Senior Full-Stack Developer / Technical Lead

Senior Full-Stack Developer / Technical Lead

Laravel, PHP, Google Cloud, AI \& Front-End Development

Job type: Remote contract
Hours: Flexible contract engagement, with full-time contract work available for the right candidate
Company: Canadian Parent

About Canadian Parent

CanadianParent.ca is a growing digital platform serving hundreds of thousands of Canadian parents. Our ecosystem includes a custom Rewards platform, member registration and onboarding, giveaways, points, polls, advertiser integrations, lead-generation programs and a WordPress content website.

We recently migrated our infrastructure to Google Cloud and are now focused on improving the platform, expanding our AI capabilities and developing new opportunities around member engagement, research, SEO and revenue growth.

The Role

We are looking for a highly experienced, hands-on full-stack developer who can take meaningful ownership of our technology.

This is not a position for someone who simply waits for detailed instructions and completes isolated tasks. We want someone who can understand how the business works, discuss an early-stage idea, improve upon it, identify potential issues and carry it through to a reliable finished product.

This is a true full-stack position. You must be comfortable developing complex backend functionality and creating polished, responsive front-end experiences.

You may be provided with an AI-generated mockup, screenshot or general design concept and be expected to turn it into a professional working page. This requires both strong development ability and good visual judgment.

You will work directly with the owner to translate business goals into technical solutions while contributing your own ideas and recommendations.

What You’ll Work On

• Maintain and improve our custom Laravel/PHP Rewards platform
• Review and optimize the member signup and onboarding journey
• Develop features for giveaways, points, polls and member engagement
• Build and improve backend AI-assisted content workflows
• Integrate third-party APIs, advertising partners and lead-delivery systems
• Turn AI-generated mockups, screenshots and design concepts into polished, production-ready pages
• Build responsive front-end experiences for desktop, tablet and mobile
• Make thoughtful decisions about layout, spacing, typography, imagery and usability
• Maintain visual consistency across the Canadian Parent platform
• Handle both front-end presentation and supporting backend functionality
• Improve existing pages where the design, usability or conversion journey could be stronger
• Improve platform reliability, performance, security and scalability
• Review the existing architecture and identify technical debt
• Troubleshoot production issues and determine their root causes
• Improve deployment, testing, monitoring and documentation practices
• Support technical SEO, structured data, page performance and indexability
• Identify opportunities to improve signup conversion, advertising revenue and overall ROI
• Help prioritize development work based on business impact
• Potentially coordinate or provide technical direction to other developers

Required Experience

• Strong professional experience with PHP and Laravel
• Strong knowledge of MySQL and database design
• Strong HTML, CSS and JavaScript skills
• Demonstrated ability to build polished, responsive interfaces—not merely functional layouts
• Experience translating mockups, screenshots or design concepts into accurate working pages
• Strong attention to spacing, typography, alignment and visual consistency
• Good understanding of user experience and conversion-focused design
• Ability to make sound design and development decisions when every detail has not been specified
• Experience maintaining and improving an established custom platform
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform or comparable cloud infrastructure
• Experience designing and integrating REST APIs
• Experience with Git, deployment workflows and production environments
• Ability to understand complex business rules and interconnected workflows
• Strong debugging and root-cause analysis skills
• Working knowledge of technical SEO and website performance
• Strong written and verbal English communication
• Ability to work independently and take responsibility for outcomes

Valuable Additional Experience

• AI or large language model API integrations
• Python, Node.js or other technologies used alongside Laravel
• WordPress development
• Redis, queues and background processing
• Cloud Run, containerization or Docker
• Analytics, conversion tracking and advertising technology
• High-volume membership, rewards, loyalty or lead-generation platforms
• Automated testing, monitoring and CI/CD
• Leading or reviewing the work of other developers

What Success Looks Like

The right person will:

• Explore and understand the platform without needing every step explained
• Ask thoughtful questions about both the technology and the business
• Bring forward ideas, risks and opportunities we may not have considered
• Turn general concepts into polished, fully functioning features
• Recommend practical solutions without unnecessarily rebuilding working systems
• Communicate clearly about scope, timing, tradeoffs and progress
• Take projects from initial discussion through design, development, testing and successful release
• Leave systems better organized, documented and maintainable
• Take pride in both how the platform works and how it looks

Contract Structure

This is a remote contract position. We are open to beginning with a defined project or ongoing weekly commitment. Full-time contract work is available for the right candidate once we establish a strong working relationship.

Compensation will be based on experience, technical capability and the proposed working arrangement.

How to Apply

Please include:

• A brief explanation of why this role interests you
• Examples of platforms or systems for which you have taken meaningful technical ownership
• Your experience with Laravel/PHP, Google Cloud, AI integrations and technical SEO
• Links to live pages you personally developed
• A brief explanation of which front-end design and backend development work you completed for those examples
• Your availability and preferred hourly or monthly contract rate
• Links to relevant GitHub projects or case studies, where available

Applications without relevant examples of polished front-end work may not be considered. Generic applications that do not address the specific requirements of this role will not be prioritized.

Pay: $61,359.80-$142,598.19 per year

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Work from home

Work Location: Remote