Senior Software Engineer
About the job
- At least 8 years of experience building backend services with Node.js, TypeScript, or JavaScript, including experience leading project teams or initiatives.
- Experience with the AWS ecosystem, including Lambda, API Gateway, ECS/Fargate, DynamoDB/RDS, S3, Step Functions, and IAM, plus infrastructure as code using CloudFormation, CDK, or Terraform.
- Experience with browser automation tools such as Selenium, Playwright, or Cypress.
- A track record of delivering scalable and resilient APIs and microservices with strong observability, security, and automated test coverage.
- Familiarity with event-driven and message-based integrations, including SNS/SQS and EventBridge, and with data transformation pipelines.
- Experience working with agile processes in fast-paced, high-growth environments.
- Ability to communicate complex scenarios to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Ability to document architectures, operational runbooks, and development workflows clearly.
- Partner with Product Managers during discovery and requirements gathering to shape end-to-end solutions in an agile software development life cycle.
- Architect and implement Node.js and TypeScript services optimized for AWS runtimes such as Lambda, ECS, and containerized workloads.
- Implement automation for the customer experience department using Playwright to automate browser-based user-interface tasks.
- Design and integrate REST and event-driven APIs, orchestrating data flows between internal and third-party systems, including higher-education platforms and software-as-a-service tools.
- Improve reliability, performance, and observability across distributed services using AWS-native tooling such as CloudWatch, X-Ray, and EventBridge and modern DevOps practices.
- Own production support for critical services, drive root-cause analysis, and implement preventive improvements.
- AI automation tooling, including Cursor, Codex, MPC servers, or agentic frameworks.
- Exposure to domain-driven design, serverless-first architectures, or event-sourcing patterns.
- Familiarity with front-end stacks such as React or Vue for full-stack collaboration.
- AWS security, compliance, or cost-optimization certifications or hands-on experience.
About the company
ApplyBoard connects international students with programs worldwide by bringing together students, recruitment partners, and educational institutions on one platform. It helps students find and apply to study-abroad programs that fit their background and interests through a matching system powered by its technology. The platform earns revenue by charging fees to educational institutions and recruitment partners for services that streamline the application process and diversify student populations. ApplyBoard has secured scholarships worth over $50 million through exclusive partnerships, adding value for students and strengthening ties with partner schools. Its goal is to simplify and accelerate the study-abroad experience by providing a centralized, efficient marketplace for students, partners, and schools.
Company Size
1,001-5,000
Company Stage
Debt Financing
Total Funding
$567M
Headquarters
Kitchener, Canada
Founded
2015
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- July 2026 Trust Centre flagged 47% of Canadian refusals from financial paperwork.
- ApplyBoard launched a UK Trust Centre and a US edition in September 2026.
- RBCx's CAD$100 million facility funds expansion beyond Canada and the United States.
What critics are saying
- Canada study-permit caps and stricter PAL rules shrank first-time international student demand in 2026.
- ApplyBoard cut over 150 jobs in 2025 after policy changes hit core markets.
- A prolonged Canada-US crackdown can starve ApplyBoard's applicant pipeline and compress revenue.
What makes ApplyBoard unique
- ApplyBoard connects students, 1,500 institutions, and 6,500 recruitment partners on one platform.
- It embeds admissions guidance directly inside ChatGPT, capturing early student discovery.
- Its Trust Centre converts visa-refusal data into actionable funnel intelligence.
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Benefits
Health and Wellness: Comprehensive health and wellness benefits, including dental and vision, an Employee and Family Assistance Program, a personal spending account, and more.
Exceptional Onboarding: We build connections from day one with fellow team members while also providing access to technology and vital training and resources needed for a great onboarding experience.
Competitive Compensation: We offer a generous compensation package that includes an above industry average salary, plus regular performance bonuses.
Equity: We are proud to offer company stock options to our team members so they can benefit and thrive along with ApplyBoard.
Professional Development: We want our team members to develop and grow every day, so we offer complementary LinkedIn Learning along with internal development programs.
Growth & Insights and Company News
6 month growth
0%1 year growth
-1%2 year growth
-1%Nearly half of Canadian study visa refusals deemed "preventable" A new dashboard analysing Canadian study permit refusals has found financial documentation to be by far the most prominent reason for students being denied. July 23 2026 Launched by ApplyBoard, the new public 'Trust Centre' analysed over 2,800 Canadian study permit decisions in June 2026, of which 1,370 (49%) were rejected. Across the denials, lack of financial documentation was cited as a reason for refusal in 47% of cases - a factor ApplyBoard CEO Meti Basiri said was mostly avoidable. "Students who very likely had the funds to study, were refused because they could not prove it in a way a visa officer could trust. That tells us most were preventable," Basiri told The PIE News. "The barrier is rarely the students. It is how the application is prepared and presented." Though refusal letters can contain more than one reason, students have been warned to "fix the money paperwork". According to ApplyBoard, many applicants likely had the money but could not prove it in a way the visa officer could trust. After financial documentation, other reasons cited were having family on the file, which prompts stricter review and was mentioned in 10% of cases. Having an expired PAL or TAL letter was cited the same number of times - which leads to an automatic refusal. In just 2% of cases, students were refused for having hidden past visa refusals from any country - which is counted by officers as misrepresentation and triggers a five-year ban. "Most of these students would likely have been fine if they had simply disclosed it," said ApplyBoard. On the flip side, having already completed a degree and holding a conditional offer stood out as factors separating approved students from refused ones, while prepaying more tuition fees did not help in terms of visa outcome. The barrier is rarely the students. It is how the application is prepared and presented Meti Basiri, ApplyBoard Last year, Canada welcomed fewer first-time international students than during the pandemic, as the study permit approval rating plunged to 36%. While the data showed study permit approval rates rose in every Canadian province over the past year, Basiri said the trend was "far from uniform", with approval rates swinging widely from one province to the next. He said the sector had "spent too long guessing why students get refused" and advised institutions to pay close attention to provincial details and partner data as Canadian higher education seeks to move from volume to quality in international student admissions. With high study visa refusal rates across the 'big four' study destinations, ApplyBoard plans to launch a UK edition of the Trust Centre next month, while a US edition will be released in September 2026. Polly graduated with a degree in History and English Literature from the University of Edinburgh during which she did a year abroad in sunny Santa Barbara. She went on to study International Journalism at City, University of London. At The PIE, Polly reports on all things international higher education with a focus on the US and Canada.
ApplyBoard, a student mobility AI platform, has integrated with OpenAI's ChatGPT to create a new student acquisition channel for partner universities and colleges. International students can now access ApplyBoard's platform, programme discovery tools and admissions guidance directly within ChatGPT. The integration addresses a shift in how students research higher education. According to Carnegie, student AI usage for university selection surged from 4% in 2023 to 23% in 2025, whilst an EAB survey showed adoption nearly doubled within 2025 alone, climbing from 26% to 46%. Founded in 2015, ApplyBoard has helped over 1.5 million students and works with over 1,500 educational institutions globally. The integration aims to meet prospective students at critical early decision-making stages whilst reducing friction between initial exploration and enrolment.
Kitchener-Waterloo-based EdTech startup ApplyBoard has announced layoffs affecting over 150 employees as a result of changes in global immigration policies.
Edtech unicorn is focusing beyond English-speaking world as Canada and US cut immigration numbers
Craydel earns revenue through commissions from partner institutions and competes with firms like IDP Education and ApplyBoard