VP, Architecture

 

Who We Are

At KEV, we build mission-critical financial software for K-12 schools on a massive scale. Our platform delivers real-time control and visibility into every dollar collected, whether cash, check, or digital, replacing fragmented workflows with secure, modern systems.

Trusted by 27,000 K-12 schools and districts managing over $8 billion annually, KEV operates at the intersection of payments, accounting, and reporting - where complexity is high and engineering excellence matters. Headquartered in Toronto with teams across North America, we are scaling fast and investing deeply in cloud-native, data-driven technology.

If you want to build high-impact SaaS products that solve hard problems, scale with purpose, and make your work matter in public education, KEV is the place to do it.

This role is for an active vacancy.

 

About the Role

We are hiring a VP Architecture to own the technical vision, payments infrastructure, and developer experience at KEV. Reporting directly to the CTO, this is a senior leadership role that sits at the intersection of architectural direction, payment platform operations, and the internal systems that enable our engineering teams to build with speed and confidence. KEV is growing. We are actively building several new products that bring AI to school finance, helping schools improve accuracy and efficiency in how they collect and manage funds. Our payments platform already processes over $1.5B in transactions annually across inbound and outbound flows, supporting more than one million parents across North America. The decisions made in this role will shape both the technical foundation that underpins that scale and the experience of the engineers who build on top of it. You will lead the architecture team and the payments team, setting direction, growing your people, and holding a high bar for the quality and consistency of what they deliver. You will work closely with the CTO, engineering leadership, and product to ensure the platform can support what KEV is building today and what is coming next. This role is for a technical leader who is equally at home shaping long-term architectural direction and making sure engineers have the tools, environments, and patterns they need to do their best work every day.

How You Will Contribute

Architectural Vision and Standards

You will own KEV's architectural roadmap, establishing the patterns, reference architectures, and decision records that give teams a clear foundation to build from across both new product development and core platform modernization. You will set the standard for domain-driven design, microservices decomposition, and event-driven integration, and ensure architectural quality scales with the business.

Payments Infrastructure

You will own KEV's payments infrastructure, overseeing the inbound and outbound payment systems that process over $1.5B in transactions annually for more than one million parents across North America. You will ensure the payments platform is reliable, secure, and scalable, and set the strategic direction for how it evolves as KEV's product portfolio grows. 

Developer Experience

You will own the developer experience across KEV's engineering organization, setting standards for local development environments, internal tooling, documentation, and onboarding. You will treat the internal engineering experience as a product in its own right, identifying and eliminating friction so teams can move fast without losing quality.

Agentic Coding and AI Tooling

You will lead KEV's adoption of agentic coding tools, including Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot, and platforms like Cognition. You will define how these tools integrate into the engineering workflow and set guardrails for safe, effective use. You bring a clear point of view on where AI tooling creates genuine leverage, and where it does not.

Technical Leadership

You will directly lead the architecture team and payments team, setting their direction, supporting their growth, and holding a high bar for the quality of their work. You will be the primary technical voice for architecture and payments across the organization, participating in design reviews, mentoring engineers, and driving alignment on technical direction.

Cross-Functional Partnership

You will partner with product, engineering, and the executive team to ensure architectural and payments decisions are sequenced in a way that enables velocity without creating structural or operational risk. You will translate complex technical decisions clearly for non-technical stakeholders and contribute to the broader technology roadmap. 

Who You Are

• 8 to 12 years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 to 5 years in a senior architecture or technical leadership role at a SaaS company.
• Deep, applied experience with domain-driven design, microservices patterns, and event-driven architecture, built at scale in production environments.
• Experience owning or leading payments infrastructure, with a strong understanding of inbound and outbound payment flows, financial data integrity, PCI compliance, and the operational requirements of processing payments at scale.
• Strong command of the Microsoft stack: Azure, .NET, C#, MSSQL, and React 19.
• A genuine track record of improving developer experience, including local environments, documentation, and internal tooling that helps engineering teams move fast without losing quality.
• Hands-on experience with agentic coding tools such as Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot, or Cognition, and a clear perspective on where they create genuine leverage and where guardrails are needed.
• Experience leading senior technical talent, setting direction, growing engineers, and building a culture of accountability and craft.
• Able to set standards and influence across teams through technical credibility, and communicate clearly at every level from detailed design discussions to executive conversations.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• Motivated by ownership, accountability, and building software that earns long-term trust from the schools and families who depend on it. 

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation – We believe in rewarding great work with fair, competitive pay.
• Meaningful benefits– Because your well-being matters; both at work and at home.
• Retirement Savings Support – We help you plan for your future with company-matched programs, including RRSP matching in Canada and 401(k) contributions in the U.S.
• Professional development – We invest in your growth with ongoing learning, stretch opportunities, and continuing education, including KEV Academy for onboarding and skill-building, plus KEV University, our online platform offering a wide range of courses.
• Hybrid model – 3 days in the office to collaborate and connect, with flexibility the rest of the week.
• Flexible PTO – Take the time you need to recharge with close to 4 weeks of vacation and a company-wide holiday closure
• Office perks – Enjoy a fully stocked snack bar and occasional catered lunches—because we know that great conversations (and ideas) often start around good food.