About Breakthrough Academy

Breakthrough Academy specializes in helping high performing entrepreneurs in the contracting industry grow their businesses by implementing excellent operational systems into their companies. We believe in the unlimited potential of entrepreneurship and help our Members (customers) break through barriers and take their businesses to the next level.

Our proprietary training program brings systemization to a contracting company’s operations, develops an entrepreneur’s core business skills, and holds accountability to goals along a clear business plan.

Breakthrough Academy is now nine years old and growing rapidly, with over 1,000 business owners developing in the program, and an awesome team of 50 running the show. We are leaders in the contracting industry, helping companies across the continent to implement systems & processes into their operations. We are actively building out powerful technology enabled tools that assist our Members in running a dialled in, systemized contracting business. 

As we augment technology onto our rapidly evolving training program, we are looking for a Lead Developer who is excited about building useful tools for a well established user base, where we know exactly what they need. Our ideal tech-focused teammate is both a hands-on creator, and a forward-thinking leader who seamlessly transitions from strategy to execution, stays calm under pressure, and delivers data-driven solutions that exceed customer needs.

This is where you come in.

This Is For You If:

• You’re motivated by bringing new ideas to life, building the foundation for long-term success, and setting the tone for the technical organization.
• You’ve seen the difficulties of meandering to build the right solutions, and are excited about having an existing customer base with defined needs.
• You believe tech should be practical and impactful—no overengineering or unnecessary fluff.
• You’re excited to put your shoulder to the Breakthrough Academy mission and build systems that empower contractor-entrepreneurs to thrive.
• You’re a big-picture thinker who’s not afraid to roll up your sleeves and get into the nitty-gritty to make things happen.
• You thrive under pressure, calmly stepping up when the stakes are high and guiding others through uncertainty.
• Your enthusiasm is contagious, and you love collaborating with people, whether brainstorming with the team or presenting to non-technical stakeholders in a way they can fully understand.
• Highly competent in your craft, you remain down-to-earth, approachable, and collaborative, always eager to learn from others.
• You thrive at juggling multiple moving parts, managing development budgets, and navigating tech and coding crisis situations with confidence and decisive action.
• You think beyond the present, ensuring that what you create today will resonate with users for years to come.
• You bring a can-do attitude and enjoy celebrating wins (big or small) with the team. Whether it’s generating solutions, pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline, or sharing a laugh after a hard day’s work – you’re all in.

In This Role, You Will Be:

• Working with our awesome UX/UI duo, who has spent the last year deep in user needs analysis and in Figma building dialled in prototypes.
• Leading the application development, including crafting strategies, roadmaps, and daily production outlines to bring ideas to life.
• Developing an MVP while writing clean, maintainable code.
• Guiding the technical foundation for long-term success by designing and maintaining a scalable tech stack and implementing CI/CD pipelines.
• Evaluating and making informed decisions on whether to build custom solutions or leverage third-party services.
• Acting as a hands-on creator in the early stages, and setting documentation standards to establish best practices.
• Hiring and mentoring a small but exceptional team of developers, and building a collaborative & innovative work environment.
• Providing technical leadership, creating individualized development plans, and conducting weekly one-on-one meetings to inspire and empower your team.
• Managing system support and ensuring everything runs smoothly by tackling technical issues and collaborating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Researching and implementing best practices across the entire software development lifecycle to drive innovation and efficiency.
• Maintaining a deep understanding of customer needs through formal user experience analysis, focus groups, and feedback from team interactions.
• Collaborating with Breakthrough Academy’s Leadership Team to identify and act on opportunities.
• Providing input on high-level timelines and budgets to align technical development with strategic objectives.
• Advising on the development and integration of internal and third-party software, such as CRM custom modules, LMS platforms, and community collaboration tools.

Experience Required

• 8+ Years of full product lifecycle development with some management experience, and the ability to deliver projects from inception to successful completion in a software-focused or software-assisted organization (ideally B2B).
• A bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• Proven experience with front-end and back-end development, database setup, debugging, and mobile app development, including security best practices.
• The ability to balance hands-on coding with big-picture thinking, leading projects with a blend of execution and vision.
• Experience hiring, training, and leading teams, including developers and QA testers.
• Strong written, visual, and oral communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts into engaging presentations for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience managing third-party vendors, legal agreements, and aligning technology initiatives with overall business objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a successful technology strategy, from selecting stacks to implementing scalable, secure, and reliable architectures.
• Experience with user communities—gathering feedback, leading focus groups, and incorporating data-driven insights into product development.
• Bonus: Familiarity with the trades industry is a major plus—you understand the needs and challenges of our Members and can build systems that empower them.
• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada and located in Vancouver or Calgary.