Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Waterloo, Ontario

Who we are: · MasterClass is the streaming platform where the world's best come together so anyone, anywhere, can access and be inspired by their knowledge and stories. We put you in the room with the creators, thinkers, makers and leaders who have changed the world, so that you ...

Job description

Who we are:

MasterClass is the streaming platform where the world's best come together so anyone, anywhere, can access and be inspired by their knowledge and stories. We put you in the room with the creators, thinkers, makers and leaders who have changed the world, so that you can change yours.

Members get unprecedented access to 200+ instructors and classes across a wide variety of fields, including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing and more. Step into Nas' recording studio and Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, and go behind the big screen with James Cameron. Design your career with Elaine Welteroth, get ready to win with Lewis Hamilton, perfect your pitch with Shonda Rhimes and discover your inner negotiator with Chris Voss.

We're a remote-first workforce with collaborative work spaces in San Francisco and Kitchener, Ontario, and employees in several U.S. states. If you're interested in joining a dynamic, culture-driving company—where learning invaluable

skills is all in a day's work—we invite you to apply.

Snapshot of the Role:
As a Staff Engineer at MasterClass, you'll operate as a technical leader and multiplier across our engineering organization. You won't just build systems—you'll shape how we build them. This includes thoughtfully leveraging AI to accelerate development, improve quality, and help teams work smarter at scale.

This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of architecture, execution, and influence. You'll design and evolve systems that power millions of members, partner closely with Product and Design to shape our roadmap, champion effective AI-augmented engineering practices, and elevate engineering standards across teams.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Architect systems that scale globally
• Influence product and technical strategy
• Drive high-impact initiatives tied directly to business outcomes
• Mentor and elevate engineers around you

Help define the next generation of our membership platform

If you're motivated by building resilient systems, owning outcomes end-to-end, and raising the bar for technical excellence, this role is for you.

What You Will Do:

• Lead architecture and system design for high-scale, member-facing systems, making thoughtful tradeoffs between velocity, reliability, and long-term maintainability
• Drive complex, cross-team initiatives from idea through execution, ensuring delivery of measurable business impact
• Partner cross-functionally with Product, Design, Data, and other Engineering teams to shape roadmaps and align technical strategy with company goals
• Own outcomes, not just code — proactively identify risks, address technical debt, and improve system reliability and performance
• Elevate engineering standards through mentorship, design reviews, documentation, and knowledge sharing
• Influence technical direction beyond your immediate team, helping establish scalable patterns and long-term architectural vision
• Model and champion AI-augmented engineering practices, demonstrating how thoughtful use of AI can accelerate development cycles, improve code quality, and increase overall team leverage without compromising reliability or security

About You (Requirements):

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated experience operating at a senior or staff level
• Proven track record of designing and evolving distributed systems that operate at scale
• Experience leading large backend  technical initiatives that materially impacted business metrics (e.g., engagement, retention, revenue, performance, cost efficiency)
• Strong systems thinking and ability to evaluate tradeoffs across reliability, scalability, and speed
• Experience influencing cross-functional stakeholders and driving alignment without formal authority
• Demonstrated ownership mindset — you take accountability for outcomes and continuously improve systems and processes
• Fluency in programming languages like Ruby, Java, Go or similar; experience with modern web technologies and frameworks similar to Rails, React, AWS, Postgres, and Redis
• Actively uses AI to enhance your engineering effectiveness and proactively share practical learnings that raise the performance of those around you

Who You Are

• You think in systems and leverage, not just tasks.
• You care deeply about craftsmanship, clarity, and long-term maintainability.
• You enjoy solving ambiguous, cross-functional technical problems.
• You're pragmatic—you optimize for impact over novelty.
• You raise the bar through mentorship, design reviews, and thoughtful collaboration.
• You're energized by both strategic architecture and hands-on implementation.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with subscription, membership, or growth-oriented platforms
• Experience operating in a consumer-facing product environment
• Experience improving engineering processes or architectural standards across multiple teams

Nice-to-haves are not required; each represents a direction in which our infrastructure is evolving.

At MasterClass, we believe we put our best work forward when our employees bring together ideas that are diverse in thought. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law. In addition, MasterClass will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.  If you have a disability or special need, we would like to know how we can better accommodate you.

The salary range listed is for candidates in Ontario, Canada. As a company, we have a location based strategy, which means the disclosed range estimate has been adjusted for geographic differential associated with the location where the position may be filled.MasterClass's salary ranges are based on paying competitively for our size and industry. In addition to salary, we also offer equity and comprehensive benefits (medical, dental, vision, flexible PTO, and more). The range listed is for the expectations as laid out in the job description, however we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted. If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated with you as a candidate.

Ontario, CAN Salary Range: $171,000 CAD - $206,000 CAD