Full stack engineer (AI Lead)

Optix is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to guide our engineering team through the shift to an AI-first development process — and serve as an internal evangelist for how AI transforms the way we build.

In this role, you’ll combine hands-on technical contributions with leadership responsibilities, setting the foundation for how AI integrates across our product and development practices. Beyond building AI-powered features, you’ll mentor engineers, influence architectural decisions, and champion the adoption of AI-first tools and approaches.

This is a unique opportunity to drive transformation in a profitable SaaS company, shaping both the product and the team as we evolve from a rules-based automation platform into a conversational, agentic workspace management system. You’ll collaborate directly with the leadership team to ensure Optix not only builds world-class AI capabilities but also does so with a sustainable, scalable engineering culture where AI-first thinking becomes second nature.

Note: This is a hybrid opportunity for someone based in Vancouver, BC (60% in our beautiful waterfront Gastown office, 40% from home).

Who you are:

• 5+ years full-stack development with modern frameworks, at least 3 years working with SaaS platforms
• Demonstrable experience integrating AI into development workflows (code generation, QA, CI/CD, automated code reviews, intelligent testing)
• Experience transitioning an existing team and large codebase to an AI-first development process
• Excellent back-end or systems programming knowledge, you have experience working with PHP/Laravel and MySQL
• Experience building and scaling backend systems with REST/GraphQL APIs
• Solid understanding of databases; data engineering experience a plus
• 2+ years hands-on experience with AI APIs and production AI deployments
• Integration patterns for LLMs in existing application architectures
• Experience with back-end tools like Git, unit testing, continuous integration and Linux command line skills
• You're able to clearly articulate the benefits of introducing AI into an existing development process in a secure and maintainable way
• You're empathetic and can work both independently as well as collaboratively in a team environment

Bonus points for:

• Data engineering experience: ETL pipelines, vector databases, embedding management
• Deployment expertise: Containerization, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP), monitoring AI systems in production
• Prior experience leading projects or mentoring engineers
• Knowledge of micro-services and event-driven architectures

Technical Leadership:

• Serve alongside Optix's leadership, establishing best practices and development standards
• Guide the team's transition to AI-first development workflows and tooling
• Collaborate with product leadership to translate business objectives into technical AI solutions

AI Product Development:

• Design and build AI-powered features including intelligent sales widgets, automated message generation, and predictive workflow optimization
• Architect scalable AI systems that integrate seamlessly with our existing automations platform
• Implement evaluation frameworks to continuously improve AI feature performance

Innovation & Growth:

• Identify opportunities to leverage AI across our platform for maximum customer impact
• Build the technical foundation for our vision of conversational, agentic workspace management
• Drive adoption of AI development tools and practices across the engineering team

This is a unique opportunity to join a rapidly growing technology startup. Taking care of our team on this journey is a priority. We offer:

• Competitive salary compensation and commission structure
• Strong Employee Stock Option Plan offering
• Excellent health and dental coverage program provided by Sunlife
• Mission-driven workplace experience with a positive, collaborative and supportive team culture
• Personal and professional growth opportunities
• Healthy snacks and locally roasted coffee – slow pour is our jam
• Team lunches and socials
• Annual health and fitness credit
• Fun offsite activities that allow us to reconnect as a team
• A beautiful, waterfront Gastown office and a flexible 60/40 hybrid workplace plan

About Optix

By 2030, up to 30% of all workspaces will be flexible. As the world undergoes this monumental shift, flex space operators are leading the charge towards a new way of working - characterized by community, connection, and creating exceptional experiences.

Optix is the first and only flex space automation software, enabling coworking and flex operators to thrive. We provide operators with a proven B2B SaaS platform that automates their operations, engages their community, and helps them grow their business.

We're a passionate group of people who support each other to do our best work. We enjoy pour-over coffee, chocolate croissants, and jamming on our vision of changing the way the world works. Now we're embarking on our most exciting chapter yet—transforming from automation to intelligence, from reactive to predictive, from operational to conversational.

We welcome applicants from all walks of life. Even if you don’t feel you meet every requirement listed, we would still love to hear why you think you would be an awesome addition to our team, and we encourage you to apply.

Join us as we build the AI-powered future of flexible workspaces.