Senior Engineering Manager, Advanced Product Designer (APD)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Engineering Manager, Advanced Product Designer (APD)

Company: Guidewire Software

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Engineering Management / Product Development Operations

Date Posted: June 02, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and grow multiple engineering teams focused on Guidewire's Advanced Product Designer (APD) capability within the Application Platform.

• Drive the technical strategy, architectural vision, and operational excellence for APD on App Platform 2.0, ensuring scalability, security, and observability.

• Own the delivery of APD's design-time and runtime capabilities, including APIs and platform integrations, to accelerate insurance product configuration and lifecycle management.

• Foster a high-accountability, inclusive culture emphasizing coaching, innovation, and continuous learning, with a strong focus on leveraging AI and data-driven insights.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within Product Development & Operations (PDO), specifically focusing on the Application Platform's Advanced Product Designer (APD) capability. This suggests a strong emphasis on the operational aspects of product development, platform integration, and the efficient lifecycle management of insurance products, rather than pure end-user product design. The "Senior Engineering Manager" title, combined with "Advanced Product Designer (APD)", indicates a leadership role overseeing the engineering teams responsible for the platform's configuration and modeling services.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor 2-3 small engineering teams and their technical leads, cultivating a culture of high accountability, trust, coaching, inclusion, innovation, and continuous learning.

• Drive the architecture, delivery, and operational maturity of the APD capability on App Platform 2.0, ensuring adherence to Guidewire's engineering standards for scalability, security, and observability.

• Own the end-to-end delivery of APD's key design-time and runtime capabilities, including the evolution of its services, APIs, and supporting platform integrations.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Architecture, UX, Platform Engineering, Security, and SRE to translate product strategy into actionable execution plans, manage launches, and meet customer, compliance, and reliability requirements.

• Champion APD's role as the definitive source for product modeling across the platform, ensuring seamless integration with schemas, rules, APIs, downstream digital experiences, and other App Platform services.

• Enhance platform stewardship by actively collaborating with adjacent capabilities like Rules, Schema Editor, Package Manager, and App Manager to improve interoperability, reuse, and overall developer experience.

• Drive the responsible adoption of AI, automation, and data-driven engineering practices within the organization, both in software development processes and in the evolution of APD capabilities.

• Establish strong execution discipline across teams by setting clear priorities, improving planning and delivery predictability, and ensuring high-quality outcomes in feature delivery, reliability, and security.

• Recruit, coach, and develop senior engineers and technical leads, elevating the technical and leadership bar while creating growth opportunities within the organization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of people management, technical leadership, and strategic execution. The emphasis on "operational maturity," "reliability," "security," and "interoperability" points towards a strong focus on the operational aspects of the platform, crucial for a GTM or RevOps context where platform stability and efficiency directly impact revenue enablement.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience:

• Extensive software engineering experience in SaaS or platform product development, with a proven track record of managing engineering teams and leading through technical leads or multiple teams (10+ years total experience, with significant leadership experience). Required Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to embrace and apply AI to engineering leadership, product delivery, and team productivity, utilizing data-driven insights to enhance outcomes.

• Strong hands-on technical background in Java and modern backend engineering, with deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices, cloud-native architecture, and secure multi-tenant platforms.

• Proven experience building and operating cloud applications on modern platforms such as AWS, including proficiency in Kubernetes, containerization, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.

• Experience driving architectural decisions, conducting design reviews, and leading technical execution for platform or enterprise software products.

• Demonstrated experience integrating AI/ML or GenAI capabilities into production software, platforms, or software engineering workflows.

• Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with a proven ability to influence stakeholders across Product Management, Architecture, UX, Platform Engineering, Security, and SRE.

• Excellent communication, judgment, and organizational leadership skills, with a track record of delivering measurable business and engineering outcomes across a broad scope. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with product configuration, product modeling, rules engines, or lifecycle management systems, particularly within the insurance industry or other complex enterprise domains.

• Familiarity with Guidewire's APD, PolicyCenter, Cloud APIs, App Events, digital integrations, or adjacent App Platform services.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required skills emphasize modern cloud-native development, AI integration, and strong leadership, aligning with the needs of a sophisticated platform product. The preferred skills point towards domain-specific knowledge in insurance product configuration, which is critical for understanding the business impact and operational efficiency of the APD system.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase experience in leading the development and operationalization of complex SaaS platforms, emphasizing scalability, reliability, and security.

• Provide examples of driving architectural decisions and technical execution for platform or enterprise software products, demonstrating an understanding of system design and trade-offs.

• Highlight instances of integrating AI/ML or GenAI capabilities into production environments, detailing the problem, solution, and measurable impact on engineering or product outcomes.

• Demonstrate experience in fostering a high-accountability and continuous learning culture within engineering teams, including examples of coaching technical leads and engineers. Process Documentation:

• Evidence of establishing and refining CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and cloud-native operational procedures (e.g., observability, incident management) for SaaS products.

• Documentation or case studies illustrating the process of translating product strategy into actionable engineering execution plans, coordinating with cross-functional teams.

• Examples of driving process improvements within engineering teams, such as enhancing planning predictability, improving feature delivery quality, or strengthening security protocols.

• Case studies detailing the lifecycle management of platform services, from design and development through to operational deployment and ongoing maintenance.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior Engineering Manager role, a portfolio should focus on strategic initiatives, team development, and the operational health of systems. Emphasis should be placed on process maturity, architectural stewardship, and the successful integration of advanced technologies like AI within a SaaS platform context.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• The Canadian CAD base salary range for this full-time position is $148,000 - $185,000 annually.

• 📝 Enhancement Note: This range is specific to the Toronto/Mississauga, Canada location. It reflects the experience level (10+ years) and the senior management nature of the role. The stated range is indicative and actual compensation will be determined by factors including experience, skills, education, training, and location.

Benefits:

• Flexible Work Environment

• Health Insurance

• Dental Insurance

• Vision Insurance

• Paid Time Off Programs

• Volunteer Time Off

• Market-competitive Pay

• Incentive Programs

• Continual Development and Internal Career Growth Opportunities

• Company Sponsored Retirement Plan

• Annual Company Bonus Plan (contingent on performance)

• Long Term Incentive Awards (contingent on performance) Working Hours:

• Typically 40 hours per week, with flexibility offered.

• 📝 Enhancement Note: The "Flexible Work Environment" benefit suggests that while a standard work week is expected, there's adaptability in how and when work is performed, which is common for hybrid roles and senior positions.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Property & Casualty (P&C) Insurance Technology / Cloud Services. Guidewire provides a platform for insurers to engage, innovate, and grow efficiently.

Company Size: Guidewire has over 540+ customer implementations globally and a significant R&D team and partner ecosystem, indicating a large enterprise with a substantial technology footprint. The company size is likely in the thousands of employees.

Founded: Guidewire was founded to address the needs of P&C insurers, implying a long-standing commitment to this specific market. The company has a history of successful implementations and a robust partner network.

Team Structure:

• The role reports into the Application Platform organization, which is part of Product Development & Operations (PDO).

• This position will lead multiple small engineering teams (2-3 teams) and their technical leads, suggesting a direct management span of control over approximately 15-30 engineers.

• The role requires close collaboration with Product Management, Architecture, UX, Platform Engineering, Security, and SRE, indicating a matrixed and cross-functional operational environment. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Engineering: Emphasis on leveraging data for decision-making, improving team productivity, and enhancing product outcomes.

• Agile & DevOps Practices: Implied through requirements for CI/CD, Kubernetes, containerization, and cloud-native operations.

• Product Lifecycle Management: Focus on the end-to-end lifecycle of insurance products, from design to deployment, managed through the APD capability.

• AI & Automation Integration: A key strategic driver for evolving APD and improving engineering efficiency.

Company Website: www.guidewire.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Guidewire operates in a specialized, high-value industry (P&C Insurance). The culture is likely to be professional, customer-centric, and focused on long-term value delivery, with a strong emphasis on technical excellence and innovation, especially given the mention of AI.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Engineering Management role, indicating a significant level of responsibility in leading technical teams, shaping product strategy, and driving operational excellence within a critical platform component. It sits at a high individual contributor or early management level within the engineering leadership track.

Reporting Structure: The role reports to a higher-level leader within the Application Platform or PDO organization. The manager will directly lead technical leads and engineering teams, acting as a key liaison between product strategy and execution.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on Guidewire's ability to deliver its cloud products. By enhancing the APD capability, the manager influences the speed, efficiency, and scalability with which insurers can design, configure, and deploy products. This operational efficiency directly translates to customer satisfaction, market responsiveness, and Guidewire's competitive edge in the P&C insurance technology market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Expansion: Potential to manage larger teams, multiple product areas, or move into Director-level positions within Engineering or Product Development.

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in cloud-native architectures, AI integration, and enterprise platform development, becoming a subject matter expert.

• Cross-functional Leadership: Transition into roles with broader strategic influence across Product, Architecture, or Operations.

• Mentorship & Coaching: Develop leadership skills by mentoring technical leads and engineers, contributing to the growth of talent within Guidewire.

• Industry Impact: Contribute to the transformation of the P&C insurance industry through innovative platform development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path for this role is clearly defined within technical leadership and platform engineering management, with significant opportunities for growth in scope and influence within the company and potentially the industry.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work environment. Guidewire offers a "Flexible work environment" and requires an in-person orientation, suggesting a blend of remote work with some required office presence or collaboration days. The Toronto/Mississauga offices likely provide collaborative spaces, meeting rooms, and standard office amenities.

Office Location(s): Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. These are major business hubs with good accessibility via public transit and major road networks.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and emphasis on cross-functional partnerships (Product, Architecture, UX, SRE) imply a need for strong communication and collaboration tools and practices. Expect team meetings, design reviews, and project syncs to be a regular part of the workflow.

• Technology-Rich: As a leading SaaS provider, Guidewire likely provides engineers with modern development tools, high-performance hardware, and access to cloud environments for development and testing.

• Innovation Focus: The company's emphasis on AI and continuous improvement suggests a work environment that encourages experimentation, learning, and the adoption of new technologies.

Work Schedule: Standard 40-hour work week with flexibility. This allows for balancing project deadlines with personal needs, common for senior engineering roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role necessitates strong self-management and effective remote collaboration skills, alongside the ability to engage effectively when in the office.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: HR or Recruiter screen to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and alignment with the role.

• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion with the Hiring Manager to evaluate leadership style, technical depth, strategic thinking, and experience in managing engineering teams. This stage will likely involve behavioral questions and discussions around past projects.

• Technical/Architectural Deep Dive: Interviews with senior engineers, technical leads, or architects to assess hands-on technical expertise, architectural judgment, and understanding of cloud-native principles, distributed systems, and AI integration.

• Cross-functional Stakeholder Interviews: Meetings with peers from Product Management, UX, Architecture, and potentially SRE/Security to evaluate collaboration skills, ability to influence, and understanding of broader business/product objectives.

• Executive/Leadership Interview: A final interview with a senior leader (e.g., VP of Engineering, CTO) to assess strategic alignment, leadership potential, and overall fit within Guidewire's leadership team.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Leadership & Team Building: Showcase examples of how you've built, coached, and scaled high-performing engineering teams. Quantify team growth, retention, and skill development.

• Technical Strategy & Execution: Present case studies of complex technical initiatives you've led, focusing on architectural decisions, trade-offs, and successful delivery within scope, timeline, and budget. Highlight process improvements that enhanced delivery predictability.

• AI/ML Integration: Detail specific projects where you integrated AI/ML or GenAI. Explain the business problem, the technical approach, the challenges faced, and the quantifiable impact (e.g., productivity gains, improved outcomes, new capabilities).

• Operational Excellence: Provide examples of how you've improved the operational health, scalability, security, and observability of SaaS platforms. Discuss your experience with DevOps, SRE principles, and incident management.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Use examples to illustrate how you've effectively partnered with Product, UX, and other engineering teams to achieve shared goals.

Challenge Preparation:

• Expect potential technical challenges related to system design, architectural problem-solving, or scenarios involving AI integration and operational scaling.

• Prepare to discuss how you would approach managing competing priorities across multiple teams, driving consensus among diverse stakeholders, and fostering innovation while maintaining operational rigor.

• Be ready to articulate your leadership philosophy, your approach to coaching and developing engineers, and your vision for the future of platform engineering within Guidewire's context.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the seniority and focus on platform capabilities, interviewers will likely assess not just technical prowess but also strategic thinking, people leadership, and the ability to drive operational efficiency and innovation.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Programming Languages: Primarily Java (strong hands-on background required).

• Cloud Platforms: AWS (extensive experience required), potentially Azure or GCP.

• Containerization & Orchestration: Kubernetes, Docker.

• CI/CD Tools: Jenkins, GitLab CI, CircleCI, or similar automation pipelines.

• DevOps & Observability: Tools for monitoring, logging, tracing (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, Datadog).

• Version Control: Git (e.g., GitHub, GitLab).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data analysis tools for performance metrics, system health, and engineering productivity.

• Dashboarding tools for visualizing KPIs and communicating progress to stakeholders. CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM management role, understanding how APD integrates with broader CRM/SFA systems (if applicable to insurance product sales enablement) might be beneficial.

• Experience with workflow automation and integration platforms is relevant for platform services.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack is centered around modern cloud-native development practices, emphasizing Java, AWS, and Kubernetes. Experience with AI/ML integration tools and frameworks will also be critical.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Focus: Driving innovation and efficiency to deliver measurable value to P&C insurance customers.

• Innovation & Curiosity: Embracing new technologies, including AI, to enhance platform capabilities and engineering practices.

• Collaboration & Inclusion: Working effectively across teams and fostering a diverse, high-trust environment.

• Accountability & Ownership: Taking responsibility for the delivery and operational health of critical platform services.

• Continuous Learning: Encouraging professional development and staying ahead of industry trends.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Partnership: Strong emphasis on partnering with Product Management, Architecture, UX, Security, and SRE to ensure alignment and successful outcomes.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Utilizing data and metrics to guide technical and strategic choices.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: Cultivating a culture where senior engineers and leaders actively mentor others and share best practices.

• Agile & Iterative Development: Working in an agile framework that allows for rapid iteration, feedback, and adaptation.

📝 Enhancement Note: Guidewire likely promotes a culture that balances innovation with the rigorous demands of enterprise software for a regulated industry like insurance. Expect a professional, results-oriented environment with a strong emphasis on collaboration and technical excellence.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Complex Platform Capabilities: Ensuring APD remains scalable, performant, and secure as Guidewire's customer base and product offerings grow.

• Driving AI Adoption: Successfully integrating AI/GenAI into platform services and engineering workflows while managing risks and ensuring ethical use.

• Cross-Team Alignment: Coordinating efforts across multiple engineering teams and aligning with various stakeholder groups (Product, Architecture, SRE) on technical direction and priorities.

• Technical Debt Management: Balancing new feature development with the ongoing need to maintain and modernize the platform's architecture.

• Talent Development: Attracting, retaining, and developing senior engineering talent in a competitive market.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Cloud & AI Skills: Opportunities to deepen expertise in AWS, Kubernetes, AI/ML, and GenAI through hands-on work and potential training.

• Leadership Development: Formal and informal mentorship programs to enhance management and strategic leadership skills.

• Industry Exposure: Gaining deep insights into the P&C insurance industry and its technological evolution.

• Platform Architecture: Contributing to the evolution of a large-scale enterprise SaaS platform, influencing its future direction.

• Mentorship & Coaching: Developing coaching skills by guiding technical leads and engineers, helping them advance their careers.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant opportunities to tackle complex technical challenges at scale, drive strategic initiatives involving cutting-edge technologies like AI, and grow as a leader in a critical domain.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you led multiple engineering teams through a significant technical transformation or platform evolution. What were the key challenges, your approach, and the outcomes?" (Focus on strategic planning, execution, and team management).

• "How would you approach integrating GenAI capabilities into our APD platform to improve product configuration efficiency or developer productivity? What are the key considerations and potential risks?" (Assess understanding of AI integration, strategic thinking, and risk management).

• "Explain your process for ensuring architectural alignment and technical quality across several independent engineering teams working on a shared platform. How do you balance autonomy with standardization?" (Focus on architectural stewardship, cross-team collaboration, and process implementation). Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about Guidewire and specifically the Advanced Product Designer (APD) capability? How do you see your leadership style fitting into our culture of innovation and accountability?" (Demonstrate research and cultural alignment).

• "Describe a situation where you had to influence stakeholders from Product, UX, and Architecture to adopt a particular technical direction. What was your strategy and the result?" (Assess influencing skills and cross-functional collaboration).

• "How do you measure the success and impact of your engineering teams and the platform capabilities they deliver? Provide examples of key metrics you've used." (Focus on data-driven approach and impact measurement). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio around key themes: Leadership & Team Growth, Technical Strategy & Architecture, AI/ML Integration, and Operational Excellence.

• Storytelling: For each project, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to clearly articulate the context, your role, the actions taken, and the quantifiable outcomes.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work (e.g., % increase in delivery speed, % reduction in incidents, % improvement in system performance, revenue impact for customers).

• Focus on Leadership: Highlight your role in coaching, mentoring, and empowering your teams.

• Tailor to APD: Briefly explain how your experience with platform development, SaaS, and potentially product configuration/lifecycle management is relevant to the APD role.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic leadership, technical depth in cloud-native and AI technologies, and a strong understanding of operational excellence within an enterprise SaaS context.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link on the Guidewire careers portal.

• Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in engineering management, Java development, cloud platforms (AWS), distributed systems, microservices, CI/CD, DevOps, and any AI/ML integration projects. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare your portfolio: Curate examples of successful team leadership, complex technical projects, AI/ML implementations, and improvements in operational efficiency. Focus on quantifiable results and your strategic contributions.

• Research Guidewire: Understand their mission, their position in the P&C insurance market, and their commitment to innovation and cloud services. Familiarize yourself with the Application Platform and APD if possible.

• Practice interview responses: Prepare for behavioral questions using the STAR method and be ready to discuss technical challenges, leadership philosophy, and your approach to driving operational excellence and AI adoption.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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