Technical Lead - Backend/Laravel

Vetster (vetster.com) is the world's fastest-growing veterinary telehealth and pet care marketplace. Since our launch in 2020, we have established ourselves as a leader in the rapidly growing pet care industry. Named Pet App of the Year, Vetster makes it easier for pet owners to connect with the veterinary care they need - anytime, anywhere,

We know that by empowering pet owners with easy-to-use, convenient services and an open marketplace, we can move the industry forward, create professional opportunities in the veterinary community, and fundamentally improve animal well-being and access to care. The work we are doing is groundbreaking and is changing lives.

We work in cross-functional teams and believe ownership and accountability, along with trust, respect and inclusion are core tenets of success in our new working paradigm. At all levels, successful Vetster team members are those who seek to grow their careers and who share our ambition to build a global high-growth brand. Please note this role is hybrid, with 2 days per week in our office in midtown Toronto at Yonge and Summerhill.

Join Our Mission

At Vetster, we are building the next generation of marketplace platforms, from connecting vets and pet parents, to getting all important medications quickly to pets. From building out critical architecture, to embracing artificial intelligence in product and internally. As a technical lead for our backend services, you'll be responsible for architecting new systems, scaling infrastructure, and mentoring other backend engineers. We are looking for a passionate and visionary engineering leader who wants to build technology that has a real-world impact. If you're excited by the challenge of solving complex problems and building the future, we want to talk to you.

Your Impact & Responsibilities

This is more than just a coding role; it's an opportunity to be a technical cornerstone for our products. You will have the autonomy to make a significant impact on our platform, our processes, and our people.

• Architect & Build: You will help shape the architectural vision for our core application, leading the design, documentation, and implementation of new, scalable, and resilient services primarily in Laravel and PHP.
• Lead & Mentor: You will champion engineering best practices, measurably improving code quality, testing coverage, and deployment frequency. You'll become a trusted mentor to our engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence through insightful code reviews and collaborative problem-solving.
• Collaborate & Deliver: You will partner directly with product and design leadership to translate complex business requirements into robust, maintainable, and elegant technical solutions.
• Optimize & Scale: You will instrument and optimize our application for performance and scalability, ensuring our platform remains fast and reliable as our user base grows.
• Ship It: At Vetster, everyone gets their hands dirty. Whether it's designing a new system or jumping into a fire drill to solve a critical issue, we show up and ship.

What You Bring

We're looking for a leader who is excited by our mission and is ready to make an impact. Here's what we think you'll need to be successful:

• 7+ years of deep, expert-level experience with modern PHP and the Laravel framework.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Vast experience designing, building, and consuming REST API's
• Good understanding of Postgres and how to optimize queries for performance
• Fluency in modern JavaScript and hands-on experience building complex user interfaces with Vue.js or React is a plus
• A passion for systems design, architecting elegant, scalable platforms, and making high-impact technical decisions.
• A genuine enjoyment for mentoring other engineers and a belief that you succeed when your team succeeds. Including one-on-one coaching, using code reviews as an educational tool, and paired programming.
• Familiarity with using AI API's, bringing Large Language Model capabilities to a product engineering team.
• A strong grasp of cloud infrastructure (especially AWS), DevOps principles, and CI/CD on the GitHub platform.
• A pragmatic problem-solving mindset that balances technical purity with the drive to deliver business value.
• Experience writing automated tests using PHPUnit
• Nice to have: Portfolio of open source contributions

Why Join Us?

• Unlimited access to Vetster for your pets.
• Dog-friendly office environment.
• Generous vacation and personal day policy.
• Comprehensive health and dental benefits for you and your family.
• Competitive salary with market alignment.
• RRSP matching and Employee Stock Option Plan.
• Opportunities for career growth and international assignments.
• A culture of inclusivity, equity, and team engagement.

Our Hiring Process

We believe in a transparent and respectful hiring process. Here's what you can expect:

1. Stage 1: Introductory Meeting: This is a 30-minute Google Meet video call with Keltie Neville (People Operations) to share more about the role and Vetster, and learn about you.
2. Stage 2: Skills Interview: This is a 60-minute Google Meet video interview with Tolga Ercan (Director of Engineering), where he will take you through our Engineering roadmap and learn more about your skills and experience.
3. Stage 3: In-person Presentation of Assignment and discussion: Vetster HQ (14 Birch Avenue, Toronto.) with Tolga Ercan (Director of Engineering) and other members of the engineering team. Prior to the meeting, a work assignment will be given (We will compensate you for your time.)
4. Stage 4: coffee meet with Regan Johnson (CTO)

Ready to Make an Impact?

Embark on a fulfilling journey with us, shaping the future of pet healthcare through design. If you're driven by innovation, collaboration, and a love for pets, apply now to join our mission-driven team. Please note this role is hybrid, with 2 days per week in our office in midtown Toronto at Yonge and Summerhill.