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Senior Developer

We're looking for a seasoned, self-directed Senior Developer to join our team. zu is a Canadian digital agency with 30 years of experience building complex software for regulated industries with clients spanning government agencies, insurance providers, and healthcare organizations. We need leaders who bring sound judgment, clear communication, and a strong sense of ownership to teams where expectations are high.

As a Senior Developer at zu, you’ll take full responsibility for complex features from technical design through delivery. You’ll translate business and client needs into well-reasoned technical solutions, mentor junior developers, and contribute to a culture of quality and continuous improvement.

This is a role for someone who understands the stakes behind the work and can communicate that understanding across the table to a client. We expect our senior developers to engage upstream of the code by working through constraints, surfacing tradeoffs, and finding the simplest solution to a complex problem before a line of code is written.

AI is embedded in how we work, and we expect our senior developers to use it with the same care and craft they bring to everything else.

What You’ll Do

  • Own the technical design and delivery of complex features and projects
  • Translate client requirements and business constraints into sound technical solutions
  • Engage directly with clients to clarify requirements, assess business value, and communicate tradeoffs across time, budget, and scope
  • Mentor junior and intermediate developers through pairing, design review, and code review
  • Identify and communicate risks, requirements gaps, and technical constraints early
  • Write and maintain technical documentation including design docs, architecture notes, testing documentation, and user manuals
  • Contribute to Learning Lunches, proof-of-concept work, and internal technical standards

What You Bring

  • 5+ years of professional software development experience
  • Demonstrated ability to take features end-to-end with minimal oversight
  • Strong debugging skills and comfort navigating unfamiliar codebases
  • Experience working directly with clients or non-technical stakeholders
  • Excellent written and verbal communication across technical and non-technical contexts
  • Mindful and curious use of AI tooling to accelerate delivery

Bonus Skills

  • Experience with Symfony, Drupal, Vue.js, or regulated-industry projects

How You’ll Grow

  • Deepen your impact by taking on projects of increasing scope and complexity
  • Build leadership experience through tech lead responsibilities on client engagements
  • Progress toward Senior Developer II or Staff Developer based on our career ladder framework

If you’re an engineer who thinks before you build, communicates with confidence across the table, and takes pride in delivering work that holds up, we’d love to hear from you.

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/ Benefits

Comprehensive Mental Health Benefits

We prioritise the mental well-being of our employees by offering comprehensive mental health benefits, including mental health practitioner spending, ensuring that our team has access to the support they need to thrive.

Competitive Salaries

Offering competitive salaries ensures our employees feel valued and motivated, driving top performance and job satisfaction. By compensating our team fairly, we attract and retain top talent, creating a dedicated and skilled workforce.

Flexible Work Schedule

A flexible work environment helps our employees balance their personal and professional lives, enhancing overall well-being and productivity. By offering adaptable schedules and remote work options, we model a culture of trust and support.

Work Abroad

Our policy allowing employees to work abroad for 30 days enables them to explore the world while maintaining their professional responsibilities. This unique benefit encourages a healthy work-life balance, making travel more fulfilling while enhancing personal growth.

Safe Ride Home

We love to have a good time, but we love our team’s safety even more. With our ‘Safe Ride Home’ program, we’ve got your ride covered after staff functions—whether you’ve been sipping on a soda or something stronger. Hop into a free Uber on us and get home safe and sound.

A Culture Like No Other

In our industry, the bar is set pretty high, so it says something when you are widely known for your company culture. It’s our secret sauce and the foundation of everything we do. It’s hard to explain, but once you experience it firsthand, you know.