Staff Software Engineer, Core Applications

Staff Software Engineer, Core Applications

• Level: P4
• Location: Ottawa, ON | Hybrid
• Reports To: Xiaokun Xu, Application Team Lead
• Type: Permanent | Full-Time

About Solink

At Solink, our mission is to safeguard what matters most . We provide businesses with the tools to know sooner and act faster by transforming video security into real-time operational insights.

Our cloud-based platform integrates seamlessly with your existing cameras and systems, turning them into intelligent sensors that detect and interpret key moments. This empowers teams to make data-driven decisions, enhance security, and improve operational efficiency.

Trusted by over 36,000 locations across 60+ countries - including brands like McDonald’s and JYSK - Solink delivers clarity when it counts. Our solutions help businesses reduce shrink, optimize performance, and respond proactively to potential threats.

We're growing rapidly, earning industry recognition, and scaling with purpose. We’ve been recognized by Deloitte’s Fast 50™ and Fast 500™, Business Intelligence Group, and as one of Ottawa’s Best Places to Work. And we’re just getting started!

The Role

The Core Applications team owns what our customers interact with every day — the web app and the mobile app. Our web application has been running in production for over a decade, trusted by thousands of operators across countries. This isn’t a greenfield role; it’s a stewardship role.

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Core Applications (P4) who takes genuine pride in the quality, reliability, and feel of software that people actually depend on. At this level, you’re trusted to set technical direction across web, mobile, and API layers, to be a strategic collaborator on team- and org-wide initiatives, and to mentor colleagues both within Core Applications and cross-functionally. You’ll work across a React/TypeScript web app and a React Native mobile app, owning features end-to-end from design through delivery. You build APIs, ship UI, write tests, monitor production, and come back the next day looking for what to improve next. You care about the craft: clean code, thoughtful API design, smooth UI, and a codebase future teammates will thank you for. You’re also AI-native, you use AI tools as a force multiplier and bring that mindset into everything you do.

What You’ll Do

Build and improve features across the web (React/TypeScript) and mobile (React Native/Expo) applications, constantly raising the bar on what “good” looks like for our customers

Own features end-to-end, collaborate with product and design, design and implement APIs, write the code, write the tests, ship it, monitor it

Drive architecture and technical direction across web, mobile, and API layers, and document key decisions so they scale beyond you

Drive meaningful improvements to stability, performance, and UX, identifying and eliminating pain points proactively, not just reactively

Design and build APIs in NestJS/TypeScript that power rich, responsive experiences across web and mobile

Leverage AI tools to move faster and write better code, treating AI assistants as a core part of your workflow for coding, debugging, code review, and research

Raise the bar on code quality through thoughtful code reviews, targeted refactoring, and knowledge sharing

Triage and resolve bugs with urgency and care, minimizing customer impact

Act as a strategic collaborator on technical decisions regarding architecture, tooling, and patterns within the applications team

Mentor and support teammates, including more junior & senior engineers and cross-functional partners, share what you know and lift the team

Role Expectations

This is a P4 - Staff level role. At Solink, individuals at this level are strategic collaborators who set technical direction, mentor across and beyond their immediate team, and can be relied on to drive team- and org-wide initiatives with minimal direction.

In this role, you’ll be expected to:

Strategize with teammates and leaders cross-functionally on key Core Applications initiatives

Lead projects end-to-end, keeping key stakeholders informed and anticipating issues before they block delivery

Coach and mentor other engineers through complex problems, and give constructive, direct feedback

Build frameworks, standards, and tooling that scale the team’s effectiveness beyond any single feature

Continuously grow your own expertise and share learnings back with the team

What success looks like:

Web and mobile applications that are measurably more stable, performant, and pleasant to use

A codebase and set of engineering practices that the rest of the team points to as the standard

Junior and intermediate engineers who are visibly leveling up because of your mentorship

AI tooling meaningfully embedded in how the team designs, builds, reviews, and ships

What You Bring

Must-Have:

Strong production TypeScript and React experience, ideally with long tenure on a single mature product, not just a series of greenfields

Full-stack ownership: comfortable designing REST APIs (NestJS is a bonus), working with PostgreSQL and Redis, and tracing issues across the stack

Demonstrated ownership of end-to-end system architecture across web, mobile, and API platforms, including establishing documentation practices that scale technical decision-making across teams.

Track record on a mature, customer-facing product, you know how to improve something trusted by thousands of customers without breaking it

You actively use AI tools to accelerate your work, and you’re constantly looking for more leverage from them

Solid understanding of REST APIs and how frontend and backend systems interact — you’re comfortable owning both sides

Awareness of performance trade-offs in web and mobile contexts, you know when something will feel slow before it ships

Ability to trace bugs across layers (UI → API → DB) and communicate clearly about root causes

Strong opinions, held loosely, you bring perspective to technical discussions and remain open to better ideas

Product instinct: you ask ‘is this the right thing to build?’ before diving into implementation, and you engage with product and design as a true partner

Clear communicator, your PR descriptions, Jira comments, and Slack messages make sense to both engineers and non-engineers

Comfortable with ambiguity and large surface area, you can self-direct, prioritize, and ask the right clarifying questions without hand-holding

Nice-to-Have:

• •Hands-on React Native experience, you understand the differences between web and native rendering
• Experience with video streaming, security camera systems, or POS/retail tech

Familiarity with automated testing in React and React Native (Jest, Detox, Playwright, or similar)

Exposure to mobile CI/CD and App Store / Play Store release pipelines

Experience building or integrating AI-powered features and LLM capabilities into user-facing products

NestJS or other Node.js backend framework experience

Security Requirements

Candidates must undergo a criminal records check upon hire;

Be a Canadian Citizen (dual citizens included), or eligible to work in Canada;

Be willing to comply with Solink’s own security policies and standards.

Our Values

We do things the Solink way:

Act with URGENCY – Our customers move fast, so we do too.

Deliver with QUALITY – We sweat the details and hold a high bar.

Win with TEAM – No egos. Just outcomes, built together.

Lead with TRUST – We earn it through clarity, consistency, and care.

These aren’t just words—they shape how we hire, lead, and grow.

Why Solink?

We’re not just building tech - we’re building a place where great people do great work.

Clarity and trust : Where the role allows, we support flexibility in how and where work gets done - and we’re upfront about what’s required.

Meaningful equity : Every full-time, permanent employee has a st