Senior Software Developer Jobs in Kitchener Waterloo, ON

Descartes Unites the People and Technology that Move the World

The need for efficient, secure, and agile supply chains and logistics operations has become ever more critical and complex.  By combining innovative technology, powerful trade intelligence and the reach of our network, Descartes helps get goods, information, transportation assets, and people where they're needed, when they're needed. 

We're one of the most broadly deployed logistics and supply chain technology companies in the world. More than 26,000 customers around the globe use our cloud-based solutions to transform the way they move inventory and information to enhance productivity, better serve customers, thrive competitively, keep pace with evolving regulations, and respond to rapidly changing market conditions. Descartes is publicly traded (Nasdaq:DSGX, TSX:DSG) with headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and offices and partners around the world. With record financial performance for more than 16 years, we lead the industry in innovation investment. Every day, logistics service providers, manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and other logistics-intensive businesses of all sizes rely on our scale, stability, and comprehensive solution footprint to move what's most important to them. Learn more at www.descartes.com.

We're growing fast and invite you to join our amazing team. 

Senior Software Developer & Tech Lead

.NET | Cloud | Distributed Systems | Technical Leadership

Mission - Why This Role Exists

We are looking for a hands-on Senior Software Developer & Tech Lead to take technical ownership of a business-critical platform, lead and mentor developers, and drive engineering excellence. You will remain actively involved in architecture, design, development, code reviews, production support, and continuous improvement. As you build deeper knowledge of our business and systems, your influence will expand across products and teams, helping shape engineering standards, architecture, and technical direction.

Outcomes - What Success Looks Like

Within 12-24 months, you will:

• Take technical ownership of a critical platform, including its services, APIs, databases, and integrations.
• Improve system reliability, scalability, maintainability, observability, and performance.
• Resolve recurring production issues through root-cause analysis and long-term solutions.
• Modernize architecture and reduce technical debt while balancing business priorities.
• Strengthen engineering practices across design, testing, code reviews, CI/CD, and releases.
• Lead and mentor developers, establishing clear standards for quality, ownership, and accountability.
• Improve delivery predictability through effective technical planning and execution.
• Partner with Product, QA, Operations, Infrastructure, and business stakeholders.
• Reduce knowledge silos through documentation, knowledge sharing, and stronger technical ownership.
• Contribute to broader engineering standards, architecture, and technical strategy.

Skills & Competencies
Technical Expertise

• 7+ years of software development experience, with strong expertise in C#, .NET/.NET Core, ASP.NET, REST APIs, and SQL Server.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, SOLID principles, design patterns, and scalable distributed systems.
• Experience with APIs, integrations, asynchronous processing, messaging/event-driven architecture, resiliency, and performance optimization.
• Strong production troubleshooting and root-cause analysis skills.
• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD, cloud platforms, and modern DevOps practices.
• Comfortable using AI-assisted engineering tools to improve development, testing, troubleshooting, and documentation.

Technical & Team Leadership

• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and make pragmatic architectural decisions.
• Leads design discussions, code reviews, technical planning, and resolution of complex problems.
• Identifies technical risks early and drives continuous improvement.
• Experience mentoring developers and building a culture of ownership, accountability, collaboration, and engineering quality.
• Comfortable leading and collaborating across distributed teams and time zones.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of professional software development experience.
• Strong Microsoft technology stack and SQL Server expertise.
• Experience leading developers, technical projects, or engineering initiatives.
• Track record of delivering and supporting business-critical software.
• Preferred: Experience with cloud-native and distributed architectures, legacy modernization, microservices, messaging/event-driven systems, high-availability systems, and Agile development.

Culture Add - TEAM Values

Demonstrates our TEAM principles through transparent communication, excellence, accountability for outcomes, and a metrics-driven approach to continuous improvement.

Aptitudes

• Smart - Grasps complexity quickly and makes sound decisions.
• Curious - Seeks better solutions and continuous learning.
• Ownership Mindset - Takes responsibility and drives improvements to completion.
• Pragmatic - Balances technical quality with business priorities.
• Coachable - Welcomes feedback and encourages growth.
• Decisive - Makes informed decisions and owns the outcomes.

What's In It For You

You'll take ownership of critical systems, influence architecture and technical strategy, mentor talented engineers, and help shape how software is built across the organization. As the role evolves, you'll have the opportunity to expand your impact across products, teams, and engineering practices.

Compensation
Salary Range: $100,000 - $120,000 CAD annually.Compensation information provided is a good faith estimate for this position only. Factors that may be used to determine your actual salary include your specific skills, qualifications, and years of experience. Similar positions located in different geographic regions will not necessarily receive the same compensation.

Join Us

As we scale, we're looking for new doers, collaborators and innovators to join Descartes in uniting the people and technology that move the world as the Global Leader in Logistics and Supply Chain Technology. We're entrepreneurial, hardworking, geeky-in-a-good way problem solvers. Guided by our values, we nurture a TEAM focused culture that invests in people and creates opportunities for advancement across a broad spectrum of career paths. We prioritize work-life balance and foster an environment with the space to take ownership, to be heard, and to carve a path for your individual accomplishments to help drive our success. At Descartes, everyone has a voice and the best idea wins, regardless of who makes it. We offer competitive compensation, great benefits, remote and flexible work hours, and the opportunity to join a company on an awesome mission with a great existing team and trajectory.

Descartes also has a deep sense of environmental responsibility. Learn more about how we helped our customers save over 552,000 metric tons of CO2 in 2020 by reducing fuel and paper consumption: https://www.descartes.com/who-we-are/social-responsibility-sustainability/environmental-impact.  Join a team that's committed to working with customers to conserve resources and enhance sustainability.

If you feel you have 70% of the qualifications we are looking for, and Descartes sounds like the team and the mission you want to be part of, apply now. We can't promise it will be a fit, but we do promise to consider your experience.

We conduct a mix of in-person and virtual interviews. Virtual interviews are held via Microsoft Teams and are recorded and transcribed. We may utilize AI tools to support our hiring team in notetaking, summarization, and internal training. AI tools are not used in our recruitment process for decision-making purposes. Recordings, transcripts, and notes are used for recruitment, including improvement of our process, and record-keeping purposes. Should you have any questions or concerns about our process, please connect with our hiring team in advance of scheduled interviews. 

We are an Equal Employment employer. We do not discriminate in hiring on the basis of sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, protected status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, provincial, or local law. For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please review our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics at Descartes.com. Descartes is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with disabilities. Applicants in North America with a disability who require a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process can email us at hrna@descartes.com. Provide your name and contact information along with the accommodation needed to assist you with the application process. Your request will be responded to as soon as possible. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.