Software Developer (Co-op)

Software Developer (Co-op) - AI Adoption 

Communitech helps tech companies start, grow, and succeed in Waterloo Region.

We’re building a tech ecosystem that’s proudly local, globally ambitious and powered by community.

Since 1997, Communitech has brought community and tech together to build Canada’s most vibrant innovation ecosystem. We connect local startups and scale-ups to the support they need to grow, compete and lead.

Today, that means helping trusted AI solutions reach the market, turning bold ideas into valuable IP, expanding peer and advisory networks for founders, and uniting voices through the tech community in Waterloo Region to take on the issues that matter most.

Our goal is to keep Waterloo Region the most connected, collaborative, and resilient tech hub in the country.

We’re looking to grow our team with passionate people – people who believe in our mission and who are willing to do what it takes to help our founders succeed. If you like to work collaboratively, get s#!t done and be a champion for Canadian tech, we want to hear from you. Wonder what it’s like to work at Communitech? Learn more at https://www.communitech.ca/corporate-stuff/careers/ 

What you’ll be doing:

Communitech is leading a community-wide initiative - called the Waterloo Region AI Coalition - to help small and medium-sized businesses adopt AI. As part of this initiative, Communitech is running an AI adoption pilot internally and this is where you come in! 

We are recruiting a team of 3 students (2 Software Development roles and 1 Product Management role) to work with the Communitech team and our external partner, AltaML, to develop a custom agentic AI tool.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Participating in the design, development and testing of solutions

• Implementing low-latency, high-availability, and performant applications

• Collaborating with AltaML to write production ready code that is easy to read, secure and well unit-tested

• Providing feedback on colleagues code as part of code review process

• Writing automated unit and integration tests for client solutions

• Performing quality assurance of solutions implemented

• Following security best practices for solution deployments 

• Implementing data security requirements and best practices

• Coordinating the effective use of your time, often balancing priorities between multiple projects

• Integration of ML components with existing business systems

• Development and integration of cloud components in Azure, AWS and GCP

• Development of simple front-end applications using the SPA framework

• Continuous identification of process improvement opportunities

• Working with project teams and clients to understand their requirements

• Proactively pursuing self-instruction on relevant technical topics and new concepts

• Generating written reports and documentation as needed

Qualifications

• Confident, clear, and concise communication (written, verbal) and strong active listening skills

• Ability to collaborate and work in a team

• Ability to work independently 

• Maintain confidentiality 

• Critical thinking and problem solving skills

• Basic understanding of front-end technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3.

• Knowledge of user authentication and authorization between multiple systems, servers,

• and environments

• Working knowledge understanding of code versioning tools (GIT)

• Working knowledge of C#, Python or a similar development language that indicates you could easily transfer the knowledge

• Experience creating RESTFUL services using a framework is highly desirable

• Experience with Agile and Scrum is highly desirable

• Experience with microservice architecture is highly desirable

• Experience with unit test and debugging skills is highly desirable

• Experience with database schema creation is highly desirable

• Experience with containers (E.g., Docker, Kubernetes, Azure Containers) is highly desirable

• Experience with DevOps and taking solutions to the Cloud (E.g., Azure, AWS, GCP) is highly desirable

• Experience with fundamental design principles behind building scalable applications is highly desirable

• Experience with authentication and authorization between multiple systems, servers, and environments is highly desirable

• Working knowledge and experience with Large Language Models (LLM) and/or Agentic Solutions is considered an asset

• Experience with React is an asset

Compensation

The hourly rate of pay will be $20.00-$31.00. Final compensation decisions will be based on the students’ university’s co-op earnings guidelines, in addition to the students’ work term and experience.

This role has a target start date of January 19, 2026. It is a co-op, contract role that is set to end on April 24, 2026.

Communitech is based in downtown Kitchener, Ontario; we are located on a Grand River Transit ION Transit route. We work in-office five days a week (37.5 hours/week) because great things happen when we're together — creating space for deeper collaboration and stronger relationships with each other and the ecosystem we support.

To Apply

Please apply through ADP with your resume and cover letter.

We thank all applicants in advance; however only individuals selected for an interview will be contacted. All applications will be kept confidential. 

Communitech is a diverse and inclusive environment and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including aboriginal persons, francophones, members of sexual minority groups, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and women. We will provide any requested accommodation to candidates with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.

In compliance with Ontario’s Bill 190, we confirm that this posting represents a current, existing vacancy within our organization.

Please note that ADP’s platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate an applicant’s Candidate or Profile Relevance score. This is one of many factors that will be reviewed in making interview decisions, and all applications will be reviewed by a human. Scores do not affect the visibility of an application and applicants may opt-out when applying.