At CoLab, we help mechanical engineering teams bring life-changing products to market years sooner.
CoLab is the AI platform for driving stronger engineering decisions. Every design review in CoLab builds a knowledge repository of design feedback, decisions, and lessons learned - which AI agents draw from to flag issues on future designs before they compound. The more your team works in CoLab, the smarter it gets and the faster you arrive at the ideal design. Companies like Ford, Komatsu, and Johnson Controls use CoLab to catch issues earlier, eliminate rework cycles, and bring products to market faster.
Founded in St. John's, Newfoundland, CoLab has grown quickly from our first customer in 2019 to a rapidly scaling company. We've recently been recognized on Deloitte's Fast 50™ and Fast 500™, and named a Canadian company to watch by The Globe and Mail and Financial Post.
About the Role
We're looking for a Senior Full Stack Developer who naturally gravitates toward backend systems and infrastructure, but enjoys owning product experiences end-to-end.
At CoLab, full stack developers are deeply involved in shaping the product — not just implementing tickets. You'll work closely with Product, Design, AI, and fellow developers to solve complex technical problems that directly impact how engineering teams collaborate and make decisions.
Depending on the team you join, your work could involve building scalable APIs, improving system reliability, designing data-heavy workflows, integrating AI-powered capabilities, or developing intuitive frontend experiences for highly technical users.
This is a role for someone who likes difficult problems and meaningful ownership. The work is often ambiguous. Priorities evolve as we learn. You'll be expected to make thoughtful technical decisions, communicate clearly, and move work forward without waiting for perfect direction.
Some developers prefer staying narrowly specialized. That's not this role. We're looking for someone who enjoys understanding the full system — from infrastructure and services to the customer experience sitting on top of them.
Our Ideal Candidate
You're a strong backend engineer who's comfortable contributing across the stack when needed.
You care about building reliable systems, but you also understand that great software only matters if it solves real customer problems. You know how to balance speed, scalability, and maintainability without becoming dogmatic about any of them.
You likely won't enjoy this role if:
- You prefer highly scoped work with minimal ambiguity
- You only want to work in one layer of the stack
- You optimize for technical perfection over iteration and learning
You'll thrive if:
- You enjoy owning problems end-to-end
- You're curious about both systems architecture and product experience
- You communicate clearly and collaborate well across disciplines
- You hold a high technical bar while staying pragmatic and low ego
Job Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain scalable backend services, APIs, and data systems
- Contribute to frontend application development using modern web technologies
- Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, AI, and Engineering teams to ship high-impact product improvements
- Improve system reliability, observability, performance, and developer tooling
- Help shape technical direction, architecture decisions, and engineering best practices
- Investigate and resolve complex production issues across the stack
- Prototype quickly, gather feedback, and iterate based on customer and business needs
- Mentor developers through collaboration, code reviews, and technical discussions
Qualifications
- 7+ years of experience building production software applications
- Strong backend development experience with modern languages such as Python and Javascript
- Experience building and maintaining APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-based applications
- Frontend experience with modern frameworks such as React and TypeScript
- Database experience with Postgres and DynamoDB
- Strong understanding of system design, scalability, and software architecture
- Experience working with relational and/or distributed data systems
- Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly across technical and non-technical audiences
- Comfortable operating in fast-moving environments with evolving priorities
Bonus Points
- Experience working on AI-powered products or workflows
- Experience with event-driven systems and asynchronous architectures
- Experience building products for technical users or enterprise SaaS platforms
- Experience with infrastructure, DevOps, or platform engineering
- Experience mentoring developers or leading technical initiatives
The Extra Details
- This is a full-time, permanent position with competitive compensation and stock options
- We offer extended health benefits, unlimited paid vacation, and RRSP matching
- Our headquarters are in St. John's, Newfoundland, with flexible hybrid and remote options. This role can be performed remotely from anywhere in Canada.
Equity Note
Frequently cited statistics show that people who identify with historically marginalized groups are likely to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to help us break that statistic and apply even if you don't meet every single qualification—your potential is what matters most to us.
