---
title: 'Backend Engineer at Lutra'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/backend-engineer-lutra-toronto-xjn4an1vdsdn'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Backend Engineer at Lutra

- **Company:** Lutra
- **Location:** Toronto, Canada
- **Compensation:** $105k–$155k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-01
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/lutra/am9icG9zdDq94RLkPSgdgcBoRuhLiMXD

## Job description

## Your opportunity

We’re supporting a fast-growing Canadian fintech that is reimagining how people manage their largest recurring expenses. Already processing over a billion dollars in annual payment volume and serving a rapidly expanding user base, this team is building critical financial infrastructure that requires robust, secure, and scalable systems. If you’re interested in designing and building financial platforms that handle millions of dollars in daily transactions while helping users unlock credit-building, rewards, and financial flexibility, this could be the right opportunity for you.

Our client is adding at least one more Backend Software Engineer to their core payments team. In this role, you’ll contribute to the architecture and development of backend systems that power their flagship financial platform. This may include building and scaling payment infrastructure, ledger systems, and APIs that must meet strict reliability and compliance standards, and/or generally tackling the ambiguous problems inherent in new product development.

You’ll work alongside engineering leadership, cross-functional partners and teammates to design and deliver backend services that users can depend on for their most important payments.

## Key responsibilities

- Backend service development: Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs using NestJS and TypeScript on GCP, ensuring reliability, scalability, and security
- Financial systems & ledger design: Build and optimize ledger systems, data models, and payment processing pipelines to handle high transaction volumes and maintain accurate audit trails
- System scalability & performance: Participate in technical design discussions to ensure systems scale effectively as transaction volumes and feature complexity grow, while preserving compliance, performance, and reliability
- Integration & compliance: Connect backend services with financial APIs, payment processors, and banking systems; ensure solutions meet PCI and SOC 2 requirements and align with regulatory standards
- Infrastructure & reliability: Manage infrastructure as code using Terraform and GCP; design event-driven microservices using Pub/Sub; monitor production systems to ensure resilience and uptime
- Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with engineering, product, and compliance teams to translate requirements into technical solutions; contribute to a culture of mentorship, openness, and shared learning
- Adaptability & innovation: Stay current with emerging technologies, frameworks, and industry best practices; experiment with new approaches to improve efficiency and strengthen the platform over time

## Your know-how

- 3+ years of backend engineering experience
- Strong expertise with Node.js (NestJS) and TypeScript for production APIs
- Hands-on experience with ledger systems, double-entry bookkeeping, or financial data modeling
- Background scaling systems handling high transaction volumes (millions/month)
- Proficiency with PostgreSQL, database optimization, and GCP
- Experience with payment processing, financial APIs, and regulatory compliance (PCI, SOC 2, etc.)
- Strong communication skills and the ability to explain technical and financial concepts clearly
- Track record of ownership and delivery in high-stakes environments

It’s a bonus if

- You have experience with Terraform and infrastructure-as-code practices
- You’ve worked with PCI DSS or other security frameworks
- You’ve built real-time payment systems or instant settlement features
- You’ve contributed to open banking or financial data aggregation tools
- You’ve worked at a high-growth fintech company before

## About Lutra

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Lutra is a water and wastewater process engineering consultancy and software provider, delivering smarter solutions to protect water, the environment, and people’s health.
- **Entity Type**: Private
- **Headquarters**: Lower Hutt, New Zealand
- **Founded**: 2006
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Water & Wastewater Treatment, Utilities, Environmental Engineering, Data Management Software
- **Target customers**: Government municipalities, industrial clients in New Zealand, and international clients in the water and wastewater sector (B2B, Enterprise)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "To protect water, the environment and people's health, by providing smarter solutions."

## Products & Services
For each major offering:
- **Infrastructure Data (ID)**: A market-leading, scalable, cloud-based operations and compliance management software platform. It is designed to improve operational performance, data quality, and reduce organisational risk for water and wastewater treatment assets. The software is used to manage assets accounting for 75% of New Zealand’s population.
- **Water & Wastewater Process Engineering**: Expert consultancy services including options studies, process design, commissioning support, and optimisation for water and wastewater treatment plants (e.g., activated sludge systems, MABR).
- **Advanced Process Control (APC)**: Services to improve plant performance, efficiency, and compliance through advanced control strategies.
- **Training**: Operational training and knowledge transfer for clients in the three waters industry.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of USD 5,400,000 (estimated); Total Funding of USD 60,100 (from two grants by Callaghan Innovation in 2016 and 2017).
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Callaghan Innovation (grant provider), and a supportive global parent company (not named in sources).
- **Growth Signals**: The company has grown from a small team in 2006 to a team of 35. It serves 30+ clients in NZ’s government and industrial space, plus 25+ international clients. Its software holds the market majority for compliance management in NZ.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep Domain Expertise**: One of the largest water process engineering teams in New Zealand, with two decades of experience.
- **Market Leading Software**: The Infrastructure Data platform is the trusted industry solution for compliance and operations management, serving the majority of the NZ population’s water assets.
- **End-to-End Solutions**: Combines expert engineering knowledge with innovative technology (software, APC, training) to provide comprehensive solutions.
- **Outcomes-Focused**: Prioritises customer needs and delivers excellence through deep upfront understanding of client requirements.

## Strategic Focus
- **Growth and Expansion**: Actively seeking a Domestic Business Development Manager to secure Lutra’s position in the reformed water sector in New Zealand.
- **Talent Development**: Focused on building career pathways and developing employees through a supportive global parent company, aiming for a "no glass ceiling" environment.
- **Sustainability**: Committed to reducing emissions and developing sustainable operating practices, reflected in their Statement of Intent and Mission.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as a team of experts committed to excellence, with a strong focus on people. The company invests heavily in training, work/life balance, and providing a safe, healthy, and fun workplace.
- **Flexibility**: All employees have flexibility to work from home and are provided with packages to do so. There are no enforced traditional start or finish times, offering trust and autonomy.
- **Wellbeing Package**: Includes comprehensive Health Insurance, an employee assistance provider, wellbeing days, and a 6-monthly allowance.
- **Career Development**: Formal career pathways are in place, and the company supports training and development with a "no glass ceiling" philosophy due to its global parent company.
- **Compensation**: Competitive compensation and an annual bonus scheme for all employees.
- **Remote/Hybrid Policy**: Highly flexible with a strong work-from-home culture.

## Sources
1. [lutra.com/about](https://www.lutra.com/about-us)
2. [lutra.com/careers](https://www.lutra.com/careers)
3. [linkedin.com/company/lutra-ltd](https://linkedin.com/company/lutra-ltd)
4. [lutra.com/our-team](https://www.lutra.com/our-team)
5. [prospeo.io/c/lutra-revenue](https://prospeo.io/c/lutra-revenue)

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