Staff Engineer - Backend & Architecture

Job summary

Define and evolve backend architecture and technical standards across the platform, designing scalable distributed systems and leading complex initiatives across engineering teams. Remain hands-on through coding and critical reviews while mentoring engineers and guiding decisions on reliability, security, observability, and technology choices.

Job details

Toronto, CA- Full-time MapsPeople is entering a pivotal phase of AI-led transformation and growth, shaping the future of spatial intelligence and indoor navigation for large enterprise customers worldwide. Our AI-led platform, MapsIndoors, brings together indoor mapping, wayfinding, location intelligence, and real-time spatial data to help organizations create smarter, connected environments. As we scale, we're looking for a Staff Engineer to help shape the technical direction of our platform. The Role This is a senior technical leadership role for an engineer who thinks beyond individual services and features. You will help define our backend architecture, drive technical standards across engineering teams, and solve complex distributed-system challenges, while remaining a hands-on contributor, writing code, reviewing critical implementations, and helping engineers navigate difficult technical problems. What You Will Do Define and evolve the backend architecture and technical direction across MapsPeople's platform Design scalable, resilient, and maintainable distributed systems and backend services Drive architectural decisions across services, APIs, data flows, integrations, and infrastructure Work extensively with TypeScript, Go, and .NET across our backend ecosystem Establish and promote engineering standards, architectural patterns, and best practices Identify architectural weaknesses, technical debt, and opportunities for modernization Lead complex technical initiatives that span multiple engineering teams Collaborate with engineering leaders and product managers to translate business requirements into technical solutions Provide technical mentorship to senior and staff-level engineers Conduct and lead architecture reviews and technical design discussions Make pragmatic decisions around build vs. buy, service boundaries, APIs, and technology choices Help establish patterns for observability, reliability, security, and operational excellence Evaluate emerging technologies, including AI and agentic development approaches We imagine you come with Extensive experience designing and evolving large-scale backend architectures, with demonstrated experience as a Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Lead Architect, or equivalent Advanced experience with TypeScript and Node.js, plus strong experience with Go and/or .NET/C# Strong understanding of distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native systems Experience with relational and NoSQL databases, API versioning, authentication, and integration patterns Strong experience with cloud-native architectures, preferably Google Cloud Platform, including containers, Kubernetes, and CI/CD Ability to influence engineering decisions beyond your immediate team, and mentor senior engineers Comfort operating in ambiguity and driving technical change without formal authority Experience with AI-assisted development, agentic workflows, or spec-driven development is a plus What You Get Significant influence on how our technology evolves, across a platform used in workplaces, healthcare, airports, universities, retail, and stadiums Genuine architectural impact, not just within one team, but across the engineering organization A collaborative environment that encourages ownership, mentorship, and technical exploration A competitive compensation package including flexitime, pension, and healthcare plans Ready to shape the architecture behind the future of spatial intelligence? Apply here or send your application to juth@mapspeople.com.

What you’ll do

Define and evolve backend architecture and technical standards across the platform, designing scalable distributed systems and leading complex initiatives across engineering teams. Remain hands-on through coding and critical reviews while mentoring engineers and guiding decisions on reliability, security, observability, and technology choices.

Requirements

Extensive experience designing large-scale backend architectures in a Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Lead Architect, or equivalent role, with advanced TypeScript and Node.js skills and strong experience in Go and/or .NET/C#. Requires expertise in distributed and cloud-native systems, databases, APIs, integrations, and Kubernetes-based delivery, along with the ability to influence teams, mentor senior engineers, and drive technical change.

Benefits

• Flexible Working Hours
• Pension
• Healthcare Plans

Listed skills

• TypeScript · Preferred
• Node.js · Preferred
• Go · Preferred
• .NET · Preferred
• Kubernetes · Preferred
• CI/CD · Preferred
• AI-assisted development · Preferred

Other relevant skills

Identified from the job description. Confirm important requirements above.

• Backend Architecture
• TypeScript
• Node.js
• Go
• .NET
• Distributed Systems
• Microservices
• Event-Driven Architecture
• Google Cloud Platform
• Kubernetes
• CI/CD
• Relational Databases
• NoSQL Databases
• API Design
• Technical Leadership
• AI-Assisted Development

Job areas

• Software
• Technology
• Engineering
• Management & Leadership

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