Staff Frontend Engineer

  • San Francisco, California, United States
  • Full-Time
  • On-Site
  • 200,000-250,000 USD / Year

Job Description:

About the Role:
The Front End Engineer is a founding level engineering role focused on building high performance, design forward web applications that push the boundaries of AI powered code generation. This position owns the frontend architecture, user experience, and performance of a product centered around creativity, exploration, and developer tooling. The role is ideal for an engineer who cares deeply about craft, visual taste, browser internals, and shipping polished user interfaces at startup speed.

Responsibilities:

  • Architect and build modern, responsive frontend applications using frameworks such as React, Next.js, or Svelte.

  • Develop scalable frontend state management patterns and maintain clean component architecture.

  • Optimize rendering performance, reduce bundle size, and eliminate frontend bottlenecks.

  • Work directly with founders to shape product direction, user experience, and technical decisions.

  • Implement advanced DOM interactions, animations, and dynamic UI systems.

  • Design and manage efficient asset caching, loading strategies, and frontend performance optimization.

  • Translate abstract product ideas into elegant, intuitive, and high quality user interfaces.

  • Establish frontend engineering standards, best practices, and architectural foundations.

  • Rapidly prototype, iterate, and ship features while maintaining high code quality.

Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated impactful frontend work at a design forward or product focused company, or significant contributions to a notable open source project, or a highly impressive public portfolio.

  • Strong expertise in modern frontend frameworks such as React, Next.js, Svelte, or similar technologies.

  • Deep understanding of the DOM, browser rendering pipeline, and frontend performance optimization.

  • Experience diagnosing and resolving performance bottlenecks in complex web applications.

  • Strong knowledge of frontend state architecture, caching strategies, and asset management.

  • Proven ability to ship high quality production code in fast moving startup environments.

  • Strong product intuition and attention to detail in UI and interaction design.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Experience building developer tools, AI powered interfaces, or creative web applications.

  • Familiarity with animation libraries, WebGL, or advanced browser APIs.

  • Experience in early stage startups or founding engineering roles.

  • Passion for design systems, interaction design, and building visually compelling software.