Senior Software Engineer, Frontend Platform

🏢 About Handshake

At Handshake, our platform connects job seekers with life-changing career opportunities. Behind that mission is a frontend ecosystem that helps teams build clear, consistent, accessible, and high-quality experiences for students, employers, and higher education partners.

🎯 The Role

The Frontend Platform team is a high-leverage group with a broad mandate. We own Handshake's design system and component libraries, frontend accessibility standards, CI/CD infrastructure, developer tooling, and cross-cutting UI capabilities.

You will treat these capabilities as products for internal engineers and designers, turning recurring challenges into paved paths and reusable abstractions that scale with Handshake's rapid growth.

This is a full-time, on-site role based in San Francisco, California.

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Core Frameworks: React, TypeScript, JavaScript, Semantic HTML5, Modern CSS
• Design Systems & UI: Reusable Component Libraries, Design Tokens, Storybook
• Infrastructure & Tooling: Nx, Webpack, Monorepos, Package Publishing, CI/CD
• Quality & Standards: Automated accessibility (a11y) testing, visual regression testing, AI-assisted development workflows

💼 What You'll Do

• Build and evolve reusable TypeScript and React components, patterns, APIs, and documentation used across multiple Handshake applications.
• Help shape the design system as a living product, balancing visual consistency and WCAG accessibility with product team velocity.
• Improve the frontend developer experience by creating clear paved paths for local development, testing, builds, and releases.
• Build agent-ready frontend workflows, including context rules, linters, and structured CI review checks.
• Strengthen frontend infrastructure in CI/CD (build, lint, test, package publishing).
• Champion digital accessibility through accessible component APIs, shared guidance, and automated test checks.
• Mentor engineers and elevate the frontend craft through architecture reviews and technical writing.

✅ What You'll Need

• 5+ years of professional frontend software engineering experience with high scope and ownership.
• Deep expertise in TypeScript, React, and browser fundamentals (DOM, rendering performance, layout).
• Proven experience building or maintaining shared frontend libraries, design systems, or component platforms.
• Empathy for internal developer customers, prioritizing self-service documentation and clean APIs.
• Strong systems-design instincts for creating durable abstractions and clean component APIs.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs across engineering and design.

🌟 Nice to Have

• Deep experience with Storybook, visual regression testing, or automated accessibility testing.
• Hands-on experience with Nx, Webpack, monorepo architectures, or package registry publishing.
• Background designing application shells, routing frameworks, or cross-cutting micro-frontend capabilities.

🎁 Benefits

• Competitive base salary: $208,000 – $260,000 USD plus company equity.
• 401(k) retirement plan with employer matching.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance with mental health support.
• $2,000 annual learning & development stipend.
• $500 wellness stipend plus free lunch and gym access at our San Francisco office.
• Flexible paid time off (PTO) plus 15 company holidays and 2 flex days.