Please note that Koru takes a company-wide holiday break. We will not contact candidates for this role until we resume regular operations in January 2025.
Hybrid Role - Toronto, Canada
We are Koru.
Koru is a first of its kind venture studio funded by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. We partner with OTPP portfolio companies to build and invest in businesses with a clear right to win.
Founded in 2019, our mission is to drive value creation aimed at growing the overall value of OTPP’s portfolio companies by partnering with them to identify, validate, build and oversee new disruptive businesses. We go from 0-1, building ventures that address customer frictions head-on — and we leverage our corporate partnerships to gain unfair advantages in the market.
We offer a unique balance of risk and reward where startup talent can build with the backing of a $250B pension plan and the ability to impact portfolio companies all around the world, explore disruptive new opportunities and share in the upside of every business we put into the market. We promote a truly entrepreneurial mindset and a culture of spirited reinvention.
You will have a unique opportunity to be exposed to a wide array of industries, and be a vital voice when it comes to your particular domain, but also various areas of the businesses you’ll launch. Since 2019, we’ve launched 10 ventures across a broad array of industries and problem spaces. Take a look at our portfolio of ventures to see for yourself.
If you get excited by architecting, testing, prototyping and building innovative products/services that allow new entrants to disrupt existing industries, enjoy working in a collaborative and dynamic startup environment, have an entrepreneurial spirit and are confident navigating ambiguity, and have strong ‘full stack’ developer skills, then your place may be with us!
As Director, Technology, you will:
Collaborate across disciplines: Partner closely with engineering leadership, product, design, business, and growth teams to align on building the right solutions at the right time, prioritizing impact and efficiency in a fast-paced, iterative environment.
Prototype and validate: Lead the creation of technical proofs-of-concept (POCs) to test and validate new ideas quickly, ensuring feasibility and alignment with business priorities.
Own technical execution: Lead technical due diligence, vendor selection, and technical architecture, including build/buy/partner evaluations, to ensure alignment with business goals.
Hands-on early-stage development: Take full ownership of building and delivering core features and functionality solo in the earliest stages.
Lead a growing team: Take charge of leading implementation efforts by coordinating with both internal team members and external development partners. Participate in solution design and implementation, setting the standard for excellence through hands-on contributions and thoughtful leadership.
Drive agile excellence: Implement and advocate for agile practices that enable iterative product development informed by customer validation and feedback loops across cross-functional teams.
Drive cross-venture learning: Proactively stay up to date with the latest advancements in technology. Share best practices, lessons learned, and innovative approaches across ventures to continuously elevate engineering processes and outcomes
You should have:
- A minimum of 7 years of experience in technology development
- 3+ years hands-on leadership of engineering talent
- Experience working across platforms & technologies, such as web and mobile apps, SaaS, big data and/or AI and ML powered platforms.
- Strong leadership and communication skills that contribute to an open and collaborative environment.
- Experience working with agile, lean and continuous delivery approaches.
- An ability to embrace and reduce uncertainty through continual validated learning
- Real passion for solving customer frictions through simple and effective software
It would be nice if you have:
- Experience in building completely new products from 0-1, and bringing them to market
- Experience as a Founding Engineer or very early hire in a startup
What happens next?
Once we review your application, if we’d like to move you forward in the process, here’s what you can expect:
Step 1: Functional 1 - Interview with the Hiring Lead (Virtual, 30-45 minutes)
Step 2: Functional 2 - Interview with a Team Member (Virtual, 30-45 minutes)
Step 3: Practical Challenge
- Presentation prep on your own time
- Presentation Delivery: 60 minutes total (Virtual or In-Person, 30 minutes presentation & 30 minutes Q&A).
- Team Interview: 3:1 interview with panel participants (Virtual or In-Person, 45 minutes).
Step 4: Candidate Debrief
Step 5: 1:1 Partner Interview (Virtual or In-Person, 30 minutes)
Step 6: Offer
Total Rewards at Koru.
Our total rewards package is balanced, flexible, inclusive, and fair which makes it a key part of our employer value proposition. We regularly review and update our total rewards, taking into account best practices, industry trends, and feedback from our team. Currently, our total rewards package is inclusive of:
- Cash compensation made up of 1) competitive base salary 2) annual bonus 3) company-matched RRSP and 4) participation in our equity program
- Comprehensive health benefits, including:
- Group insurance
- A flexible healthcare spending account
- Fitness benefit
- Mindfulness benefit
- Generous paid time off including vacation, sick, and a parental leave top-up.
- Other benefits include, mobile phone reimbursement and education benefit.
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Diversity of perspectives and experience is at the core of how we approach disruption and innovation. We believe in fostering an environment where team members of all backgrounds can feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to work every day. We aim to ensure all of our employees work in an environment that makes them feel valued, heard and supported while they strive towards career pursuits and their personal and professional growth.
We are committed to providing accommodations for all candidates that require them and in all aspects of the recruitment, selection, and/or assessment process. If you are selected to participate in any part of the selection and/or assessment process, please inform us of any accommodation(s) that you may require.
Our location.
Koru’s offices are located in downtown Toronto. We humbly acknowledge that Koru HQ is located on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, Chippewa (Anishinaabeg), Haudenosaunee, and Wendat. This territory is covered by the ‘Toronto Purchase: Treaty 13’ which was the surrender of the lands from the Mississaugas of the Credit to the British Crown initially in 1787.
Koru staff and/or board members are made up of settlers, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, or a combination thereof. Our roots lie in continents across the world and we are grateful for the opportunity to share this land where we work and live.
Please note that this role is hybrid and requires the selected candidate to commute to Koru HQ in downtown Toronto as and when required by the company. Additionally, all individuals considered for this role are required to be legally eligible to work in Canada.
We’re flattered that you’d like to join our team, but only applicants selected to proceed in the hiring process will be contacted.