Staff Software Engineer, Backend

Harvey; Toronto; Hybrid; CAD 100,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Harvey is looking for a Staff Backend Software Engineer in Toronto to shape the foundation of their product platform, impacting user experiences for leading law firms. The role requires at least 5 years of backend engineering experience, focusing on distributed systems and scalable architectures.

This position follows a structured hybrid working model, offering a combination of in-office and remote work. Successful candidates will join the founding team in Toronto, contributing to impactful development of enterprise-grade collaboration tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend-focused software engineering experience.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems and databases.
• Experience building backend platforms for multiple product lines.

Responsibilities

• Design and build foundational backend infrastructure.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, AI, and design teams.
• Maintain high standards for security and system reliability.

Skills

Backend software engineering

Distributed systems

REST/gRPC APIs

Scalable service architectures

Attention to detail

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science

Job description

Role Overview

As a Staff Backend Software Engineer at Harvey, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping 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 and own 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 an 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

• 5+ 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


• Track record of shipping highly intuitive products, 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

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]