Lead Software Engineer Job at Randstad (Richmond Hill)

Job Description

Our client, is seeking a high-caliber Lead Software Engineer to head the development of their core cryptographic engine. This engine is a high-performance, cross-platform C/C++ library that delivers mission-critical data encryption, tokenization, key management, HSM integration, and payment-terminal security for Tier-1 banks, major retailers, and healthcare organizations worldwide. The product compiles and ships across a vast matrix of operating systems—including Linux, Windows, macOS, AIX, Solaris, HPE NonStop, and IBM z/OS. This is a technical leadership role requiring deep systems-level C/C++ development. You will be a hands-on "player-coach"—writing substantial production code, establishing engineering best practices, driving architectural design reviews, and acting as a senior escalation authority for complex cross-platform and mainframe-integrated defects. Position Type: 6-Month Contract. Location: Hybrid / Office-Based (On-site presence required at the Richmond Hill, ON office location)

Job Responsibility

Technical Leadership & Architecture
Engineering Culture: Set coding standards, comprehensive testing strategies, and a rigorous peer code-review culture across the global engineering squad
End-to-End Feature Design: Lead product features from original requirement mapping through strict API design, implementation, and multi-platform qualification testing
Build Optimization: Manage the cross-platform compilation and packaging strategy utilizing CMake, GitLab CI, Jenkins pipelines, artifact promotion, and secure code signing
DevSecOps Ingestion: Embed automated static analysis, security vulnerability scanning, and dependency management tools directly into the unified CI pipeline
Technical Escalation: Serve as the final escalation authority for customer defects involving cryptographic correctness, hardware security module (HSM) integrations, and platform authorization frameworks
Hands-on Full-Stack & Core Systems Engineering
Cryptographic Engineering: Implement and refine complex symmetric/asymmetric ciphers, format-preserving encryption (FPE), key wrapping algorithms, message authentication codes, and TLS configurations in C and C++
Multi-Language Interop Bindings: Own the Java SDK layer—managing both pure-Java modules and components that interface with the native C library through cross-language runtime boundaries (JNI interop)
Mainframe Engineering (IBM z/OS Core): Partner with the team's mainframe specialists to build, maintain, and support the product's IBM z/OS port. Write portable code across the IBM xLC/C++ compiler, HLASM assembly interfaces, and COBOL callable boundaries via JCL build configurations and SMP/E installation packages
Systems Consulting: Engage directly with client-side z/OS Systems Programmers to troubleshoot runtime issues, TLS hygiene, and SAF/RACF/ACF2 authentication security integrations

Requirements

Expert C/C++ Systems Development: 8+ years of professional experience writing highly portable, maintainable C/C++ source code across disparate compilers, architectures, and platforms, with deep knowledge of avoiding undefined behaviors
Operating System Depth: Deep foundational understanding of OS memory management, dynamic linking, shared-library design, multi-threading models, and process isolation across at least two platforms (e.g., Linux, Windows, AIX)
Applied Cryptography & Standards: Hands-on experience implementing public-key cryptography, symmetric ciphers, key management structures, and custom TLS/SSL configurations
Native Interoperability Boundaries: Proven experience owning native interoperation boundaries in production, managing strict memory ownership and error-propagation boundaries between cross-language bindings
Build Systems & Pipelines: Demonstrated mastery maintaining CMake configurations across multi-compiler environments, combined with direct ownership of designing multi-stage CI/CD delivery pipelines
Java Mastery: Robust production-quality Java experience with the ability to diagnose JVM runtime and interop integration failures
C# / .NET Profile: Strong background in .NET Standard library design, native interop wrappers, and NuGet packaging
HSM Integrations: Direct, referenceable experience deploying PKCS#11 or Hardware Security Module SDKs (e.g., Thales Luna, nCipher nShield, Atalla)
Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC): Familiarity with the NIST PQC standards trajectory and upcoming algorithm frameworks (ML-KEM, ML-DSA, SLH-DSA)
Payment Domain Knowledge: Practical familiarity with banking standards such as ISO 8583, EMV, PCI-DSS P2PE, and terminal-to-host key exchange mechanisms
IBM z/OS Environment Familiarity: Prior experience or strong architectural familiarity with JCL, HLASM, xLC/C++, SMP/E packaging, TSO/ISPF, and the z/Architecture 31-bit/64-bit addressing models. (A strong systems C/C++ programmer with a passionate interest in non-POSIX environments will be considered)
HPE NonStop Infrastructure: Experience or interest in the Guardian/OSS shell, TAL/pTAL programming, and C cross-compilation configurations

Nice to have

C# / .NET Profile
HSM Integrations
Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC)
Payment Domain Knowledge
IBM z/OS Environment Familiarity
HPE NonStop Infrastructure

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Lead Software Engineer

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