Founding Engineer

Location: REMOTE / Calgary, Alberta
This job allows you to work remotely.

Our client, a fast-growing Canadian healthcare technology startup, is hiring a Founding Engineer to lead backend development, shape the technical roadmap, and establish the engineering practices that will define the company's growth.
This is a backend-first role — roughly 70%+ of the work is backend, with the remainder split across light frontend and AI/LLM integration. You'll shape the technical foundation from architecture to implementation, set engineering standards, and grow a small team over time while staying hands-on with the critical code that powers the platform. Early on, you'll mentor 1–2 developers.
What you'll do:
- Build and own backend architecture — APIs, event systems, session management, data pipelines
- Design ETL/data workflows and transformation pipelines for sensitive structured data
- Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and contribute to QA processes
- Integrate with legacy third-party systems and external portals
- Work with AI/LLM tools (e.g. Claude, OpenAI, Gemini) for automation and conversational AI
- Keep the customer-facing web app running smoothly with light frontend work (not a dedicated frontend role)
- Make build vs. buy decisions and shape the technical roadmap
- Mentor developers, run code reviews, set engineering standards
- Work directly with the founders to influence company direction
Current stack: Python, Azure, SQL, LLM/TTS/STT models. Strong technical opinions welcome.
Profile & culture:
- Backend engineer or full-stack developer whose strengths and primary interest are in backend work
- Startup DNA — comfortable in a high-ownership, work-hard-play-hard environment, balancing intensity with autonomy and not needing heavy structure
Not a fit: career managers who don't want hands-on work; frontend/web-only developers; engineers who wait to be told what to build.
Compensation & benefits: Competitive salary + meaningful equity, strong health benefits, flexible work and vacation, hybrid (Calgary).
Requirements:
- Located in Alberta (Calgary strongly preferred)
- Able to work remotely with a home office and come in as needed
- Legally authorized to work in Canada

Must Have Skills:
~4–8 years of professional development experience (strong technically, with the runway to grow into a leadership role); solid Python backend experience; SQL/databases; ETL/data workflows; CI/CD experience and exposure to QA processes; self-directed, able to take a problem from research to shipped solution without heavy hand-holding; strong communication, able to explain complex systems to non-technical people.

Nice to Have Skills:
Some frontend ability to keep a customer-facing web app functioning (not a dedicated frontend role); comfort integrating LLM tools like Claude, OpenAI, or Gemini; designing APIs from scratch and managing concurrent events; startup experience or a healthcare/regulated-industry background.