Table of Contents
- Introduction: The Invisible Digital Infrastructure
- Five Jobs Available Now
- Network Manager at Home Hardware
- Senior Software Developer at The Home Depot
- Applications Developer II at McCarthy Building Companies
- Network Administrator III at West Fraser
- CS Enablement Engineer at Salus
- Why These Positions Matter
- The Future of Tech in Building Materials
- Your Next Steps
- Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction: The Invisible Digital Infrastructure
There's an irony in how we think about building. We notice the physical, the crane suspended against the morning sky, the stacks of lumber, the way a glass facade catches light. We rarely consider the invisible processes that make these things possible: the networks that route purchase orders, the algorithms that optimize supply chains, the databases that track inventory across thousands of locations, the software that transforms jobsite chaos into actionable data.
This oversight matters because it obscures one of the most consequential shifts happening in the North American economy. The building materials industry, that sprawling ecosystem of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers responsible for everything from concrete to smart thermostats, is undergoing a technological transformation that rivals anything happening in finance or healthcare. Yet most people seeking tech careers never think to look here.
Consider the scale. The building materials industry doesn't just supply construction sites. It encompasses the entire value chain: innovation labs developing next-generation composites, engineering teams designing load-bearing systems, manufacturing facilities producing everything from plumbing fixtures to HVAC components, marketing departments positioning products in competitive markets, distribution networks moving materials across continents, and retail operations serving everyone from professional contractors to weekend DIYers. This is an industry measured in trillions of dollars annually, touching every structure humans inhabit.
And it needs IT professionals desperately.
Not in some distant, hypothetical future. Right now. Today. The five positions detailed below aren't aspirational concepts or trend predictions. They're actual openings, posted within the last week, offering competitive salaries and benefits packages that would make many pure-tech companies reconsider their compensation strategies. More importantly, they represent something increasingly rare in technology work: the chance to build systems that directly improve the physical world.
Five Jobs Available Now
Network Manager at Home Hardware: The Architecture of Connectivity
Home Hardware is seeking a Network Manager in St. Jacobs, Ontario, and the position reveals something essential about how infrastructure companies think about technology. This isn't a role focused on maintaining existing systems or responding to tickets. The job description emphasizes building "secure and future-ready network excellence"—language that signals an organization treating its digital infrastructure as a strategic advantage rather than operational necessity.
The scope is substantial. You would oversee network teams responsible for maintaining corporate networks and collaboration environments across all of Home Hardware's distribution centers. The company operates as Canada's largest independent hardware and building supplies retailer, which means the network you're managing doesn't just support office workers. It enables real-time inventory tracking, point-of-sale systems, supplier communications, logistics coordination, and the increasingly sophisticated digital tools that modern retail operations depend on.
The salary range positions this opportunity squarely in the middle tier of IT leadership roles, but the total compensation package includes annual bonuses, comprehensive health coverage, pension matching, and the less quantifiable but increasingly valuable benefit of working for a proudly Canadian company with genuine community roots. The requirement to be onsite three days weekly in St. Jacobs acknowledges the reality that network infrastructure, unlike pure software, still requires physical presence.
What makes this role particularly interesting is the technical stack. You'd work with Cisco, Juniper, and Palo Alto networking technologies—enterprise-grade equipment that handles serious throughput—while also managing cloud architectures in Azure. The position requires familiarity with ITIL processes, which suggests an organization taking systems management seriously rather than treating IT as an afterthought. You'd serve on the Change Advisory Board, participate in project integrations, and act as the escalation point for network incidents.
The qualifications tell you what Home Hardware values: a decade of progressive network infrastructure experience with at least five years managing people, certifications like CCNA or CCNP, and demonstrated ability to supervise, mentor, and motivate teams. This is a leadership position that still requires you to "proactively dive in and troubleshoot issues." Translation: they want someone who can think strategically but won't hesitate to solve problems directly when needed.
Senior Software Developer at The Home Depot: Where Retail Data Meets Decision Intelligence
The Home Depot's offering sits at the intersection of retail analytics and software engineering. This position is with Askuity, a Toronto-based division operating within The Home Depot's larger organizational structure. Askuity's mission is to enable suppliers and merchants to make profitable, data-driven decisions, hinting at the complexity beneath retail's surface.
The salary range of $135,000 to $165,000 base compensation, before bonuses and stock purchase discounts, reflects both the Toronto market and the specialized nature of the work. This is a senior fullstack engineering role with a backend lean, which means you'd spend more time thinking about data architecture, API design, and system scalability than UI components, though frontend work remains part of the responsibility.
The technical requirements reveal a sophisticated operation. They want experience with service-oriented architectures and web applications, deep proficiency in modern languages with functional programming as a plus, and demonstrated ability to design distributed systems with attention to scaling, security, and reliability. The specific stack includes Scala with Play framework, Python with Flask, TypeScript with React, and databases ranging from Postgres to BigQuery. This isn't a company content with standard industry approaches—they're using functional programming paradigms and distributed systems architecture to solve real business problems.
What they're building matters. Supplier analytics platforms process enormous volumes of transaction data, inventory movements, pricing variations, and market trends to help both Home Depot's internal merchants and their external suppliers make better decisions. When a manufacturer wants to understand which products are selling in which markets and why, when a buyer needs to optimize their purchasing strategy, when someone needs to forecast demand or analyze competitive positioning—this is the software that enables those insights.
The working environment is fully remote with occasional travel to corporate headquarters, and the company emphasizes "vibe coding"—familiarity with AI coding assistants—which suggests an organization comfortable with modern development workflows. They want people who evaluate new technologies and assess their suitability not just for today's challenges but for future ones.
Applications Developer II at McCarthy Building Companies: Building the Builders' Tools
McCarthy Building Companies represents something distinct in American business: the oldest privately-held national construction company, now 100 percent employee-owned. This matters for understanding the Applications Developer II role because employee ownership changes how companies think about long-term investment in systems and people.
The position is based in St. Louis and focuses on the Enterprise Solutions and Analytics team. You'd be building custom applications and integration solutions that connect McCarthy's ecosystem of construction management software, project tracking systems, financial platforms, and operational tools. The construction industry runs on an surprisingly complex technology stack—project management software, scheduling systems, materials procurement platforms, safety compliance tools, document management, subcontractor portals, and more. Making these systems communicate effectively represents a genuine engineering challenge.
The technical requirements span modern web frameworks like Ruby on Rails or Django, integration platforms such as Boomi or Mulesoft, and strong database capabilities with Oracle or SQL Server. They want five-plus years of application development experience on a modern stack, practical knowledge of secure file transfer and encryption in automated pipelines, and working familiarity with DevSecOps practices. The emphasis on security—input validation, output encoding, avoiding hardcoded secrets, applying least privilege logic, using strong cryptography—reflects the reality that construction projects involve sensitive financial data, proprietary designs, and competitive information that requires protection.
What's particularly notable is the breadth of responsibility. You'd design and develop custom applications, create integration solutions using REST APIs and message queues, process both structured and unstructured data including images and model files, support procurement of new platforms by evaluating technical capabilities, provide technical support for issue resolution, and maintain security practices throughout. This isn't a role where you'd work in isolation on abstract problems. You'd partner directly with business system analysts and product owners to understand requirements and build solutions implementing real user stories.
The security requirements deserve attention. McCarthy expects you to enforce input validation and output encoding, avoid hardcoded secrets, apply least privilege logic, use strong cryptography, sanitize logs, perform threat modeling, and maintain a shift-left security mindset. These aren't checkbox requirements—they reflect an organization serious about protecting its systems and data.
Network Administrator III at West Fraser: Infrastructure at Scale
West Fraser's Network Administrator III position in Quesnel, British Columbia, offers something you don't find in many tech jobs: the chance to manage infrastructure for an organization operating across vast geographic distances with facilities in remote locations. The salary range of $85,000 to $100,000 Canadian reflects British Columbia's market while offering attractive total compensation including annual bonuses and comprehensive benefits.
The role encompasses network infrastructure management across core and site locations, including routers, switches, and network devices. You'd design and optimize network topologies, manage SD-WAN infrastructure ensuring connectivity across all sites, and troubleshoot complex issues. But the wireless networking component adds particular interest—conducting site surveys and implementing changes to improve coverage and performance in industrial facilities presents challenges distinct from office environments.
The security responsibilities are substantial. You'd manage and configure next-generation firewalls with advanced features, implement and maintain zero-trust infrastructure including ZTNA solutions, and configure remote access technologies. These aren't theoretical concerns. Resource companies operate facilities in locations where security incidents can have operational consequences, and remote access for field personnel requires careful balance between security and usability.
The load balancing and traffic management aspects hint at scale. You'd configure load balancers to optimize application performance and availability, implement traffic management policies ensuring efficient resource use, and manage monitoring solutions for network devices and services. The requirement for developing network device patch management processes indicates an organization taking security and stability seriously rather than treating patches as occasional afterthoughts.
The documentation and process improvement expectations matter more than many candidates realize. Maintaining up-to-date network documentation, contributing to policy development, and refining procedures represents the unglamorous but essential work that separates reliable operations from constant firefighting. The mention of conducting regular network audits and implementing improvements based on findings suggests an organization committed to continuous improvement.
The location itself is worth considering. Quesnel, with approximately 25,000 residents, offers affordable housing, modern facilities, year-round community events, and abundant outdoor activities. For people tired of urban density or seeking lifestyle changes, positions like this enable tech careers without requiring residence in expensive metropolitan areas.
CS Enablement Engineer at Salus: The Technical Bridge to Customer Success
Salus's CS Enablement Engineer position, remote from Vancouver, represents a relatively new role category emerging as software companies recognize that traditional customer success and solutions engineering don't fully address certain needs. The position sits at the intersection of customer success, solutions engineering, and product enablement—which means you'd operate at the boundary between what the software can do and what customers actually need.
The core responsibility centers on accelerating customer value realization through technical trial enablement and post-sale activation. In practical terms, this means you'd work with Account Executives during trials to scope evaluations, define success criteria, support setup and troubleshooting, and ensure prospects see value quickly. After deals close, you'd drive technical onboarding, ensure alignment to promised outcomes, unblock issues, and contribute to automation that scales activation for smaller customers.
The construction technology context adds specific challenges. Salus operates in the construction sector, which means your customers are using software to manage complex physical projects with multiple stakeholders, tight timelines, regulatory requirements, and significant financial stakes. Understanding the real-world problems these users face—not just the technical ones but the operational and business ones—becomes essential for designing effective solutions.
The role requires building time-to-value playbooks and assets that create repeatable activation and adoption processes. This is systematization work: taking what you learn from individual customer interactions and codifying it into guides, templates, and internal enablement materials that help the organization serve more customers without requiring linear scaling of headcount. You'd also define and track time-to-value metrics with the product team, helping establish leading indicators of adoption and feeding structured customer learnings back into product development.
The qualifications emphasize technical customer-facing experience in Customer Success Engineering, Solutions Engineering, or Implementation roles. They want strong ability to translate business problems into technical solutions, project management experience including scoping and executing activation work, confidence running discovery and handling objections, comfort working cross-functionally with Sales, Customer Success, and Product teams, and ability to thrive in fast-moving environments juggling multiple priorities.
The bonus qualifications reveal what would make someone particularly effective: experience in construction technology or adjacent physical-world industries, familiarity with integration patterns like APIs and webhooks even if not coding daily, and background building internal enablement programs or operational playbooks.
Why These Positions Matter
The significance of these roles extends beyond the individual opportunities they represent. They illuminate how technology work is evolving and where meaningful career paths exist outside the conventional tech industry narrative.
Consider first the economic fundamentals. The building materials industry generated approximately $1.6 trillion in value across North America in 2024, supporting millions of jobs throughout the value chain from raw material extraction to retail sales. Unlike purely digital industries susceptible to rapid disruption, building materials companies operate with substantial barriers to entry—manufacturing facilities, distribution networks, supplier relationships, and regulatory expertise that can't be easily replicated. This creates employment stability that many tech workers, having witnessed multiple rounds of layoffs at ostensibly innovative companies, increasingly value.
The technology challenges these organizations face are substantial and growing. A medium-sized building materials distributor might operate fifty warehouse locations, serve thousands of contractors and builders, manage relationships with hundreds of suppliers, coordinate complex logistics across regional territories, maintain e-commerce platforms processing millions of orders annually, and integrate with customers' project management systems. Making these operations run efficiently requires sophisticated software, reliable networks, secure data management, and continuous innovation in how technology supports business objectives.
But there's something qualitatively different about this work that matters for understanding why these positions deserve attention. When you build software for social media, you're optimizing engagement. When you build networks for advertising companies, you're accelerating ad delivery. When you build systems for building materials companies, you're enabling the construction of schools, hospitals, homes, bridges, and infrastructure that people will use for generations. The connection between your work and tangible impact on the physical world is direct and observable.
This isn't to romanticize construction or suggest that building materials companies are more virtuous than other employers. They're commercial enterprises pursuing profit. But the nature of the work creates different pressures and possibilities. When a network goes down at Home Hardware, contractors can't order materials needed for the next day's work. When integration issues plague McCarthy's systems, construction projects face delays that cascade through schedules and budgets. When Askuity's analytics platform provides unreliable data, suppliers and merchants make worse decisions affecting millions in inventory and sales. The stakes create focus and purpose that some tech workers find missing in pure digital work.
The career progression possibilities deserve consideration too. These aren't dead-end positions. The Network Manager role at Home Hardware leads toward senior IT leadership positions overseeing enterprise-wide technology strategy. The Senior Software Developer position at Askuity provides experience with sophisticated data systems at retail scale, building expertise transferable to countless other industries. The Applications Developer II role at McCarthy offers exposure to the full enterprise application stack in an employee-owned company where long-term career development is structural priority rather than recruiting rhetoric. The Network Administrator III position at West Fraser builds skills in complex distributed systems with security requirements that prepare you for infrastructure leadership roles. The CS Enablement Engineer position at Salus develops the rare combination of technical depth and customer-facing effectiveness that makes people valuable in any organization selling complex software.
The compensation merits attention not just for the raw numbers but for what they signal about how these industries value technical talent. When Home Hardware offers up to $110,700 for a Network Manager position in St. Jacobs, Ontario—a small town, not a major tech hub—they're competing with organizations anywhere in Canada for talent. When The Home Depot provides $135,000 to $165,000 base salary for senior software developers, before bonuses and stock purchase benefits, they're acknowledging market reality. When McCarthy emphasizes employee ownership and long-term investment in people, they're differentiating on something beyond quarterly earnings. These aren't companies treating IT as cost centers to be minimized. They're treating technology as strategic capability to be developed.
The Future of Tech in Building Materials
Understanding where these industries are headed helps contextualize the opportunities available today. The digital transformation of building materials isn't a discrete project with a completion date. It's an ongoing evolution driven by multiple forces: customer expectations shaped by consumer technology experiences, competitive pressure from digitally native disruptors, operational efficiency demands, regulatory requirements, and fundamental changes in how construction happens.
Consider the supply chain transformation underway. Building materials companies are implementing sophisticated inventory optimization systems that use machine learning to predict demand patterns, automatically trigger replenishment orders, optimize warehouse space utilization, and reduce stockouts while minimizing excess inventory. These aren't simple algorithms—they're complex systems processing historical sales data, weather forecasts, economic indicators, construction activity trends, seasonal variations, and supplier lead times to make recommendations affecting millions of dollars in working capital.
The e-commerce evolution deserves particular attention. When contractors can order materials online for jobsite delivery the next day, when builders can visualize products in 3D before purchasing, when suppliers can track shipments in real-time and receive automated alerts about delays—these capabilities require substantial technology infrastructure. Building effective e-commerce platforms for professional contractors differs fundamentally from consumer retail. Contractors need accurate technical specifications, bulk pricing, credit terms, integration with their accounting systems, delivery scheduling coordinated with project timelines, and the ability to quickly reorder based on previous purchases. Creating these experiences requires sophisticated software development and constant iteration based on user feedback.
The smart building integration presents particularly interesting challenges. As homes and commercial buildings incorporate more connected devices—thermostats, lighting systems, security equipment, energy monitoring, HVAC controls—building materials companies find themselves at the intersection of physical products and digital services. A company selling smart thermostats isn't just moving boxes; they're supporting software platforms, managing firmware updates, ensuring interoperability with other systems, and helping customers extract value from data these devices generate. This creates demand for people who understand both physical building systems and software platforms.
The sustainability imperative is driving technological innovation throughout the industry. Companies are using software to track carbon footprints across supply chains, optimize transportation routes to reduce emissions, design lower-impact products, and help customers make more sustainable choices. Building information modeling (BIM) software enables architects and engineers to evaluate environmental impact during design phases rather than after construction. Life cycle assessment tools help quantify the long-term environmental costs of material choices. These capabilities require sophisticated data systems and analytics platforms.
The artificial intelligence applications emerging in building materials span a wider range than many people realize. Computer vision systems analyze jobsite photos to track construction progress and identify safety issues. Natural language processing helps customer service systems understand contractor inquiries and route them appropriately. Predictive maintenance algorithms analyze equipment data to prevent failures. Generative design tools help engineers explore multiple product configurations optimizing for cost, performance, and manufacturability. Recommendation engines suggest products based on project requirements and historical purchasing patterns. Each of these applications requires people who understand both the technology and the domain.
The regulatory and compliance technology needs are substantial and growing. Building codes evolve, safety requirements tighten, environmental regulations expand, and companies need systems to ensure products meet relevant standards across different jurisdictions. Software that manages product certifications, tracks regulatory changes, ensures specification compliance, and generates required documentation becomes essential infrastructure. Building these systems requires understanding complex regulatory frameworks while creating usable software for people who aren't regulatory experts.
The workforce transformation happening in construction and building materials extends beyond adding technology roles. Field workers use mobile apps to access product information, submit orders, track deliveries, and communicate with office staff. Warehouse personnel use handheld devices running custom software to pick orders, manage inventory, and optimize workflow. Sales teams use CRM systems integrated with inventory, pricing, and delivery logistics. Every role in these industries is becoming more technical, which creates demand for people who can build effective tools for users who aren't technology specialists.
Your Next Steps
If these positions spark interest, several practical paths forward exist beyond simply applying.
First, assess your current skills against the requirements honestly. The gap between where you are and what these roles require may be smaller than it appears. If you have solid software development experience but no exposure to retail analytics, that's learnable. If you understand network administration but haven't worked with SD-WAN specifically, that's a technology you can study. If you've done technical customer success but not in construction technology, the domain knowledge develops through experience. Don't let requirements that say "preferred" or "nice to have" discourage applications. Requirements lists often describe the ideal candidate, but companies hire people who can grow into roles.
Second, research the companies specifically. Home Hardware's position as Canada's largest independent hardware retailer means something distinct from Home Depot's role as a massive public corporation. McCarthy's structure as an employee-owned construction company creates different culture and incentives than typical corporate employers. West Fraser operates in resource industries with specific operational patterns. Salus works in construction technology, a sector with particular challenges and opportunities. Understanding what makes each organization distinct helps you evaluate fit and craft more compelling applications.
Third, examine the technical stacks mentioned and identify areas for skill development. If you're strong in Python but the Scala positions intrigue you, functional programming principles transfer between languages—you can study Scala specifically while applying to roles where your existing backend experience is valuable. If you understand networking but haven't worked with zero-trust architectures, that's a framework you can learn. If you've built integrations but haven't used Boomi or Mulesoft specifically, your integration experience is still relevant. Look for the transferable capabilities rather than fixating on specific tools.
Fourth, consider the geographic and lifestyle implications carefully. Remote work provides flexibility but may limit advancement opportunities if company culture centers around office presence. Positions requiring onsite work three days weekly offer hybrid benefits while ensuring face-time with colleagues and managers. Locations like Quesnel, British Columbia, or St. Jacobs, Ontario, offer entirely different cost-of-living calculations and lifestyle possibilities than Vancouver or Toronto. A $85,000 salary in Quesnel likely provides more disposable income and better quality of life than $120,000 in Vancouver given housing cost differentials.
Fifth, prepare applications that demonstrate understanding of the industry context. Generic cover letters about your passion for technology and proven track record won't distinguish you. But explaining how your experience building distributed systems would apply to managing inventory across multiple warehouse locations, or how your customer success work translates to helping contractors adopt construction software, or how your network experience supports the reliable connectivity that modern retail operations depend on—this shows you've thought seriously about the opportunity. Research the specific challenges building materials companies face and connect your capabilities to those problems.
Sixth, recognize that these five positions represent a tiny fraction of available opportunities. Every building materials manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of meaningful size employs IT professionals. Every construction technology company needs developers, customer success engineers, network administrators, and integration specialists. Home Depot alone, with over 2,300 stores, employs thousands of technology workers. The industry encompasses thousands of companies ranging from massive public corporations to mid-sized private firms to innovative startups, all needing technical talent.
Finally, consider the trajectory rather than just the immediate opportunity. Taking a Network Administrator role today positions you for Network Manager positions tomorrow. Starting as a Customer Success Enablement Engineer develops skills that prepare you for product management, solutions architecture, or customer success leadership. Beginning as an Applications Developer II builds toward senior engineering roles or architecture positions. These aren't terminal positions—they're entry points into organizations where technical leadership opportunities exist.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the building materials industry and how does it relate to tech careers?
The building materials industry encompasses all establishments that innovate, design, engineer, produce, market, distribute, and sell materials used in construction, renovation, and infrastructure projects. This includes everything from lumber and concrete to smart home devices and HVAC systems. Tech careers in this industry support the digital infrastructure these companies depend on—e-commerce platforms, supply chain systems, analytics tools, network infrastructure, and custom applications that make operations possible.
What types of IT and tech jobs are available in the building materials industry today?
The range spans the entire technology spectrum: software developers building custom applications and e-commerce platforms, network administrators and managers maintaining infrastructure across distributed facilities, database administrators managing inventory and transaction systems, cybersecurity specialists protecting sensitive data, data analysts and scientists extracting insights from operational data, customer success engineers helping clients adopt construction technology, integration specialists connecting disparate systems, cloud engineers managing hybrid infrastructure, DevOps engineers maintaining deployment pipelines, and IT leadership roles overseeing enterprise technology strategy.
What are the career growth paths for IT professionals in building materials?
Growth paths typically follow either technical or management tracks. Technical paths progress from individual contributor roles to senior positions, principal engineers, and architecture roles where you shape technology direction. Management tracks move from team lead to manager to director to VP-level positions overseeing entire technology functions. The breadth of these organizations creates lateral movement opportunities too—network administrators can move into security roles, developers can shift toward data engineering, customer success engineers can transition to product management. Employee-owned companies like McCarthy offer long-term career stability that enables growth over decades rather than optimizing for rapid job hopping.
What certifications help me stand out for tech roles in construction and building products?
Relevant certifications depend on the specific role. Network positions value CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE certifications from Cisco, or equivalent credentials from Palo Alto (PCNSE) and Fortinet (NSE series). Cloud roles benefit from AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Administrator, or Google Cloud Professional certifications. Security positions value CISSP, CEH, or Security+ credentials. Development roles care less about certifications than demonstrable skills, though specialized credentials in specific technologies can help. ITIL certifications demonstrate understanding of IT service management frameworks that larger organizations use. The key is matching certifications to the technical requirements in job descriptions rather than collecting credentials generically.
Is the demand for tech talent in building materials growing?
Yes, substantially. The entire industry is undergoing digital transformation driven by e-commerce adoption, supply chain optimization needs, data analytics capabilities, smart building integration, and customer expectations shaped by consumer technology experiences. Building materials companies compete for talent with pure technology companies, driving compensation upward and creating opportunities for people willing to work outside traditional tech hubs. The pandemic accelerated digital adoption in industries that previously lagged, and that momentum continues as companies recognize technology as strategic differentiator rather than operational necessity.
How can students or recent graduates start a tech career in the building materials industry?
Entry paths vary by role. Software development positions typically require computer science degrees or coding bootcamp credentials combined with project portfolios demonstrating capability. Network administration roles often start with associate degrees in IT combined with entry-level certifications like CompTIA Network+. Customer success and technical support positions may accept relevant degrees with strong communication skills and willingness to learn technical details. Internships and co-op programs at building materials companies provide valuable entry points and industry exposure. Geographic flexibility helps too—opportunities exist in smaller cities and towns where major building materials operations are located, not just in obvious tech hubs. The key is demonstrating genuine interest in the industry rather than treating it as a default option when preferred tech companies don't hire you.