Senior Software Development Team Lead

About Neova

For over 25 years, Neova has delivered integrated, custom business solutions to companies across Quebec and Ontario. Our flagship ERP product, Neovation, is engineered to adapt to client processes, not the reverse. It currently supports producers, importers, processors, distributors, and packagers of perishable goods, alongside businesses specializing in industrial distribution and tooling.

Neova is undertaking a complete rewrite of our Neovation ERP system using a modern technology stack. While this modernization is underway, dozens of clients rely on the existing legacy version in daily production. This critical role ensures seamless support for our current clients and acts as a vital bridge between the legacy system and our new architecture.

Your Role

As a Senior Software Development Team Lead, you will spearhead the team responsible for maintaining our legacy Neovation ERP system. This includes managing bug fixes, implementing client-requested enhancements, and prioritizing daily operational tasks. Concurrently, you will actively contribute to new development, serving as the crucial link between the legacy and modern architectures. Your expertise will be essential in understanding and accurately translating complex business logic from the existing system to the new platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Legacy Maintenance Team: Provide daily coaching to developers, prioritize support tickets, manage urgent issues, and ensure consistent, reliable delivery of solutions.
• Ensure Quality Assurance: Oversee code reviews, regression testing, and client deployments for all legacy Neovation fixes and enhancements.
• Client Collaboration: Engage directly with clients to understand requirements, communicate proposed solutions, and provide support during system updates and implementations.
• Legacy System Expertise: Read, comprehend, and meticulously document the intricate business logic embedded in legacy VisualFoxPro code, including accounting, payroll, inventory management, and pricing rules, to facilitate accurate transfer to the new stack.
• New Development Contribution: Actively contribute to new development using modern technologies (NestJS, TypeORM, MySQL, Vue 3) for modules where you possess deep legacy system knowledge.
• Architectural Coordination: Collaborate with the new architecture team to ensure consistent technical decisions and prevent the recurrence of past system design issues.
• Implement Best Practices: Establish and enforce best practices within the maintenance team, covering code standards, QA processes, branch management, and comprehensive documentation.
• Manage Incremental Migrations: Plan and supervise phased technological migration projects, identifying components for transfer and executing them without disrupting production.
• Production Incident Response: Monitor for production incidents and coordinate swift responses to minimize client impact.

Required Skills & Experience

Essential Qualifications:

• Software Development Experience: 5+ years in software development, with a minimum of 2 years in a lead, senior, or technical reference capacity, specifically within a production product maintenance or evolution environment.
• Web Programming Expertise: Proficient in a web programming language such as PHP, Node.js, Python, or similar.
• Database Proficiency: Strong command of SQL and MySQL, including complex query writing, data modeling, and basic database optimization.
• Team Leadership: Proven experience in team supervision, including priority management, providing constructive feedback, and delivering projects on schedule.
• Legacy Code Comprehension: Demonstrated ability to read and understand legacy code to extract critical business logic, regardless of the underlying technology.
• Bilingual Communication: Professional proficiency in written and spoken French, enabling daily communication with the team and French-speaking clients.
• Autonomy & Responsibility: High degree of autonomy and a strong sense of responsibility within a small, agile team environment.

Valuable Assets:

• Legacy System Knowledge: Familiarity with VisualFoxPro or similar legacy environments (FoxBASE, Clipper, Delphi, Progress), with VFP reading capability being a significant advantage.
• Domain Expertise: Experience in ERP, accounting, distribution, or payroll, including understanding concepts like general ledger, reconciliation, debit/credit, inventory management, GST/QST, and Quebec payroll.
• Modern Stack Experience: Hands-on experience with NestJS, TypeORM, or Vue 3, or a strong eagerness to quickly acquire these skills.
• Migration & Architecture: Background in multi-tenant architecture or progressive migration strategies from legacy systems to modern technology stacks.
• Agile Methodologies: Knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies as applied to software maintenance teams.
• DevOps Tools: Proficiency with Docker/docker-compose and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• AI-Assisted Development: Experience utilizing AI-assisted code generation tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) with a critical and discerning approach.

Personal Attributes

• Strong Sense of Responsibility: You understand the critical impact of production systems on clients, treating bugs as urgent and proactively communicating status updates.
• Lead by Example: You elevate team performance through hands-on leadership and mentorship, fostering growth in junior developers.
• Pragmatic Problem-Solver: You excel at finding practical solutions within legacy systems, prioritizing value delivery without compromising existing functionality.
• Curiosity for Legacy Systems: You approach older codebases as intriguing puzzles to decipher, recognizing the inherent value of embedded business logic.
• Effective Communication: You possess the ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly to non-technical clients, explain timelines, and ask precise questions to diagnose problems efficiently.

What Neova Offers

• Competitive Salary: $95,000 to $115,000 CAD annually, based on experience, with yearly reviews.
• Generous Vacation: 3 weeks of paid vacation starting from your hire date.
• Fully Remote Work: Enjoy the flexibility of 100% remote work.
• Professional Development: Dedicated budget for training and tools, including AI licenses, conferences, and technical books.
• Meaningful Impact: A critical role ensuring stable production for real businesses during a significant modernization effort, offering immediate and measurable impact.
• Agile Environment: Work within a small, focused team that values quick decision-making, minimizes bureaucracy, and fosters genuine ownership.

Ready for a new challenge? We look forward to connecting with you!