Senior Software Engineer

You are a strong senior full-stack software engineer with a proven track record of shipping and operating production systems at scale. You bring strong technical judgment, a high bar for quality, and the ability to lead complex initiatives end to end. You are comfortable working across frontend and backend systems, influencing architecture, and guiding teams through ambiguity.

At Rival, AI is central to how we build and how our product evolves. In this role, you are expected to lead AI-enabled feature development, own AI-focused epics, and elevate the team’s capabilities in modern AI-assisted development and AI product delivery. You understand how modern web applications are designed, built, and deployed in cloud environments. You are comfortable operating within AWS-based systems and take ownership of the reliability, scalability, and maintainability of the software you deliver.

As a Senior Software Engineer at Rival, you will lead the design, development, and delivery of high-impact features across our product platform, with a strong emphasis on AI-enabled capabilities. You will own outcomes end to end, mentor engineers, strengthen engineering standards, and collaborate closely with Product, UX, QA, and stakeholders to deliver well-scoped, reliable, and scalable solutions.

Who are we? 

When you join Rival Group, you’re not just accelerating your career—you’re also helping shape the future of customer insights and market research.

We’re a forward-thinking, results-driven organization obsessed with helping innovative brands get closer to their customers in a way that feels fresh, organic, and fun. Rival Technologies, the tech arm of our business, is the world’s best conversational research platform and one of Vancouver’s fastest-growing tech companies. 🚀 Reach3 Insights, our consulting side, is an award-winning 🏆 market research agency with offices in Chicago, Toronto, and Vancouver. Together, we’re helping brands like Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, Dell Technologies, REVOLT TV, and Roblox get better insights they can use to deliver better products, create more impactful marketing campaigns, and improve the end-to-end customer experience.

Our customers LOVE our tech and services. We’re growing fast—and we’re inviting great people to join us on the ride 🎢

If making measurable, immediate impact while having fun sounds like your jam, then we invite you to apply! 👇

What you’ll do:

• Lead the design, development, testing, and release of production features across the Rival product suite
• Own feature epics from discovery and architecture through implementation,
  rollout, and iteration
• Build across frontend and backend systems in a modern JavaScript and TypeScript stack
• Partner with Product and Design to shape requirements, clarify trade-offs, and drive execution plans for complex initiatives
• Set and uphold a high bar for code quality, performance, security, reliability, and user experience
• Improve test coverage, CI reliability, tooling, and overall developer experience
• Drive technical design reviews and produce clear written design documentation
• Identify risks and dependencies early and communicate mitigation strategies
• Debug and resolve issues across the full stack, including cloud environments and production systems
• Influence architectural decisions and long-term technical direction
• Raise the bar through thoughtful code reviews, mentorship, and coaching
• Contribute to hiring, onboarding, and overall team development

AI and Modern Development Practices

Rival encourages engineers to thoughtfully leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity and quality.

• Apply strong judgment to AI behavior, correctness, privacy, security, and reliability risks
• Design evaluation strategies for AI features using test suites, human review, metrics, and monitoring
• Establish best practices for AI integration, including guardrails, validation,
  observability, and maintainability
• Use AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering speed and quality
• Collaborate cross-functionally on AI requirements such as telemetry, user feedback loops, and model performance tracking

What You'll Have:  

• 7+ years of professional experience building and operating production software systems
• Strong full-stack expertise across frontend and backend development
• Demonstrated experience leading complex technical initiatives or epics end to end
• Strong software engineering fundamentals including architecture, testing strategy, performance, and reliability
• Experience building or integrating AI-enabled product features such as LLM workflows, retrieval systems, agent-style architectures, or automated decision support
• Ability to evaluate and improve AI feature quality using structured testing, monitoring, and feedback mechanisms
• Strong collaboration and communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience working in cloud-based environments, preferably AWS
• Familiarity with serverless and or microservices architectures from an application perspective
• Ability to reason about and debug issues across the full stack

Technology Stack & Tools

• Languages & Runtime: JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js
• Frontend: React, Redux, Next.js, Styled Components
• Backend & APIs: Express, GraphQL
• Data & Storage: PostgreSQL, Redis or Valkey, MongoDB
• Messaging & Search: Kafka, Elasticsearch or OpenSearch
• Cloud: AWS (application-level experience); CloudFormation, CDK, or Terraform (working knowledge, no infrastructure ownership)
• Testing: Cypress, Jest, React Testing Library, Playwright, Vitest, Cucumber
• Engineering & Collaboration Tools: Atlassian Jira and Confluence, with a solid understanding of Agile workflows, including backlog grooming, sprint planning, and Scrum ceremonies

Why us for your next career adventure?  

💵 Fair compensation

We’re committed to pay equity/fair pay practices and closing the gender salary gap. 

• In determining salary, Rival Technologies considers many factors including the successful candidate’s skillset and experience as well as internal equity. The salary range for this position is $120,000 to $150,000, with the upper portion typically reserved for tenured employees who have developed extensive job knowledge and expertise within the company.

Our compensation package also includes:

• Home office, Internet and Cellphone stipends
• RRSP plan with employer matching
• Parental leave top up

💆‍♂️ Flexibility and time off

• Hybrid working model and home office benefits
• Comprehensive paid time off that covers vacation, sick, and personal days. 

🩺 Health and wellness

• Extended health and dental plan
• Health spending account
• Generous sick, personal, and mental health days
• $1,000 annual mental health benefits with Canada Life

🤝 A great place to work you can be proud of

According to a survey of our employees conducted by an independent agency:

• 91% of our people believe management practices are equal and impartial
• 86% have pride in their work and the organization
• 91% agree that their teammates are friendly, supportive and welcoming

Our values at Rival:

• Courage
• Results
• Energy
• Kinship

The not-so-fine-print 🧐

If you think you’re a good fit, please connect with us ASAP with your resume. You must be eligible to work in Canada to be considered for this role. At Rival, we value the unique qualities and experiences that each candidate brings to the table. We believe in a personal approach to hiring and take the time to thoroughly review each resume ourselves. Rest assured, we do not use AI or automated systems to review or filter resumes. Every application is carefully reviewed by our hiring team to ensure a fair and personalized evaluation process. If you don’t see yourself fully reflected in every job requirement listed on the posting above, we still encourage you to reach out and apply. Research has shown that individuals in underrepresented groups often only apply when they feel 100% qualified. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace committed to building a team culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Rival provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, religion, age, ancestry, gender, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Rival is also committed to fostering a culture of belonging, which includes ensuring an accessible work environment and employment practices. If you require accommodation at any point in the selection process, please email peopleteam@rivalgroup.io

Finally, we know from time to time emergencies happen and you may need to reschedule an interview — we understand and encourage you to be in communication without worrying about losing the opportunity or your credibility.

Please note given our security and compliance certifications, final applicants will be required to undergo a background check.

No recruiters and no phone calls, please!