About P&P Optica

P&P Optica (PPO) is using brand new technology to transform an old industry that affects everyone on the planet: the food industry. We apply a complex and highly sophisticated mix of hardware, software and huge datasets to improve both the safety and quality of the food we eat.

PPO is on a mission to become the world's leading food information company. We are moving beyond simple detection to provide real-time, actionable insights that help food processors optimize yield, reduce waste, and ensure safety at a global scale.

We’re a truly diverse team in every sense of the word, and our team is incredibly smart. Our culture is respectful and caring. PPO is a well-funded, scaling company with opportunities for career growth in every part of the organization.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to tackle challenging problems that affect everyone on the planet, PPO is the place for you.

Location

This role is a hybrid role, where you’ll work part of the time from home and part-time from PPO’s offices in Waterloo Ontario.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $85,000 - $95,000 CAD annually. The final offer will be determined based on a combination of factors, including:

Relevant skills and experience: We assess each candidate's background, achievements, and demonstrated capabilities. Internal equity: We strive to maintain consistency and fairness across roles within our organization, aligning compensation with existing team members in comparable roles.

We are committed to transparency and fairness in our hiring process and welcome conversations about compensation throughout the recruitment process.

What You’ll Get To Do

This posting is for a newly created role within our software team.

As a key member of the team, you will be the front-line champion for our customers, ensuring our Smart Imaging Systems operate at peak performance. This isn't a typical IT helpdesk role—you will be supporting a highly complex, innovative product that intersects hardware, advanced optics, and machine learning to analyze food products in real-time on the production floor.

Utilizing your elite troubleshooting mindset, you will dive deep into complex problem spaces like computer vision systems, bringing structured thinking and high standards to our support procedures to help our organization mature as we scale.

In This Role, You Will

Investigate and diagnose complex, multi-tiered issues involving hardware, advanced vision systems, and proprietary software in fast-paced industrial environments. Display relentless curiosity and tenacity when chasing down issues from the field, focusing on rooting out the fundamental cause of a failure rather than settling for temporary workarounds. Replicate complex issues in-house and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to deliver permanent engineering resolutions. Own, refine, and elevate technical support procedures, documentation, and SLA tracking to help the support organization mature and scale efficiently. Author comprehensive internal and external knowledge base articles, translating intricate technical troubleshooting steps into repeatable, structured workflows. Serve as a trusted technical advisor during customer-focused projects, translating complex engineering concepts into clear, concise, and reassuring updates during high-pressure downtime events. Maintain exceptional empathy, professionalism, and clarity in all interactions, ensuring all stakeholders feel supported and valued.

Additional Tasks May Include

Periodically assisting with customer needs during non-standard work hours. Collaborating on cross-functional engineering initiatives to improve system reliability.

You at PPO

You are a tenacious, highly skilled technical thinker who thrives in a fast-paced, growing environment. You possess an investigative grit and a track record of taking total ownership of a problem from detection to final resolution, refusing to give up on challenging, ambiguous technical bugs. You have a positive attitude, care about building structured support workflows, and are motivated by delivering premium client care that directly impacts global food safety.

Skills & Experience

Support & Technical Experience

5-8 years of experience in a technical support, application engineering, or systems troubleshooting role. Proven ability to troubleshoot highly complex, interconnected systems (e.g., optical systems, camera networks, machine vision, or robotics). Strong experience working with ticketing systems (e.g., Jira, Zendesk) and a passion for building out standard operating procedures (SOPs). Experience supporting complex hardware/software integrations or industrial automation environments.

Communication And Teamwork

Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to manage customer anxiety and build strong relationships under pressure. Collaborative mindset with the ability to bridge communication gaps between end-users and internal engineering teams. This position operates on a hybrid work model, requiring you to spend a minimum of 3 days per week in the office to interact with our hardware and support production activities.

Life at PPO

You’ll Love Working At PPO. Here’s Why

Open Culture: Our culture is built on openness and trust. We thrive together as a diverse team, celebrating what connects us and learning from what makes each of us unique.

Supportive Environment: We value collaboration and care, from celebrating birthdays and milestones to challenging one another to grow personally and professionally. Trust, honesty, and teamwork are at the heart of how we deliver value.

Work-life Balance: We move with urgency when it matters most, but we also know that life outside of work matters too. We make sure you have the time and flexibility you need with flex days and vacation time that help you recharge and show up as your best self.

Health Benefits: PPO offers very competitive benefits, including health, dental, vision and more for you and your dependents.

Hybrid Work Model: Depending on your role, you might work from home, our office or both.

Ongoing Learning: Curiosity is one of our superpowers. Learning is woven into everything we do, from hands-on collaboration to formal training and education. We lead with curiosity and imagine without limits, encouraging every team member to keep growing.

P&P Optica is committed to supporting a culture of diversity across our organization. Our hiring practices align with human rights laws, guaranteeing every person equal treatment in regard to employment and opportunity for employment, regardless of race, color, creed/religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital status. We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.