Software Development Co-op

🌟 Ready to kick off your career and build software that powers a $26B industry?

commonsku is revolutionizing the promotional products industry. Our SaaS platform empowers branded merch distributors to work smarter — managing projects, building quotes, placing orders, and collaborating with clients and suppliers seamlessly through the power of the Connected Workflow.

We’re a remote-first, community-driven team obsessed with elevating our customers, their clients, and the broader industry. Our values – Community First, Ten Steps Ahead, Fast Forward, and Delightful Work – guide us. We believe you can innovate, push forward, and do more, while also sharing a laugh, supporting your colleagues, and having a life outside of work.

If you’re energized by ambitious work, creative collaboration, and helping to build something great, you’ll want to keep reading.

🚀 About the Role: Software Development Co-op

As a software development co-op at commonsku, you’ll get hands-on experience working in a modern SaaS codebase, collaborating with teammates, and contributing to features our customers actually use. You’ll learn from experienced mentors while getting meaningful feedback.

This is a role for people who are currently enrolled in their post-secondary institutions co-op education degree program and are available for January - April 2027 work term.

Want to learn about the commonsku co-op experience from someone who lived it? Check out this article!

💡 About You

You’re not just looking for a co-op term. You’re looking for a place to immerse yourself and kick start your career. You are looking for a place that fits with your vibe and values. You bring:

• A community mindset — You enjoy collaborating with classmates and teammates, and you’re eager to learn from people with more experience. You ask questions, share what you’re learning, and contribute to a positive team environment. (Community First)

• Curiosity and Initiative — You don’t need to have all the answers, but you’re excited to dive in, experiment, and figure things out. You take ownership of your tasks, ask for help when you need it, and keep making progress. (Fast Forward)

• A learning mindset — You’re curious about how technology works in the real world, and you’re excited to think beyond the classroom. You like to explore new ideas, try different approaches, and imagine what’s possible. (Ten Steps Ahead)

• Joy in learning and building — You take pride in your projects, whether it’s a school assignment, a side project, or your first piece of production code. You care about doing good work, bring a sense of humour to challenges, and celebrate the wins — big and small. (Delightful Work)

🛠️ What You’ll Do

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Learn and apply design patterns and coding standards to deploy solutions with team

• Develop awareness of how engineering work supports product and customer needs

• Develop ability to operate in a collaborative environment, both within a team and cross-functionally

• Participate in team standups, sprint planning, and retrospectives

• Participate in code reviews to improve quality and share knowledge

• Implement user interface components using React

• Develop and maintain APIs and services using PHP and Python

• Familiarity with database technologies such as MySQL or PostgreSQL

• Write unit and integration tests to validate code functionality

• Debug and fix issues reported by users or internal teams

• Apply security and performance considerations to backend work

• Use version control systems (Git) for code collaboration

• Apply observability and monitoring tools (Datadog) as part of debugging and learning

• Work within an Agile development environment

🔍 What You Bring

Some of the qualities that help you thrive in this role:

• Currently enrolled in a Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related degree program, specifically as part of a co-operative education program

• Experience building software projects in React, PHP, or Python

• Familiarity with relational databases and writing queries

• Understanding of version control (Git) and collaborative coding workflows

• Exposure to Agile development practices

• Interest in applying AI tools to software development workflows (e.g., GitHub Copilot, automated testing, natural language processing APIs)

• Ability to learn quickly and apply new technical concepts

• Strong attention to detail and commitment to writing clean, testable code and the accompanying tests

• Good communication skills and willingness to collaborate in a team environment

• Bonus: Exposure to AI/ML concepts such as model training, inference, and APIs

💰 Compensation & Perks

We believe in paying our co-op students fairly for their contributions. Students earn a monthly salary, aligned with how many co-op work terms they have completed, in the range of $3,800 to $4,800 CAD per month.

Plus:

• Remote-first culture with plenty of excellent in-person experiences sprinkled in

• Learning and mentorship opportunities with experienced Engineers

• Resume boosting experience contributing to and shipping real features that customers actually use

• A delightful team of smart people who are good at what they do

• Company-provided equipment to make sure you have everything you need to succeed

• Opportunities to return for future co-op terms and full-time opportunities after graduation

🌎 Location

We are remote-first and this role is open to students in Ontario, who are available to attend onboarding for their first week and occasional in-office days at our headquarters in midtown Toronto.

🌱 A Bit More About Us and our Culture

commonsku supports hundreds of promotional products distributors and suppliers with technology that drive efficiency, growth, and connection. Our skummunity (commonsku + community = skummunity, get it?) is powered by events, education, and shared knowledge and is core to who we are.

We’ve grown by being “for promo by promo” and now, we’re scaling our impact to elevating an entire industry. We’d love your help doing it.

At commonsku, you won’t just be a part of a company, you’ll be part of a community.

• We host team demos where everyone gets to share what they’re building.

• We celebrate wins together, big and small (like your first feature going live!).

• You’ll be invited to social hangouts, learning sessions, and our twice-yearly company summit, when they align with your co-op term.

🤖 A Note About AI

We use AI every day at commonsku to be faster and better. If you use AI tools to help you draft your resume or cover letter, that’s totally fine — just make sure what you submit reflects you. We want to hear your authentic voice, not ChatGPT’s.

📬 Application and Interview Process

If this opportunity feels like a fit, apply now at https://commonsku.com/careers!

We get back to everyone who applies. If we’d like to explore the role with you, you can expect to move through these stages:

1. An initial with the Talent Acquisition Manager

2. An interview with the VP of Technology and Engineering Managers

3. A coding interview with Senior Engineer

4. An offer!

We've seen phishing emails and messages impersonating commonsku recruiters, sent from lookalike domains and asking candidates to complete screening forms through external links. We will never ask you to pay for anything, provide banking details, or complete a screening step through an unsolicited third-party link.

If something feels off, please reach out to us directly before responding.

❤️ commonsku is an Equal Opportunity Employer

We’re committed to building a diverse team that reflects the skummunity we serve. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities.