Senior Backend Developer at Cognitive Systems in Waterloo, Ontario, CA

THE ROLE: Senior Backend Developer (Cloud & APIs)

ABOUT YOU

You’re a strong backend developer who enjoys building reliable cloud services and APIs. You like shipping in a fast-paced environment, collaborating with a small, high-calibre team, and taking ownership from design through production. You’re excited to work on smart home technology that delivers meaningful, real-world outcomes for aging-in-place.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Build, maintain, and operate scalable, secure backend services and APIs (TypeScript and/or Python).
• Design and evolve data models and services across SQL and NoSQL systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, MongoDB, time-series).
• Develop integration-ready APIs and workflows for partners and customers (authentication, versioning, reliability, observability).
• Collaborate with product, data science, and engineering to deliver new features end-to-end.
• Improve our developer experience: CI/CD pipelines, testing, monitoring/alerting, and internal tooling.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED (CORE)

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of relevant software development experience, with a strong track record of delivering production-ready systems.
• Strong ownership mindset and ability to deliver independently while collaborating well.
• Experience building and maintaining REST APIs in production (testing, monitoring, reliability).
• Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript.
• Experience with Docker, Git, and modern development workflows (code reviews, CI).
• Solid fundamentals in backend design: data modeling, performance, security, and debugging.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with AWS and/or cloud infrastructure (Kubernetes a plus).
• Experience with PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and/or time-series databases.
• Automated testing with tools like Jest (or similar).
• Exposure to React or other frontend frameworks.
• IoT platform experience (e.g., MQTT) and large-scale data ingestion pipelines.

Don’t tick every box? If you’re excited about the role and believe you can grow into it, we still want to hear from you.

WHY COGNITIVE SYSTEMS?

We are always on the lookout for bright, highly motivated, high-performing, kind, and curious people to join our team. We foster an open and agile environment where creative thinking leads to groundbreaking achievements and innovations.

We promote a healthy work-life balance in a flexible work setting. We offer competitive salaries, an excellent extended health benefits plan, 5 weeks of paid annual time off, a fitness and wellness credit, and even a free catered lunch in-office every day! Most importantly, we are committed to creating the most innovative and impactful technology that people will love.

ABOUT US

Caregiver by Cognitive brings an ambient layer of awareness to the connected home, supporting those aging-in-place with greater safety, independence, and peace of mind.

Led by founders with deep expertise in silicon design, radio frequency technology, and WiFi sensing, Cognitive Systems has built the strongest patent portfolio in motion intelligence. Caregiver brings that foundation to the aging-in-place market as a practical, deployable solution, turning passive signals into meaningful insights on daily living patterns, including activity, sleep, and unexpected inactivity. Built for real-world rollout, Caregiver supports both turnkey applications and API-based integrations, enabling in-home care organizations to move beyond traditional emergency response. The platform is easy to install, scales across large customer bases, and adapts to both informal and professional caregiving environments, helping providers stay connected and act with confidence, even when they can’t be physically present.

Cognitive Systems Corp. is committed to fostering a fair, inclusive, and respectful workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, citizenship, creed/religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital or family status, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

We believe diverse perspectives and lived experiences strengthen our work and help us better serve our customers and communities.

Accessibility and accommodations: If you require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process, please email careers@cognitivesystems.com. A member of our team will respond, and any information shared regarding accommodation needs will be handled confidentially.