Senior Software Developer (One45 Team)

Remote within Canada

A product that matters, a modernization effort underway, and meaningful problems to solve.

One45 is one of Acuity Insights’ core products, used by medical schools across North America to manage some of the most operationally complex parts of health professions education.

From clinical placements and rotation scheduling to evaluations, curriculum management, learner records, and accreditation reporting, One45 sits at the center of workflows that institutions rely on every day.

Many of our clients have been with us for more than a decade. The product supports tens of thousands of learners, educators, administrators, and clinical faculty members each year. It’s the kind of system that becomes deeply woven into how organizations operate, where reliability, context, and thoughtful decision-making matter as much as technical execution.

We’re hiring a Senior Software Developer to join the One45 team.

You’ll join a product with more than twenty years of production history: stable, widely adopted, and entering a significant period of evolution.

This is not a greenfield role. It’s also not a maintenance-only role.

Some parts of the product have remained largely unchanged for years. Others are actively being modernized. The team is evolving APIs, improving data access and integrations, rethinking major workflows, and improving how software is developed with AI-assisted tooling throughout the lifecycle.

You’ll help maintain and improve a product that institutions already depend on while contributing to a modernization effort that’s beginning to move from planning into execution.

If you’re joining One45 today, you’re joining at a moment when many of the most important decisions are still being made. You’ll have the opportunity to help shape how the product evolves, how the team works, and what comes next.

What you’ll work on

There’s no clean separation between “maintenance” and “new work” on this team. Both matter, and both are shared.

In your first few months, you’ll likely spend most of your time learning how the system behaves in production by working on customer-facing enhancements, bug fixes, and workflow improvements. The kinds of requests that seem straightforward on the surface, but often require understanding years of product decisions, customer expectations, and interconnected workflows underneath. It’s also a way to learn 

Right away, you might be working on things like:

• Improving evaluation workflows. Giving administrators more control over how evaluations are delivered, managed, and communicated.
• Making assessment information clearer. Improving how grades, scores, and other learner information are presented so they’re easier for programs to interpret and use.
• Refining permissions and access controls. Helping institutions manage increasingly complex roles, responsibilities, and workflows across their programs.
• Addressing day-to-day friction. Fixing bugs, improving workflows, and solving the kinds of problems that matter because people encounter them every day.

This work isn’t separate from modernization. It’s how the team builds the context needed to modernize the product responsibly.

Over time, that balance shifts, and you’ll move into larger initiatives that help shape where One45 goes next.

That includes things like:

• API modernization. Building out the next generation of APIs that make the platform easier to integrate with, extend, and evolve.
• Evolving core modules. Reworking foundational areas of the product such as scheduling, placements, and lottery management to better support how institutions operate today.
• Improving access to data. Helping schools make better use of the information already inside One45 through improved reporting, integrations, and analytics capabilities.
• AI-assisted software development. Contributing to how the team incorporates AI throughout the development lifecycle, from implementation and testing to review and documentation.

Some of this work is well-defined. Some of it is still taking shape.

If you enjoy contributing ideas, challenging assumptions, and helping shape where work goes next, you’ll have opportunities to do that here.

How the team works

One45 operates on a shared ownership model.

There isn’t a dedicated scheduling developer, evaluation developer, or API developer. The team works across the platform, contributing wherever the work is most important.

That means a typical week might involve reviewing someone else’s code, investigating a production issue, refining requirements with Product, working on a customer-facing enhancement, and helping test a feature before it ships.

Everyone contributes across the stack. Everyone participates in code reviews. Everyone helps improve the system.

Product is deeply embedded in how the team operates. One45 has a dedicated Product Manager who participates in planning, backlog refinement, release discussions, and day-to-day decision-making. Engineers and Product work closely together to shape solutions, prioritize work, and navigate trade-offs as the platform evolves.

The team is currently three developers, a Development Manager, and a rotating group of co-op students. As a result, ownership tends to be broad rather than narrow.

One of the realities of working in a mature system is that context matters. Understanding how decisions connect across the platform is often just as important as the implementation itself.

As the team grows, we’re investing in additional technical depth and leadership capacity so that ownership can be distributed more broadly, decisions can move more quickly, and more people can confidently drive important work forward.

You’ll be joining a group that’s actively improving how work moves, how knowledge is shared, and how decisions get made.

The team is small enough that everyone’s voice matters.

The people who have the biggest impact aren’t necessarily the loudest or the most senior. They’re the ones who ask thoughtful questions, challenge assumptions, share context, and help move work forward.

If that sounds like the kind of environment where you do your best work, you’ll likely feel at home here.

The kind of engineering environment you’ll join

One45 is built primarily with PHP, Symfony, MySQL, and React.

The platform has been evolving for more than twenty years, which means you’ll encounter multiple generations of engineering decisions, product decisions, and customer requirements layered together over time.

Some parts of the system feel relatively modern. Others carry years of accumulated business logic because they’ve been solving important customer problems for a long time.

You’ll need to be comfortable navigating both.

You’ll probably enjoy this environment if you like understanding how something works before deciding how it should change.

A lot of the work involves building context, understanding why decisions were made, and figuring out how to move the system forward without losing the things that already work well.

We’re not trying to rebuild One45 from scratch. We’re trying to make it better, step by step, while continuing to support the institutions that rely on it every day.

You’ll be most successful in this role if you’re comfortable working across the stack with a backend lean. You don’t need deep PHP expertise on day one, but you do need to be interested in learning and working within the existing architecture.

AI is already a meaningful part of how the team works.

The team is still early in that journey. Some practices are already part of day-to-day work, while others are actively being developed and refined. What matters most is the direction of travel and the momentum behind it.

Tools like Claude Code, Copilot, and Codex are already part of how work gets done across the team, from implementation and testing to documentation and code review.

If AI is already part of how you learn, explore ideas, write code, and improve your work, you’ll likely feel comfortable here. Just as importantly, you’ll need the judgment to know when a suggestion is useful and when it isn’t.

As Sarah puts it: “People make the mistake of doing everything the AI review flags. But that means the project will never be done. AI will always find something. You need the confidence to critically edit it down.”

What you’ll own

As a Senior Developer on One45, you’ll help the team navigate a platform that’s already doing a lot while contributing to where it goes next.

This isn’t a staff-level architecture role, and it isn’t a people management role.

You’ll stay close to the work itself. That means writing code, reviewing code, investigating problems, participating in technical decisions, and helping move projects forward.

What makes the role different is the level of judgment involved.

One45 is a mature system with years of accumulated context. The team is also evolving how it uses AI throughout the development process. Both realities create situations where the right answer isn’t always obvious.

You’ll take ownership of some of the team’s most complex technical decisions, helping the team navigate ambiguity, balance trade-offs, and move important work forward with confidence.

Your time will likely include:

• leading larger modernization initiatives across the platform
• helping the team think through how new work fits into an existing system with significant history and complexity
• reviewing code and helping move work forward through thoughtful feedback
• improving testing, reliability, and engineering practices over time
• mentoring developers who are earlier in their growth
• contributing to architectural decisions while remaining close to implementation
• helping shape how modernization efforts and engineering practices evolve across the team

Beyond technical depth, we’re looking for someone who is comfortable operating with a high degree of ownership. You’ll often be the person helping clarify ambiguity, connecting work across teams, identifying risks early, and driving initiatives forward without needing detailed direction.

The strongest Senior Developers at Acuity don’t just solve technical problems. They help create momentum. They build alignment, surface trade-offs, and help others move faster through thoughtful collaboration and sound judgment.

Because the team is relatively small, you’ll have unusual visibility into both technical and product decisions, along with meaningful influence over how the platform, practices, and modernization efforts evolve.

What we’re looking for

There are a lot of ways to succeed on this team, but you’ll likely enjoy the work most if a few things resonate with you.

You like understanding how systems work.

You’re comfortable stepping into code you didn’t write, building context, and improving things without assuming they need to be rebuilt from scratch.

You think in trade-offs.

You know that engineering decisions rarely happen in a vacuum. Sometimes the right answer is a refactor. Sometimes it’s leaving something alone. You’re comfortable balancing technical quality, business needs, and the realities of a system that’s already serving real users.

You don’t shy away from complexity.

Not because complexity is inherently good, but because you’ve learned that real-world systems often accumulate history, context, and constraints that can’t simply be designed away.

You’re comfortable working across the stack, with a particular interest in understanding what happens beneath the surface. You care about how data moves through a system, how services interact, and what can go wrong once software reaches production.

You see testing and quality as part of the work itself, not something that happens at the end.

AI is already part of how you work.

Tools like Claude, Copilot, and Codex aren’t new to you. You’re already using them to learn faster, explore ideas, write code, and improve your work. More importantly, you’re developing the judgment to know when to trust the output and when to challenge it.

Most importantly, you take ownership.

You ask questions. You surface concerns. You contribute ideas. You don’t wait for perfect clarity before taking the next step.

You care about outcomes, not just implementation.

Support expectations

This isn’t an on-call-heavy role. But ownership of production systems is part of the job, and candidates should be comfortable occasionally stepping in when the situation requires it.

One45 supports critical workflows for medical schools and healthcare education programs. Production incidents are relatively uncommon, but when they happen, the team responds.

You’ll participate in shared support responsibilities, including occasional deployment activities, incident response, and coverage during key client periods throughout the year.

There is also a company-wide two-week closure each December. While most employees are away during that time, the engineering team maintains limited coverage to support clients if needed.

How We Support You

• Transparent compensation. The starting salary for Senior roles is between $160,000 and $180,000 CAD. Final offers reflect experience, scope, market alignment, and internal equity.
• Learning that grows with you. A $3,000 annual learning budget to invest in your development, whether that’s deepening technical skills, building confidence, or exploring new areas of interest.
• Shared success. Access to employee stock options, so you share in the value you help create.

• Remote-first work. Fully remote within Canada, with up to six weeks per year to work internationally.
• Time to rest and reset. Self-directed vacation (most teammates take 4–6 weeks annually), monthly Acuity Days (a collective Friday off), plus a two-week company-wide closure each December.
• Comprehensive care. Health benefits from day one for you and your dependents.
• Future-focused support. A 2% GRSP matching program to help you plan ahead.

• Support for growing families. A 16-week parental leave top-up beyond EI, available to all parents.

What Happens After You Apply

We review every application carefully. Whether you apply directly, are referred, or connect through a recruiter or hiring manager, you’ll receive equal consideration.

We don’t use AI to evaluate applications, though you may be automatically screened out if you don’t meet baseline requirements (e.g. Canadian residency and valid work authorization). In some interviews, AI may help with note-taking, but all evaluations and decisions are made by real humans.

Our interviews are two-way conversations. We want to understand your career, abilities, and goals, and help you assess whether this opportunity and team are the right fit for you. 

Steps in the Process

Our hiring process typically takes 2–4 weeks from initial conversation to final decision. 

• Application Review. A real person reviews your application for potential fit.
• Intro Conversation. A conversation with a member of our Talent team to learn more about your career journey and what you’re looking for next. It’s also an opportunity to learn more deeply about Acuity Insights, our journey as a company, the One45 team, and the role itself, while asking any questions that are top of mind.
• Hiring Manager Conversation. A conversation with the hiring manager focused on your experience, technical background, and the kinds of systems and challenges you’ve worked on. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about the team, the product, and the work ahead.
• Technical Deep Dive & Pair Programming. A collaborative session focused on how you approach real-world engineering problems. This includes technical discussion and a pair programming exercise in an AI-enabled development environment designed to reflect the way our teams work day to day. You’ll receive more information on what to expect in advance.
• Team Conversations. You’ll meet 1:1 with Product and Engineering partners to discuss collaboration, ways of working, and what success looks like on the team.
• Decision. The hiring manager reviews feedback and typically makes a decision within 2–4 business days.
• Offer & Reference Checks. If it’s a match, we move to offer, pending a digital reference check.

Life at Acuity Insights

We’re a remote-first team of 135+ people who care deeply about our work and about each other.

Our culture is intentionally designed. As we’ve grown, we’ve made deliberate choices about how we work together, prioritizing trust, flexibility, and a sustainable pace so people can do meaningful work over the long term.

That commitment has been recognized externally. Acuity Insights has been named one of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers for the second consecutive year, reflecting our focus on building a strong, people-first environment.

Day to day, that shows up in how we collaborate:

• High trust and autonomy in how work gets done
• Thoughtful, async-friendly communication across a distributed team
• Space for deep work, balanced with intentional moments of connection
• A culture grounded in care, curiosity, and shared purpose

As we continue to grow, we’re focused on maintaining that balance, building a company where people can do their best work and grow over time, without losing what makes the environment feel human.

About Acuity Insights

Acuity Insights builds products that help higher education institutions make better decisions about people, from admissions through to development.

Our work is grounded in a simple idea: that people are more than their grades, and that potential can be understood and developed, not just measured.

Our Casper situational judgment test (SJT), created by researchers at McMaster University, has been completed by over 1 million applicants and is one of the most widely used open-response SJTs in higher education, backed by nearly 20 years of research.

Today, we are evolving our products to better connect assessment, insight, and development, helping institutions not just identify potential, but actively support its growth over time. As part of that evolution, we’re increasingly building toward a more connected ecosystem across assessment, education, and learner development. While teams remain focused on their individual products, we’re creating stronger connections across our platform to deliver more cohesive experiences for institutions and learners.