--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer at Forum Ventures' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-forum-ventures-ottawa-nneyj69z6nvw' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # Senior Software Engineer at Forum Ventures - **Company:** Forum Ventures - **Location:** Ottawa, Canada - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-08-28 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/forum-ventures/dd527430-da6a-4b97-9b30-15dcce88fdfa ## Job description Company Description [askpolly](https://www.askpolly.ai) transforms large-scale human conversation into actionable insights. By leveraging AI and patented statistical models to analyze organic social media data, askpolly provides near-instant, statistically valid insight into market reactions, election outcomes, and messaging strategy. We are moving beyond traditional polling to give teams an agentic interface that delivers actionable results in under two minutes - empowering data-driven decision-making at the speed of conversation. ## Role Description Weʼre looking for a Senior Software Engineer with 5 - 8 years of professional experience to help design, build, and scale the production systems behind askpollyʼs AI-powered insights platform. This is a full-time role based in Ottawa, ON, operating on a hybrid schedule (4 days per week in-office). In this role, youʼll own core backend architecture while contributing full-stack when needed, collaborating closely with product and data science teammates. You will take ownership of complex features from problem definition through production delivery. You should thrive in an early-stage environment where requirements can be ambiguous, trade-offs matter, and shipping reliable, data-intensive software quickly is paramount. ## What youʼll do - Architect & Build: Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services, robust APIs, and agentic workflows. - Full-Stack Collaboration: Build and improve product experiences using modern web technologies, bridging complex backend data with intuitive interfaces. - AI & Data Scale: Work directly with LLM pipelines, agent orchestration, and statistical systems to process massive streams of organic data. - Drive Standards: Improve system reliability, performance, observability, and maintainability across our cloud infrastructure. - Collaborate & Lead: Work cross-functionally to clarify product requirements, evaluate technical trade-offs, and make pragmatic architecture decisions. - Leverage Modern Workflows: Thoughtfully utilize AI tools to accelerate development velocity, elevate code quality, and optimize internal loops. ## Qualifications - Experience: 5–8 years of professional software engineering experience building production-grade software. (Good to have, can be more than 8years exp - for the right candidate, I could offer more than 150k.) - Core Stack: Strong backend development experience with languages such as Python, Ruby GO, Java or similar. (Must have) - Data & Databases: Hands-on experience working with document databases (e.g., MongoDB) and handling analytical data formats like Parquet. (Good to have) - Workflow Orchestration: Experience building, scheduling, and monitoring pipelines using Astro / Apache Airflow, Langchain etc. (Must have) - Distributed Systems: Practical understanding of distributed systems architecture, microservices, and message queues/event streaming (e.g., Celery, Redis, RabbitMQ, or Kafka). (Must have) - System Design: Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals, software architecture, performance optimization, and scalable data-intensive systems. (Must have) - Cloud Infrastructure: Familiarity with deploying and monitoring applications in cloud environments (Azure preferred). (Good to have) - Frontend Familiarity: Experience with React and TypeScript is highly valued. (Don't need) - Education: Degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent deep practical experience. (Don't need, good to have) Ideal Candidate - Comfort with ambiguity: You can take a vague “this workflow is painful” and turn it into a concrete diagnosis, a clear path forward, and working software. - Strong ownership: You proactively identify what needs doing, drive solutions forward, and close loops without waiting for every detail to be defined. - Bias for shipping: You make pragmatic decisions, balance quality with speed, and know when to iterate. - Strategic mindset: You understand the “why” behind your work and can explain technical trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders. - Deep curiosity: You read the docs, ask good questions, and learn new domains because you want to understand how things work—not just what you need to ship. - AI-first mindset: You actively use AI tools to improve your development workflow and are excited to keep experimenting with new ways to build software. ## About Forum Ventures ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Forum Ventures is a founder-first venture studio, accelerator, and pre-seed fund dedicated to helping early-stage B2B software founders go from zero to one. - **Entity Type**: Private (Venture Capital / Accelerator / Studio) - **Headquarters**: New York, New York, United States (with offices in San Francisco and Toronto) - **Founded**: 2014 - **Founders**: Not publicly listed as a single founder; the firm was built by a team including Mike Cardamone (CEO & Managing Partner), Jonah Midanik (Managing Partner), James Murphy (Managing Partner), and others. ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Venture Capital & Private Equity Principals (B2B software startup ecosystem) - **Target customers**: Pre-seed and seed-stage B2B software founders; also serves as a co-creator of new ventures through its studio arm. - **Mission**: To make the startup journey easier, more accessible, and successful for early-stage founders. ## Products & Services - **Accelerator**: A 12-week (or similar) program that acts as a fractional co-founder, providing hands-on go-to-market and fundraising support to help founders achieve customer traction and raise their first institutional round. - **Pre-Seed Fund**: A dedicated fund that invests in early-stage B2B software companies, leveraging the accelerator’s team and resources to provide more hands-on support than a typical pre-seed fund. - **Venture Studio**: An AI-first studio that co-creates new ventures from the concept stage, working with entrepreneurs to ideate, validate, launch, and scale B2B startups using a team of operators, product designers, and developers. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private entity) - **Key Metric**: Annual Revenue of $40M (LinkedIn estimate); total follow-on funding raised by portfolio companies exceeds $1B. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: The firm itself has raised a $20M venture studio fund (announced 2025). Portfolio companies have gone on to raise from top-tier funds including A16z, Bessemer, Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, NEA, Emergence Capital, Menlo Ventures, Craft Ventures, and Founders Fund. - **Growth Signals**: 430+ companies funded, 1,300+ founder community members, 10 years of operation, 25,541 LinkedIn followers (+43.9% YoY), and a recent acquisition of Vanse AI (Feb 2025). ## Competitive Advantages - **Founder-first approach**: The team is composed entirely of former founders and operators who have built and scaled their own software companies, providing empathy and practical guidance. - **Full-stack support**: Offers a continuum from studio (idea stage) → accelerator (early traction) → pre-seed fund (capital), making it a one-stop shop for early-stage B2B founders. - **Massive community and network**: Over 1,300 founders in a deeply connected community, plus access to a wide network of mentors and experts. - **Proven track record**: $1B+ in follow-on funding raised by portfolio companies from top-tier VCs. ## Strategic Focus - **AI-first ventures**: The newly launched $20M venture studio fund is specifically focused on building AI-native B2B companies. - **Expanding geographic reach**: While headquartered in New York, the firm has offices in San Francisco and Toronto, and portfolio companies are global. - **Scaling the studio model**: Continuously looking for “studio founders” – individuals who have always wanted to start a company but need a co-creative partner to ideate, validate, and build. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: A team of “doers and connectors” that operates like a startup – fail fast, iterate quickly, and embrace ambiguity. The firm is built by founders for founders, so the environment is entrepreneurial and supportive. - **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Not explicitly stated, but roles are likely hybrid or in-office given the hands-on studio and accelerator model. The team is distributed across New York, San Francisco, and Toronto. - **Notable perks**: Opportunities to work directly with early-stage founders, participate in venture building, and be part of a small but mighty team that has outsized impact. The firm emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion. - **Open roles**: Current openings include positions on the Forum team, studio founder opportunities, and portfolio company roles (see careers page). ## Sources 1. [forumvc.com](https://www.forumvc.com/) 2. [forumvc.com/careers](https://www.forumvc.com/careers) 3. [forumvc.com/team](https://www.forumvc.com/team) 4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/forum-ventures](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/forum-ventures) 5. [linkedin.com/company/forumvc](https://www.linkedin.com/company/forumvc) ## Other roles at Forum Ventures - [Forward-Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-forum-ventures-chicago-3dq894cfdta0) — Chicago, IL - [AI Founder, Physical Assets](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-physical-assets-forum-ventures-united-states-j38vxk36bhgb) — United States - [AI Founder, Edge Hardware](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-edge-hardware-forum-ventures-united-states-qh2hzbj1q33q) — United States - [AI Founder, Physical Cybersecurity](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-physical-cybersecurity-forum-ventures-united-states-w0ryt2qkrctk) — United States - [AI Founder, Real World Data](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-real-world-data-forum-ventures-united-states-zy4ehphfj4xg) — United States - [AI Founder, AI Compute](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-ai-compute-forum-ventures-united-states-7a5nffcfvfrf) — United States - [Accounting Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/accounting-manager-forum-ventures-new-york-9km7gt0vtz9k) — New York, NY - [Director of Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-engineering-forum-ventures-salt-lake-city-q01bf4096twz) — Salt Lake City, UT - [AI Founder, Mission Critical Construction](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-founder-mission-critical-construction-forum-ventures-united-states-6zckb7477wfk) — United States - [Founder, AI Labor & Financial Operations](https://feeny.ai/job/founder-ai-labor-financial-operations-forum-ventures-united-states-xy8v0wzx7cn8) — United States