Principal Software Engineer

Questrade is on a mission to help Canadians to become much more financially successful and secure.

For nearly 30 years, Questrade Financial Group has been delivering on that mission through investing, banking, mortgages, and real estate. Together, we tilt finance in favour of ambitious Canadians, creating new ways for them to seize the financial future they deserve.

We're looking for people who are ready to enter their career inflection point. Mission-driven, exceptional folks that never settle. The work here is hard because the responsibility is real. If that's the standard you've been looking for, keep reading.

Req # 4036

The return on your career investment

• Compensation and incentives built to reward the value you bring.
• RRSP matching of up to 6%.
• Health and wellness resources and programs, including $5,000 in mental health practitioner coverage.
• $5,000 in tuition subsidies for job-related courses, every year.
• 100% parental top-up, up to 26 weeks for birthing parents and 18 weeks for non-birthing parents.
• A hybrid environment, with at least three days in the office built for working together.
• Paid vacation, personal, and sick days.
• A community care day to give back to the causes you care about.

This job posting is for an existing vacancy

The Principal Software Engineer defines and evolves the target architecture for their domain across Questrade's products, spanning front-end applications (React Native, ReactJS) and back-end services (NodeJS, distributed systems). This high-impact role leads the design of complex, high-risk systems, identifies systemic technical risks, and establishes engineering standards that scale organizationally — whether the highest-leverage work sits in the client experience, the service layer, or both. The Principal Engineer acts as an escalation authority for major incidents, provides strategic technical leadership on modernization efforts, and coaches senior technical staff without formal authority.

The mandate

In this role, you will:

• Define and evolve target architecture for your domain in alignment with Enterprise Architecture and executive leadership, across front-end and back-end concerns as needed.
• Lead the design of high-risk, complex systems with strict requirements for availability, low latency, security, and regulatory compliance.
• Identify systemic technical risks across Pods, building business cases and technical roadmaps to address them.
• Translate business objectives into technical roadmaps and communicate architectural trade-offs to senior leadership.
• Establish engineering standards, patterns, and reference implementations that scale beyond a single Pod, across the stack.
• Own performance and scalability strategy at the platform level — profiling, identifying systemic bottlenecks, and setting the standard for optimization under production load (for example, high-frequency, real-time data streaming in trading features).
• Provide technical leadership on platform migrations, monolith-to-microservices modernization, and build-versus-buy decisions.
• Coach and grow senior developers and technical leads, driving architectural alignment without formal authority.
• Serve as an escalation authority for severe production incidents, leading systemic remediation efforts across platforms

You’re ready for this mandate if you have the following qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 9+ years of professional software development experience with a sustained track record of technical leadership.
• Expert-level command of distributed systems design (consistency, resilience, scaling, failure modes), with deep, hands-on expertise in at least one of the following tracks:

• Front-end track: Expert-level JavaScript/TypeScript with React Native (mobile) and/or ReactJS (web), including architectural ownership of large-scale client applications.
• Back-end track: Expert-level Node.js/TypeScript, including architectural ownership of large-scale distributed services.

• Demonstrated architectural ownership for large, business-critical production platforms.
• Extensive cloud-native architecture experience (GCP preferred), including multi-region, high-availability, and cost-aware design.
• Proven ability to influence and align engineers, architects, and product leaders without relying on formal authority.

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in brokerage, capital markets, trading systems, payments, or highly regulated financial environments.
• Hands-on experience with high-frequency data streaming, real-time market data, or low-latency execution systems.
• For back-end-leaning candidates: front-end or mobile framework exposure (ReactJS, React Native, iOS/Android) is a strong asset.
• Angular experience is a nice-to-have.
• Track record leading large-scale cloud migrations or monolith-to-microservices modernization.
• Application security, threat modeling, or DevSecOps at an organizational level.
• Recognized technical presence through open-source contributions, patents, or industry speaking.

Enter your career inflection point. Apply now.

#LI-Hybrid, #LI-SK1

The final compensation package will be commensurate with the successful candidate's experience, skills, and geographic location (Canada). It includes a comprehensive benefits plan and a competitive incentive (bonus) program for Full-Time Permanent roles.

Base salary range

$130,000—$175,000 CAD

Technology and AI

We mix human ingenuity with advanced technology. For ambitious builders like you, we provide the latest technology to enable your creativity. You'll have everything you need to build the best outcomes and products for our clients.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Questrade Financial Group of Companies, we’re committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and accessible work environment where individuals are treated with dignity and respect. Our global team reflects the diversity of the communities we serve and operate in.

Accessibility statement

Candidates selected for an interview are contacted directly. If you require accommodation during the recruitment or selection process, please let us know. We will work with you to meet your needs.

AI in hiring

Questrade Financial Group of companies Applicant Tracking System uses artificial intelligence (AI) for application screening. The AI system operates on predetermined criteria, with final decisions subject to human review.