Top Benefits
About the role
Description
About Us
Spare is a fast-growing startup transforming the way people move with on-demand transit solutions. We thrive on innovation, rapid execution, and building products that make a real impact in communities around the world. As we continue to scale, we’re looking for a Director of Software Development to play a pivotal role in shaping our software development organization and enabling Spare’s next phase of growth.
About This Role
As Director of Software Development, you’ll be responsible for leading and scaling a high-performing development team while empowering our technical leaders to focus on product innovation and delivery. This role is 80% people and organizational leadership, and 20% technical contribution — reviewing code, mentoring, and maintaining technical depth, with the ability to jump in and be hands-on when needed.
Reporting directly to our VP of Software Development, you’ll manage team leads across our emerging products and core systems, ensuring that our developers are productive, our products are high quality, and our organization continues to scale effectively. This is a highly visible leadership role where you’ll collaborate closely with product, design, and other cross-functional teams, while also serving as a mentor to emerging leaders within the company.
Key Responsibilities ✨
-
Lead, coach, and develop software development team leads, ensuring strong people management and technical mentorship across the software development organization
-
Ensure delivery of high-quality products that meet user and business needs
-
Partner closely with product and design leaders to align roadmaps and execution
-
Balance hands-on technical involvement (e.g., code reviews, architectural input) with organizational leadership
-
Foster a culture of urgency, ownership, and results while maintaining Spare’s values of collaboration and inclusion
-
Navigate and shape Spare’s evolving structure, establishing scalable processes while remaining adaptable in a high-growth environment
-
Actively contribute to recruiting and retention, ensuring a strong and diverse pipeline of talent
-
Travel quarterly to connect with distributed teams and participate in leadership events and customer visits
About you ✨
- A proven software development leader with experience managing managers and scaling software development teams in fast-moving environments
- Skilled in people management, coaching, and building high-performing teams
- Product-oriented, able to translate user needs and business goals into technical execution
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating clarity and alignment where structure is still developing
- Driven by urgency and results, while fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture
- Technically fluent with modern web development practices, able to review code and provide meaningful technical guidance
- Excited by the opportunity to be one of the first leaders at this level within Spare, helping define how our software development organization grows
- Open to hybrid work with three days of the week in-person in our Vancouver office
Requirements
- 10+ years of software development experience, with 3+ years in a director-level (or equivalent) role managing managers
- Proven experience in people management within software development organizations
- Background in web development and awareness of modern web stacks, code pipelines, and devops paradigms
- Strong organizational leadership skills, with a track record of scaling teams and driving measurable results
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with experience working cross-functionally with product and design
It Will Be Considered a Plus:
- Experience in the transit, mobility, or logistics industries
- Leadership experience through high-growth startup stages
- Previous work in companies at a similar funding stage
- Commitment to building diverse teams and inclusive organizations
Why Join Us?
-
Opportunity to shape and scale Spare’s development organization at a pivotal growth stage
-
Mentorship under exceptional executive leadership, with exposure to strategic decision-making at the highest levels
-
Be one of the first leaders at this tier, building the foundation for how Spare’s software development org scales
-
Collaborate with a passionate, mission-driven team making a real-world impact
Benefits
-
Purposeful work: Be a part of a mission-driven company that is solving real-world problems and improving the lives of people around the world.
-
Growth Opportunities: Spare is growing fast and there is uncapped potential for rapid advancement of motivated high performers on our team!
-
Market-competitive pay: We benchmark roles annually to attract and retain top talent. For Growth roles, we also offer a competitive commission/bonus structure that rewards strong performance.
-
Stock options: Enjoy the feeling of ownership. All Spartians are provided stock options, so you can share in the growth and success of Spare!
-
Home office allowance: We recognize the importance of a productive home office setup to help you do your best work, which is why we provide a CA$1,000 home office allowance.
-
Health insurance: We offer a fully-paid health insurance package for you and your dependents that includes prescription drug, paramedical, mental health, dental, life insurance, travel insurance, and Employee Assistance Program.
-
Lifestyle Spending Account: We offer CA$500 per year Lifestyle Spending Account (taxable benefit), which you can use to get reimbursed for a variety of expenses including education, wellness, transportation, and childcare/pet care.
-
Paid time off: Along with your three weeks of annual vacation, we offer unlimited sick days and have company-wide shut-down days to help you rest and recharge.
About Spare
Spare's mission is empowering everyone to unlock the potential of mobility.
Spare is the future of shared transportation. We’re revolutionizing how the busy mom from Dallas, the retired teacher from Oslo or the aspiring entrepreneur from Tokyo experiences transportation, by partnering with transportation providers around the world to enable worry-free, efficient, flexible, and automated on-demand solutions.
From the daily commute to non-emergency hospital visits, last-minute lunches, and leisurely trips to the museum, our technology makes people’s lives easier and transit more equitable both for those with specialized mobility needs and those without.
With Spare’s Platform, which includes a feature-rich admin web-panel, as well as rider and driver apps, transportation providers can break free from para and microtransit silos and provide holistic demand-responsive services that give each rider exactly what they need. We also help cities easily optimize their transit network so that the entire transportation ecosystem works better together.
At Spare, nothing is impossible. We think safe, affordable, scalable and eventually autonomous transportation is the right way forward. Join us for the ride!
At Spare, we don't have a strict set of values, but rather a set of Guiding Principles that represent the most successful people at Spare.
️ Take Ownership
- ️ Growth Mindset
Execute with Urgency
Drive Results
No Assholes
Customer-Obsession
You can read more about our culture (and how we work) here
Top Benefits
About the role
Description
About Us
Spare is a fast-growing startup transforming the way people move with on-demand transit solutions. We thrive on innovation, rapid execution, and building products that make a real impact in communities around the world. As we continue to scale, we’re looking for a Director of Software Development to play a pivotal role in shaping our software development organization and enabling Spare’s next phase of growth.
About This Role
As Director of Software Development, you’ll be responsible for leading and scaling a high-performing development team while empowering our technical leaders to focus on product innovation and delivery. This role is 80% people and organizational leadership, and 20% technical contribution — reviewing code, mentoring, and maintaining technical depth, with the ability to jump in and be hands-on when needed.
Reporting directly to our VP of Software Development, you’ll manage team leads across our emerging products and core systems, ensuring that our developers are productive, our products are high quality, and our organization continues to scale effectively. This is a highly visible leadership role where you’ll collaborate closely with product, design, and other cross-functional teams, while also serving as a mentor to emerging leaders within the company.
Key Responsibilities ✨
-
Lead, coach, and develop software development team leads, ensuring strong people management and technical mentorship across the software development organization
-
Ensure delivery of high-quality products that meet user and business needs
-
Partner closely with product and design leaders to align roadmaps and execution
-
Balance hands-on technical involvement (e.g., code reviews, architectural input) with organizational leadership
-
Foster a culture of urgency, ownership, and results while maintaining Spare’s values of collaboration and inclusion
-
Navigate and shape Spare’s evolving structure, establishing scalable processes while remaining adaptable in a high-growth environment
-
Actively contribute to recruiting and retention, ensuring a strong and diverse pipeline of talent
-
Travel quarterly to connect with distributed teams and participate in leadership events and customer visits
About you ✨
- A proven software development leader with experience managing managers and scaling software development teams in fast-moving environments
- Skilled in people management, coaching, and building high-performing teams
- Product-oriented, able to translate user needs and business goals into technical execution
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity, creating clarity and alignment where structure is still developing
- Driven by urgency and results, while fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture
- Technically fluent with modern web development practices, able to review code and provide meaningful technical guidance
- Excited by the opportunity to be one of the first leaders at this level within Spare, helping define how our software development organization grows
- Open to hybrid work with three days of the week in-person in our Vancouver office
Requirements
- 10+ years of software development experience, with 3+ years in a director-level (or equivalent) role managing managers
- Proven experience in people management within software development organizations
- Background in web development and awareness of modern web stacks, code pipelines, and devops paradigms
- Strong organizational leadership skills, with a track record of scaling teams and driving measurable results
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with experience working cross-functionally with product and design
It Will Be Considered a Plus:
- Experience in the transit, mobility, or logistics industries
- Leadership experience through high-growth startup stages
- Previous work in companies at a similar funding stage
- Commitment to building diverse teams and inclusive organizations
Why Join Us?
-
Opportunity to shape and scale Spare’s development organization at a pivotal growth stage
-
Mentorship under exceptional executive leadership, with exposure to strategic decision-making at the highest levels
-
Be one of the first leaders at this tier, building the foundation for how Spare’s software development org scales
-
Collaborate with a passionate, mission-driven team making a real-world impact
Benefits
-
Purposeful work: Be a part of a mission-driven company that is solving real-world problems and improving the lives of people around the world.
-
Growth Opportunities: Spare is growing fast and there is uncapped potential for rapid advancement of motivated high performers on our team!
-
Market-competitive pay: We benchmark roles annually to attract and retain top talent. For Growth roles, we also offer a competitive commission/bonus structure that rewards strong performance.
-
Stock options: Enjoy the feeling of ownership. All Spartians are provided stock options, so you can share in the growth and success of Spare!
-
Home office allowance: We recognize the importance of a productive home office setup to help you do your best work, which is why we provide a CA$1,000 home office allowance.
-
Health insurance: We offer a fully-paid health insurance package for you and your dependents that includes prescription drug, paramedical, mental health, dental, life insurance, travel insurance, and Employee Assistance Program.
-
Lifestyle Spending Account: We offer CA$500 per year Lifestyle Spending Account (taxable benefit), which you can use to get reimbursed for a variety of expenses including education, wellness, transportation, and childcare/pet care.
-
Paid time off: Along with your three weeks of annual vacation, we offer unlimited sick days and have company-wide shut-down days to help you rest and recharge.
About Spare
Spare's mission is empowering everyone to unlock the potential of mobility.
Spare is the future of shared transportation. We’re revolutionizing how the busy mom from Dallas, the retired teacher from Oslo or the aspiring entrepreneur from Tokyo experiences transportation, by partnering with transportation providers around the world to enable worry-free, efficient, flexible, and automated on-demand solutions.
From the daily commute to non-emergency hospital visits, last-minute lunches, and leisurely trips to the museum, our technology makes people’s lives easier and transit more equitable both for those with specialized mobility needs and those without.
With Spare’s Platform, which includes a feature-rich admin web-panel, as well as rider and driver apps, transportation providers can break free from para and microtransit silos and provide holistic demand-responsive services that give each rider exactly what they need. We also help cities easily optimize their transit network so that the entire transportation ecosystem works better together.
At Spare, nothing is impossible. We think safe, affordable, scalable and eventually autonomous transportation is the right way forward. Join us for the ride!
At Spare, we don't have a strict set of values, but rather a set of Guiding Principles that represent the most successful people at Spare.
️ Take Ownership
- ️ Growth Mindset
Execute with Urgency
Drive Results
No Assholes
Customer-Obsession
You can read more about our culture (and how we work) here