
Extensive experience as a Senior or Staff-level engineer, with a track record of architecting and delivering complex systems at scale
Deep technical expertise in distributed, event-driven systems, with sound judgment on trade-offs between simplicity, scalability, and cost
Hands-on depth: you can build and validate the hardest parts of a system yourself, and you stay credible in the code
Strong influence without direct authority: you've moved teams toward a better technical direction through persuasion, evidence, and example
A record of mentoring engineers across teams, not only within one team
Experience designing for interoperability with industry standards (OCPP, OCPI, ISO 15118, or similar), or a strong ability to learn them quickly
Excellent written and verbal communication, including design documents others can act on
A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, or Physics, or a related field
Prior experience in B2B SaaS or IoT platforms is strongly preferred
Experience with AWS is preferred.