Canada onlyAt Smile.io, we help brands build loyalty programs that turn customers into lifelong fans. Behind that mission is a growing ecosystem of developers, agencies, and partners building on top of Smile — and the Solutions Squad exists to make that experience exceptional.
We’re looking for a fully remote Senior Software Engineer to join our small, highly autonomous team and help us build a world-class platform for developers integrating with Smile. This is a full-time remote role working Monday - Friday with a need for your schedule to overlap significantly with existing team hours (9 AM - 3 PM PT). At this time, only applicants based in Canada will be considered.
🌍About the Solutions Squad
Our vision is simple:
Make Smile the easiest and most delightful loyalty platform to integrate with.
We serve app developers, agencies, and internal teams by focusing on outcomes, not just features: clarity over complexity, thoughtful defaults over configuration sprawl, and experiences that feel obvious in hindsight.
We’re a fully remote team of two, both based in Vancouver, BC, working with a high degree of ownership and trust. We value autonomy, pragmatic decision-making, and moving fast without cutting corners that matter. We use modern AI tools to improve developer productivity, code quality, and product outcomes, and are passionate about intentionally experimenting with how AI can reshape the future of software development.
🛠 What You’ll Work On
This role is hands-on and impact-driven. Depending on your interests and strengths, you’ll spend time on things like:
- Designing, building, and evolving public APIs used by external developers and partners
- Improving the security, consistency, and usability of Smile’s API surface
- Building and maintaining Ruby on Rails services that power integrations and developer tooling
- Developing and evolving Smile’s JavaScript SDKs and frontend libraries
- Crafting thoughtful developer experiences — from API ergonomics to documentation
- Iterating on existing and building new in-house integrations
- Partnering with internal teams to help solve for novel merchant use cases
As someone more senior, you’ll also play a meaningful role in:
- Championing technical discussions, decisions, and trade-offs
- Identifying opportunities to raise the bar in areas like architecture, performance, and security
- Sharing context, feedback, and knowledge within and across teams
🧰 Our Stack (High Level)
Our stack today includes Ruby on Rails, JSON APIs, JWTs & OAuth, and modern frontend frameworks like React, TanStack, and Ember.js. We store data in PostgreSQL and use Kafka for system events and messaging.
Our system processes massive amounts of transactions every second, and everything we do is high-volume + built for scale. Since we work in e-commerce, reliability and security are both critical components of everything we ship.
💛 Why Smile?
Smile is a remote-first company built on trust, ownership, and continuous improvement. We believe great work happens when people feel supported, challenged, and empowered to do their best work.
You can learn more about our culture, values, and benefits on our careers page.
If this role sounds exciting — even if you don’t meet every qualification — we’d love to hear from you.
👋 What We’re Looking For
- Experience with Ruby on Rails in a professional settings for at least 5 years
- Experience designing, consuming, or evolving APIs
- Be comfortable working across the stack, with experience in React and TypeScript
- Experience using AI tools to solve real-world engineering problems
- Be based in Canada and able to work hours that significantly overlap with 9 AM - 3 PM PT
We think you’ll be successful in this role if you:
- Care deeply about writing maintainable code and building well-architected systems
- Communicate clearly and thoughtfully in writing
- Enjoy thinking in systems and understanding how individual decisions affect the bigger picture
- Have good product instincts and can balance quality, scope, and speed
- Prefer pragmatic, iterative decision-making over perfectionism
- Are comfortable learning through research and hands-on problem solving
- Know when to ask for help and when to push forward independently
- Care about crafting delightful user and developer experiences
- Are excited about how AI is reshaping software development and the potential it unlocks
⭐ Nice to Have (But Not Required)
- Knowledge of API design and API security best practices
- Experience building or using developer tooling (APIs, SDKs, SDKs, CLIs)
- Experience interfacing with external developers or partners
🤝 How We Work at Smile
- Are open to trying new things, being wrong, and learning from mistakes
- Prefer collaboration and shared success over individual heroics
- Want to move fast, deliver real value, and own the progress of your work
- Look for opportunities to improve how work gets done — for yourself and others
💰 Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary: $155,000 CAD - 165,000 CAD
- In addition, our generous total rewards package includes things like flexible vacation, a remote work allowance, and a monthly credit to use at any of the store 100,000+ stores that uses our software.
- Check out our careers page to learn more.
Our Commitment to Candidates:
At Smile, we understand that finding a new role is challenging and that self-doubt or imposter syndrome can prevent you from applying to a role, don’t let it! You have a ton to offer and we want you to feel encouraged to apply, even if you don’t check all of the boxes. If you are passionate about eCommerce and helping merchants grow through loyalty and reward, connect with us.
At Smile, we rely on a range of backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. We value diversity, and we’re proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunity workplace. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Smile welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.
AI Disclaimer: At Smile, we’re strong advocates for using AI to help speed up iteration, increase productivity, and save our human brainpower for the really challenging problems. While we’re happy for AI to help you generate or tailor your resume, we’d ask that you please refrain from using AI to answer any of the questions on this application form, or to answer questions during the interview process itself.
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