Principal Developer

Summary

Join Coconut as a Principal Developer and collaborate with Engineering, Product, and Security teams. You will identify and test strategic opportunities for product differentiation, becoming a subject matter expert in relevant domains. This role requires strong software development skills, architectural understanding, and the ability to anticipate future needs. You will solve technical issues, champion solutions, and contribute to a broader impact. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in software development, stays updated on best practices, and can identify and resolve technical dysfunctions. You will also mentor and elevate engineering teams, contributing to a blameless culture and continuous improvement.

Requirements

• 15+ years proven experience in shipping multiple products, preferably within multiple roles - full-stack development, deployment, and testing across multiple web platforms
• Proposes initial technical implementation which supports architectural changes that solve scaling and performance problems
• Adept at simplifying complex codebases with concern toward maintainability
• Mastery at ramping up quickly in new languages and frameworks
• Experience in automating development, understanding when best to implement
• Extensive knowledge of multiple programming paradigms and software development methodologies, understanding when best to apply different approaches (TDD, DD, etc.)
• Strong understanding of GIT and associated workflows (pull requests, code reviews)
• Experience writing / working with REST and associated technologies (JWT, JWE, etc)
• Experience with javascript (React, Redux) and CSS, PHP 7+, Laravel or Symfony, MariaDB / MySQL is preferred but not required
• Exceptional communication skills - be able to convey your thoughts, ideas, and projects effectively across the organization; even to non technical audiences
• Ability to create thorough technical documentation and articulate design decisions driving alignment throughout the department and company (as needed)
• Ability to connect the dots between systems and problems and communicate the impacts and recommendations to the team
• The desire to be a large proponent of an organization’s engineering culture and influence the adoption of better practices
• Proven leadership skills - having mentored, coached, or unblocked members on a team, as well as encourage them to strive for best practices
• You’ve used AI tooling for work or personal use. You explore new tools, workflows, and ideas to make things more efficient, and are eager to deepen your understanding of AI and use it regularly

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate Technical Ownership
• Assist in sculpting the architectural vision for significant parts of our stack to allow for rapid iteration and long term stability
• Contribute to and guide overall software architecture and its implementation; aligning teams on necessary activities needed to drive adoption
• Provide design documents and documentation to ensure efficient maintenance, knowledge transfer and code reuse
• Identify areas of opportunity for new/repurposed technology affording new ways we can serve our customers and their users
• Validate those opportunities via experiments, measurement, and critical feedback
• Develop prototypes of those opportunities, as well as the ideas of your peers
• Contribute to determining the functionality, performance, scalability, and reliability of our products
• Lead the research, scoping, design, and planning of technical initiatives with realistic implementation schedules
• Participate in the development and testing of functionality in collaboration with team members, while providing technical advice and guidance
• Articulate status/dependencies/blockers proactively and effectively, while subscribing to a customer-first approach to software development
• Deep dive and uncover or foresee technology and organizational needs
• Troubleshoot and solve technical problems of the highest scope, complexity, and ambiguity for your department
• Where possible, become the center for innovative ideas and opportunities between several teams, with a willingness to experiment and confront large and complex problems
• Analyze engineering challenges and develop solutions to resolve issues
• Be a Nomad
• Collaborate and make recommendations across several teams, and help the team make evidence-based decisions in alignment with our strategic plans
• Work with engineering managers to understand areas of concern and help identify and align on solutions
• Be a Leader
• Lead by example - act in accordance with our CHEERS values
• Mentor, coach, and elevate the members of the organization
• Guide members to remove blockers and encourage collaboration
• Demonstrate and set technical standards and best practices, as if creating a center of excellence within the engineering department
• Have the desire to constantly improve your own technical and product knowledge, and empower your peers to do the same
• Contribute to the hiring, onboarding, and development of new team members
• Provide technical expertise and guidance to the engineering team improving quality of deliverables

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in or knowledge of the Financial Industry would be a bonus

Benefits

• "Cabana Days" - our version of a flexible work week !
• Ability to do your job in a supported, but still flexible environment
• Supported professional development, learning & career opportunities - be supported in your growth journey!
• Regular 1:1 coaching with your leader and regular connection to a passionate executive team
• Work in a team big enough for growth but lean enough to make a real impact
• A full range of benefits to keep you happy & healthy
• Competitive Salaries - we pay fairly based on experience and expertise, not your ability to negotiate!
• Health & Dental Benefits, Virtual Care, & Disability top up - all starting from day 1!
• Virtual mental health and EAP platform
• WealthSimple GRSP & Matching
• Annual Wellness Benefit ($1000 per year)
• Opportunity to work remote - anywhere in Canada!
• Employee Options - everyone shares in our success!
• Internet Subsidy on each paycheck
• Tiki Bucks Incentive Program - everyone is entitled to earn bonuses!