Software Developer - Full Stack (Co-op)

Apera is an innovative, Vancouver-based company at the forefront of robotics, AI, and machine vision — recognized with the 2025 Frost & Sullivan Technology Innovation Leadership Award and the 2024 BC Tech "Company of the Year, Growth" award. We're on a mission to redefine AI-driven robotic vision.

Apera AI helps manufacturers make their factories more flexible and productive. Robots enhanced with Apera's software have 4D Vision — the ability to see and grasp objects with human-like capability. Challenging applications such as bin picking, sorting, packaging, and assembly are now open to fast, precise, and reliable automation. We work with the world's leading automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

Our portfolio spans Vue (our 4D Vision software), Forge (a no-code simulation and AI training studio where customers build, validate, and de-risk robotic cells before any hardware is bought), and VuePod, our new turnkey, productized bin-picking cell.

Role Overview:

Apera AI is seeking a Full Stack Software Developer (Co-op) for the 8 months term period (Jan 2027 - August 2027) to join the team behind Apera Forge, our web-based simulation and development platform for vision-guided robotics. As a co-op developer, you'll contribute across the software stack-helping to deliver new functionality, improve developer tooling, and support the cloud infrastructure that powers Forge.

This role is based in person at our Vancouver office and is an 8-month co-op term.

You'll work with experienced engineers across product, cloud, and simulation domains. This is a hands-on role where your work will be reviewed, tested, and integrated into a real production system.

Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Purpose
Your work will directly support robotics engineers who rely on Forge to simulate and test robotic vision workflows. You'll help accelerate how robotic solutions are developed and deployed.

Growth
You'll gain experience with modern development practices including full-stack web development, CI/CD, cloud infrastructure, and developer tooling-all within a fast-paced robotics startup.

Motivators
You'll be part of a team that values clarity, iteration, and shipping working software. You'll learn how to write production-grade code, contribute to team rituals like sprint planning and code reviews, and see your work make a tangible difference.

Major Objectives

• Ship a Full-Stack Feature by Mid-Term
  Within the first 8-10 weeks, collaborate on a small but meaningful feature-from ticket breakdown and UI mock-ups to API integration and deployment. Success is measured by quality, user experience, and test coverage.
  [Tech: React, Python, Flask, GitHub]
• Improve Developer Workflow or Test Coverage
  Identify a pain point in the development or testing workflow and propose a solution (e.g., test automation, build script improvement, better error logging). Aim to implement and document the improvement by the end of the term.
  [Tech: GitHub Actions, Pytest, Docker]
• Contribute to Cloud Deployment Reliability
  Support the maintenance of cloud infrastructure by helping monitor logs, address deployment issues, or improve scripts related to container builds or service health.
  [Tech: AWS, Docker, CloudWatch]

Critical Subtasks

• Participate in sprint planning, stand-ups, and code reviews.
• Break down feature requests into tasks with guidance from mentors.
• Implement and test UI components in React, integrating with backend APIs.
• Write and run unit/integration tests for new features.
• Help reproduce and debug user-facing issues in test environments.
• Document what you build for future co-ops and developers.

Culture and Situation Fit

Apera Forge is built by a tight-knit, collaborative team that values clarity, simplicity, and learning by doing. You'll fit well if:

• You're eager to contribute and ready to learn by shipping real code.
• You enjoy solving technical problems and working across the stack.
• You're comfortable asking questions and sharing your progress.

Required Qualifications

• Experience with either Python or React through coursework or projects.
• Familiarity with Git and basic web development practices.
• A desire to work with cloud-hosted applications and modern DevOps tooling.

Bonus Experience (Not Required)

• Experience with AWS or Docker.
• Exposure to robotics, 3D graphics, or simulation environments.
• Contributions to open-source projects or previous co-op terms.

Why You’ll Love It Here

• Purpose with impact: Help enable smarter, safer automation in real industries
• Learning by doing: Apply academic knowledge to real production systems
• Supportive culture: Collaborative, curious, and people-first
• Great location: Gastown office with transit access and a vibrant tech community

The compensation for this co-op role is CAD $3,600 to $4,500 per month. This is your opportunity to gain hands-on learning experience in one of the fastest-growing industries at the intersection of robotics, AI, and industrial automation.

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