Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Harvey; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 164,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding Toronto team

Hybrid work schedule

Job summary

Harvey in Toronto is seeking a Backend Software Engineer to build the foundation of our product platform and deliver user-facing features for premier law firms and enterprise clients. You will own core backend services, including authentication, permissions, and integration with AI-powered tools, while supporting scalable, secure, and reliable experiences.

This role is based in Toronto with a hybrid model (3+ days in office) and relocation assistance for new hires.

Qualifications

• 6+ years backend software engineering experience.
• Experience shipping user-facing features across the stack with measurable impact.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, REST/gRPC APIs, databases, and scalable architectures.
• Familiarity with enterprise SaaS patterns (RBAC, feature flags) is a plus.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to build backend platforms supporting multiple product lines.
• Strong programming skills and computer science knowledge.

Responsibilities

• Design and build foundational backend infrastructure including authentication, permissions, feature flagging, notifications, and document management integrations.
• Build and evolve Harvey’s internal product platform to accelerate development across product lines.
• Lead development of enterprise-facing features, such as secure multi-party collaboration and robust admin controls.
• Maintain high standards for security, privacy, and system reliability for sensitive legal data.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, AI, design, and GTM teams to deliver enterprise-ready experiences.

Skills

Backend experience

Distributed systems

REST/gRPC APIs

RBAC familiarity

Attention to detail

CS knowledge

Job description

Why Harvey

At Harvey, we’re transforming how legal and professional services operate. By combining frontier agentic AI, an enterprise-grade platform, and deep domain expertise, we’re reshaping how critical knowledge work gets done for decades to come.

Why Harvey

At Harvey, we’re transforming how legal and professional services operate. By combining frontier agentic AI, an enterprise-grade platform, and deep domain expertise, we’re reshaping how critical knowledge work gets done for decades to come.

This is a rare chance to help build a generational company at a true inflection point. We have strong product-market fit and world-class investor support. We’re scaling fast and defining a new category in real time. The work is ambitious, the bar is high, and the opportunity for growth — personal, professional, and financial — is unmatched.

Our team moves fast, takes ownership, and is deeply committed to the mission — operating with intensity, staying close to our customers, and pushing each other for excellence. We live by three values: Decisiveness, Simplicity, and Job's Not Finished. We act quickly on clear judgment over perfect information, we believe simplicity is what scales, and we're never satisfied with where we are. If you want to do the best work of your career alongside people who share that drive, we'd love to build with you.

At Harvey, the future of professional services is being written today — and we’re just getting started.

Role Overview

As a Backend Software Engineer at Harvey, you’ll play a pivotal role in constructing the foundation of our product platform while directly building user-facing features for some of the world’s leading law firms and enterprise customers. This team owns and operates the platform layer that enables secure, reliable, and flexible experiences for our customers including notifications, permissions and feature flag infrastructure. We also build enterprise‑grade collaboration experiences for law firms.

You will design systems that not only serve as critical infrastructure for the rest of the company, but also directly impact how our users engage with Harvey’s AI‑powered legal tools. This role is ideal for engineers who are excited by the opportunity to move between deep platform thinking and hands‑on product iteration.

This role is based in Toronto, Canada. We use a hybrid, 3+ days-per week in‑person work model and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build foundational backend infrastructure including authentication, permissions, feature flagging, notifications, and document management integrations
• Build and evolve Harvey’s internal product platform, accelerating development across multiple product lines and engineering teams
• Lead development of enterprise‑facing features, such as secure multi‑party collaboration, cross‑organization workflows, and robust admin controls
• Maintain high standards for security, privacy, and system reliability, particularly in handling sensitive legal data
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, AI, design, and GTM teams to deliver delightful, enterprise‑ready experiences

What You Have

• 6+ years (post‑BS/MS) of backend‑focused software engineering experience on platform and/or product‑oriented teams
• Experience working across the stack to ship user‑facing features with measurable impact
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, REST/gRPC APIs, databases, and scalable service architectures
• Familiarity with or interest in enterprise SaaS patterns, such as role‑based access control (RBAC), feature flag systems, and third‑party integrations is a plus
• Strong attention to detail
• Experience building backend platforms that can support multiple product lines
• Strong programming skills and general Computer Science knowledge

What We Offer

• Be part of building something special as a founding member of our Toronto team
• Structured hybrid working arrangement: 3 days in our Toronto office, 2 days working from home

Additional Information

• Location: Toronto, Ontario (Hybrid with flexibility)
• Work eligibility: Must have valid Canadian work rights; Harvey does not currently offer visa sponsorship for this role

Compensation

CAD $164,000 - $225,000

We are an AI company and we use AI to improve all of our processes, including in the recruitment process. Whilst we do use AI to help improve efficiency in our recruitment process, we do not rely on AI to make any automated decisions and ensure that a human reviews AI output.

Depending on your location, an Applicant Privacy Notice may apply to you. You can find all of our Applicant Privacy Notices here.

Harvey is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made by emailing [e-mail].