Backend Engineer (New Grad/Early Career)

Finofo; Calgary; On-site; CAD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech startup in Calgary is seeking early-career engineers to work on challenging backend systems. Candidates should be passionate about coding, familiar with Python, and eager to solve problems innovatively. The position offers competitive salary, equity, and mentorship opportunities in a high-responsibility culture.

Benefits

Competitive salary with equity

Relocation support

Mentorship from senior engineers

Qualifications

• 0–2 years of coding experience, preferably in Python.
• Experience with building side projects or academic work in programming.
• Curious, fast learner, and solution-oriented.

Responsibilities

• Build and improve core backend systems using Python and PostgreSQL.
• Ship API endpoints that power key product flows.
• Contribute to architecture discussions and system design.

Skills

Python programming

SQL fundamentals

Problem-solving

Clear communication

Collaboration

Tools

PostgreSQL

FastAPI

React

GitHub Actions

Job description

About Finofo

Finofo makes global finance effortless. We help companies pay vendors, move money across borders, manage multi-entity cash, and stay compliant – all from one platform.

We’ve raised over $5M, including a $3.3M seed led by Watertower Ventures with Motivate VC and SaaS Ventures. Customers are scaling fast, and the product has to scale faster.

Why We’re Hiring

We solved the hard infrastructure first: global payments, multi-entity finance, ERP integrations.

Now we’re building the intelligence layer above it – the one that understands purchase orders, invoices, receipts, and approvals in a way legacy ERPs simply can’t. It’s full of messy real-world edge cases and an AI core that learns from every workflow.

This is the kind of engineering challenge most new grads don’t get until much later in their career.

We want to give it to you now.

We’re looking for early-career engineers who code because they genuinely enjoy it. The ones who were building side projects long before internships, and who treat AI as a way to move faster and think bigger.

If that’s how you work, you’ll fit right in.

What You’ll Do

• Build and improve core backend systems using Python and PostgreSQL
• Ship API endpoints that power key product flows
• Work closely with frontend engineers and designers to iterate fast
• Handle real-time workflows, concurrency, edge cases, and messy I/O
• Own production issues: investigate, debug, fix, and follow through
• Contribute to architecture discussions and system design
• Move with real urgency; ship daily and learn constantly
• Pair with senior engineers and founders to gain experience fast

Who You Are

You’re early in your career (0–2 years), but you’ve been coding long before your first internship. You might be a new grad, a self-taught builder, or someone with a strong academic background who devours hard problems.

You’re a great fit if:

• You’ve built passion projects outside of school or work
• You’ve been coding for years and love it
• You have a strong foundation in Python or another OOP language
• You understand data modelling and SQL fundamentals
• You build good mental models and solve problems cleanly
• You’re curious, fast-learning, and relentless about improvement
• You communicate clearly and take ownership
• You prefer working in person with a team moving at founder-speed
• You use AI tools constantly (Cursor, Copilot, GPT, etc.) to level up
• You care about quality and correctness, not just “closing tickets”

Bonus

• Strong GPA or strong academic track record. We’ve found that people who perform well academically often bring discipline, clear thinking, and solid problem-solving habits.

Nice to have

Fintech experience or experience in systems where failure is not an option. This is not a gym-planning app.

Let’s Be Honest

This isn’t a lifestyle job. We’re building a VC-backed company with global ambition. That means intensity. We’re not training for a casual 5K. We're aiming for the podium.

If you want comfort, this’t it.

If you want to grow at a pace most people never experience and work on problems that actually matter, you’ll love it here.

Our Stack

Frontend: React • TypeScript • Shadcn • REST • OpenAPI

Backend: Python • FastAPI • GraphQL • PostgreSQL • AWS (Fargate, Amplify) • Terraform

Tooling: GitHub Actions • Linear • Figma • Slack

How We Use AI

We treat AI as leverage. Cursor, GPT, Copilot – whatever moves us faster and makes the work better. If you’re AI-curious and like experimenting to gain speed, you’ll fit right in.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary with meaningful equity
• Relocation support to Calgary
• Beautiful downtown office (C-Train adjacent)
• High-trust, high-responsibility culture
• Mentorship from senior engineers and founders
• The chance to work on difficult engineering problems very early in your career
• The ability to own features end-to-end and see your work shipped to real customers quickly

Interview Process (Fast + Focused)

1. Intro call – who you are, what motivates you
2. Take-home logic exercise – 2–3 hours
3. Technical round – live debugging, system thinking
4. Founder round – ambition, mindset, ownership
5. Offer + references

Ready to build something massive?

Apply now and let’s ship.