Dominion Dynamics is an Ottawa-based defence technology startup developing autonomous combat aircraft and an Autonomous Collaborative Platform to operate alongside manned fighters.
Backend Software Engineer Location: Ottawa, ON (On-site) Reports to: Engineering Lead THE ROLE You will be working on the backend systems that power AuraNet — Dominion Dynamics' mesh networking platform for autonomous assets operating in contested and disconnected environments. The platform handles real-time data distribution, end-to-end encrypted communications, and asset management across a growing fleet. You work across distributed infrastructure, networking, and security to keep those systems connected where connectivity is the mission-critical constraint. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Design and build high-performance backend services for data ingestion, processing, and real-time distribution. - Develop and optimize pub/sub networking capabilities using Zenoh to support low-latency, end-to-end encrypted mesh communications. - Build and maintain GraphQL and REST APIs that power operator interfaces, internal tooling, and external integrations. - Create integrations with flight stacks and simulation environments — MAVLink, ArduPilot, Unreal Engine, and Gazebo. - Develop secure asset management workflows using certificate-based authentication and PKI infrastructure. - Build automated testing frameworks and contributes to CI/CD pipelines for reliability and rapid iteration. - Review code, maintains engineering standards, and contributes to overall platform architecture. - Work across disciplines to integrate software into deployed autonomous systems. WHAT YOU BRING - Strong understanding of networking fundamentals — TCP/IP, UDP, and publish/subscribe architectures. - Experience with security concepts — end-to-end encryption, PKI, authentication, and authorization. - Production experience in Go, Python, Java, C++, or a comparable backend language. - Experience building and shipping distributed systems in production environments. - Strong software engineering fundamentals; writes clean, maintainable code. - Eligibility for Canadian security clearance preferred; Canadian citizenship an asset. NICE TO HAVE - Experience with mesh networking or distributed communication systems. - Familiarity with Zenoh or similar messaging technologies. - Experience integrating with robotics, UAV, or autonomous platforms. - Exposure to simulation environments such as Unreal Engine or Gazebo. - Experience with Linux-based systems and containerized deployments. No defence background required. We've hired people who didn't tick every box. If this is the work you want to do, please apply anyway. WHY JOIN US Building something meaningful starts with the right people. At Dominion Dynamics, you’ll: - Shape Canada’s future by building real defence capability for the CAF and our allies. - Make decisions that ship in a high-trust environment with short feedback loops and rapid iteration. - Move fast, field faster, and work directly with the operator — our systems are in the field with the CAF now. - Have an impact from day one with equity, responsibility, and direct access to leadership. If you’re curious, hands-on, and driven by the opportunity to make a difference, this is where you belong! COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Competitive base salary and company equity - Comprehensive health benefits - Additional equity granted based on impact We use AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, including screening and reviewing responses. Final hiring decisions are always made by people and follow all applicable privacy and employment laws in Canada.