ABOUT HELCIM

Helcim was founded with a mission at heart: to be the world’s most loved payment system. We believe that by offering small businesses in North America a decidedly human payment solution where it is easier to sign up and use while being transparent and affordable, we can empower them to grow and prosper. Simply put, helping small businesses thrive is at the very core of our business model, and we think that’s a great way to do business.

From the very start, we knew that we wanted to be different from every payment processor out there. We want the merchants we serve to feel supported and see us as a trusted partner rather than simply just another “cost of doing business.” We are relentless in our pursuit to provide a radically transparent and honest payments solution that flat out saves business owners money, all while treating them like human beings.

THE POSITION

• The Goal: We are looking for a Technical Unifier to act as the "glue" between our autonomous teams. You ensure that Team A’s velocity doesn’t become Team B’s bottleneck.

• The Shift: This is not a coding-heavy role (expect ~5-10% hands-on coding). We do not need a "Solver" to fix the hardest bugs; we need an Architect to prevent them from existing in the first place. You are a force multiplier who prevents our 7 autonomous teams from building "Distributed Monoliths".

• The Method: You will lead through Consensus-Driven Governance. You will audit the landscape and use technical diplomacy to ensure teams align on standards—not because they are forced to, but because you have built the consensus that it is the right technical path.

Role Overview

• The Mission: As Helcim’s Principal Software Engineer, you sit at the intersection of Architecture, AI Strategy, and People. Your primary output is clarity—system maps, decision records (ADRs), and standards that allow us to scale.

• The Scope: You own the Architectural Runway for our entire platform. You answer the critical high-level questions such as: "Does this scale?", "Does this fit our long-term strategy?", and "Should we build this, or buy it?".

• The AI Pivot: You will be the architect of our shift to an AI-native platform, ensuring that new agentic capabilities integrate safely with our core systems.

Here are the things you’ll own day to day:

Ecosystem Architecture & Strategy

• The Cartographer: Maintain the high-level map of our Service-Based Architecture. You own the system design and ensure that our 7 distinct product teams function as a cohesive ecosystem rather than building "Distributed Monoliths."

• The Pragmatist: You prevent "Resume-Driven Development." You have the discipline to say "No" to unnecessary complexity, championing our primary stack (Modern PHP) while strategically approving Go/Polyglot solutions only where the architectural trade-off makes sense.

• Scalability Guardian: You look around corners to identify architectural bottlenecks 6-12 months before they impact production.

AI & Modernization Strategy

• Agentic Integration: You will guide the technical integration of modern agentic patterns with existing systems, including monolithic legacy services and micro frontends.

• AI-Native Design: You are responsible for defining the AI-Native design principles that our teams will use. You ensure we are building a platform that can be leveraged by LLMs, not just humans.

Governance & Technical Diplomacy

• Consensus Builder: You govern our standards (API specs, Event schemas) by building relationships. You translate "Technical Debt" into "Business Risk" to align stakeholders.

• Cross-Org Diplomat: You navigate the complex dynamics between seven teams. When Team A needs a change that impacts Team B, you are the neutral arbiter who finds the solution that benefits the platform, not just the project. You ensure that the teams understand the performance targets that you set with their input.

Leadership & Talent Density

• The Bar Raiser: You play a critical role in recruiting, specifically ensuring we maintain high standards for Senior and Staff talent.

• Mentor to Leaders: You are the primary mentor for our Senior and Staff Engineers, teaching them how to think in systems and trade-offs rather than just code execution.

• Represent Helcim: You are the technical face of Helcim. You engage with industry working groups and standards committees where appropriate. You are a speaker at conferences and less-formal settings to continue to promote the employer brand of Helcim.

Qualifications

• System Design Authority: 10+ years of engineering experience with a focus on Distributed Systems and Service-Based Architectures. You can whiteboard the trade-offs between different architectural patterns (SOA, Microservices, Monoliths) confidently.

• Broad Tech Fluency: We value pattern recognition over syntax mastery. You don't need to be a PHP expert; you need a strong grounding in modern system design that applies across languages (Go, Python, PHP, etc.).

• AI Integration Expertise: Deep understanding of LLM integration patterns and experience designing systems that safely incorporate AI agents into production workflows.

• Communication & Diplomacy: Proven ability to unify fragmented teams. You have a history of turning "governance" into a collaborative effort rather than a policing action.

Nice to Haves

• Experience transforming a Monolith into a Service-Based Architecture.

• Experience dealing with eventual consistency, distributed tracing, or idempotency keys.

• Experience defining "Safe Usage" policies for AI coding assistants (Copilot, Windsurf, etc.) at an organizational level.

• Background in regulated environments (PCI-DSS, Fintech).

HELCIM CULTURE IS;

Being builders: We build things ourselves and we build them well. We use technology and our creativity to overcome challenges that would seem beyond the capability of a company our size. We improve what is already there, invent our way out of problems and we never stop dreaming of better.

Choosing the harder path: We believe that the right decisions are usually the harder ones, so we embrace the challenge and endure when others quit. We choose what is difficult because it is more rewarding in the long-term, and makes us resilient, so that we not only survive but thrive.

Creating trust: We earn trust by striving to be our best selves every day and by lifting those around us. We recognize that trust is hard to earn, easy to lose and is tested continuously over time, so we make trust our way of life.

Contributing to a company of many: We are stronger because of our collective passion, diversity, and fellowship. We believe only great teams can accomplish great things, and we ask the very best of each other. Together we create our own future.

WORKING AT HELCIM

Joining Helcim means joining a fast-growing company where we have found coming together makes us a strong company. We have a drive to achieve big things which creates amazing opportunities for everyone willing to work hard and contribute to that growth - opportunities for faster career growth, for more learning, more impact, and accelerated experience - all while surrounding yourself with incredible people working on interesting problems and delivering great results.

Here are some of the reasons we attract such great people:

The Way of the Helcim: At Helcim, we build a team of engaged, caring and intelligent people. In return we provide an environment where you can be excited to come to work each day and tackle these challenges with an amazing team. Learn more about Helcim’s unique culture and environment in our culture book The Way of the Helcim.

Health and dental benefits: Through our Group Benefits, you’ll get access to dental benefits, extended healthcare benefits for drugs, vision, paramedical coverage (e.g. massage therapists, dieticians, mental health professionals), counseling, health service navigation, life insurance, critical illness and disability insurance, and more. All of these benefits come into effect on Day 1 of employment!

Dedicated Health Spending Account (“HSA”): An additional budget available for you to spend on health-related expenses (e.g. eyeglasses, therapy).

Maternity and Parental Leave: To help launch our team members into this phase of family life we have some additional benefits in place including salary top for the birthing parents and a bonding break for non-birthing parents.

Stock Options: Stock options enable our team to purchase Helcim shares at a future date at a specified price. Every team member, not just people leaders and executives receive equity (aka ownership in the company).

Vacation Time: All team members get paid vacation time and a company break in December so they can recharge when they need it.

Flexible work location: Work and life happens at different times and places. This is why our team enjoys the flexibility of hybrid work and flexibility around hours of work, so we can all do our best work. Our hybrid work schedule offers flexibility to work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Furthermore, our core hours give team members flexibility to manage other parts of their lives.

Training: Helcim will cover 50% of the applicable training costs of up to $500 per year.

LOGISTICS

Job type: Full-time

Hiring manager: Jeff Newfeld

Location: Hybrid, In Office Monday's, Wednesday's + Friday's

Candidates must be eligible to work in Canada and be located in Calgary for this position.