Principal Engineer

Written By Jackie Hanson

About Sprout Family

Sprout Family is on a mission to make every path to parenthood accessible, inclusive and deeply human. From fertility treatments to surrogacy and adoption, we’re helping Canadians - no matter their age, gender identity, sexual orientation, or family structure.

We know the journey to parenthood can be emotionally, physically, and financially challenging, and we're here to change the experience to be inclusive, compassionate and equitable.

Founded in 2023 and backed by StandUp Ventures, Blue Collective, MaRS IAF, and The51, our digital health platform blends expert human care with scalable technology to simplify one of life’s most complex journeys. We partner with forward-thinking employers to offer inclusive family-building benefits, setting a new standard for reproductive health support in the workplace.

We’re now expanding our early technical team, and we’re looking for a hands-on, visionary Principal Engineer to own our technical foundation, ship our next generation of products, and shape the future of our platform.

The opportunity

We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to join us as an early team member, owning the end-to-end technical strategy, architecture, and delivery of our platform. This is a high-ownership role; you will define technical direction, build scalable systems, and create processes that support rapid growth while ensuring we deliver exceptional experiences for members and partners.

Responsibilities

  • Own the technical roadmap - set architectural direction, design system boundaries, and choose technologies that balance speed and scalability.

  • Ship core features end-to-end – from member onboarding flows to partner integrations, employer dashboards, and secure payments.

  • Develop our platform – APIs, services, cloud infra, and frontend experiences with reliability and security in mind.

  • Drive trade-off decisions – balance speed, UX, and technical debt in a fast-learning environment.

  • Establish technical best practices - testing, observability, cloud infrastructure, and security.

  • Collaborate deeply - partner with product, design, and business teams to turn ideas into user-ready solutions.

Skills/Experience

  • 7+ years of strong JavaScript experience

  • Comfortable wearing many hats - architect, individual contributor, and occasional DevOps firefighter

  • Strong systems thinker who can evolve architecture as the product and company grow

  • Thrives in early-stage environments - ambiguity energizes you, speed excites you, and constraints inspire creativity

  • Experience with Node.js, Typescript, Relational databases

  • Working knowledge of one or more cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)

  • Proficiency in general frontend development

  • Ability to gather requirements, work in ambiguity and build features to completion

  • Solid understanding of the HTTP protocol

  • Excellent diagnosis and troubleshooting skills. Experience with MySQL or PostgreSQL

  • Ability to understand the privacy and security implications of a change without being prompted

  • Experience building modern technology with an understanding of AI/ML, whether applying AI for personalization, automation, or efficiency across digital products and platforms

  • Nice to have:

    • Familiarity with Docker and AWS Fargate

    • OAuth2 / SAML experience

    • Healthcare experience

How we work

  • Remote-first in Canada - work from anywhere, with optional Toronto coworking

  • Async-friendly, outcome-focused, we care about results, not hours online

  • We use Slack, GSuite, Figma & Github to collaborate


What we offer

  • Stock options: As an early-stage startup, we provide stock options to give you ownership in the company. We believe in sharing our success and want you to be part of our growth journey.

  • Unlimited vacation: We believe you can be highly productive and still have plenty of time for life outside of work.

  • Fully remote: Work from the comfort of your own home with the choice to access our downtown Toronto co-working space for a change of scenery. Slack, GSuite and Intercom are our main tools for collaboration. 

  • Impactful work: Make a significant impact in a dynamic, fast-paced environment where your ideas and contributions directly influence the company's direction and success.

We aren’t just building a company; we’re creating a world where family-building is accessible to everyone. If you want to lead at the intersection of technology, health, and deeply human experiences, we’d love to meet you.

How to apply

Please submit your resume to: Jackie Hanson (CEO): jackie@sproutfamily.ca

Sprout Family is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Jackie Hanson