Requirements
4+ years of frontend engineering experience
Portfolio of complex web apps
US work authorization or O-1 visa eligibility
Product sense and design intuition
High autonomy and low ego
Job Description
Own the frontend of Sauna, shipping intuitive interfaces. Requires 4+ years in frontend engineering, React expertise, and design intuition. Based in San Francisco, US work authorization needed.
ABOUT THE ROLE
You'll own the frontend of our core product — shipping interfaces that feel instant, intuitive, and polished even when the underlying work is complex. This is not a role where you wait for designs to land in your queue. You'll make product and design calls yourself, prototype quickly, and execute without perfect specs. Sometimes you'll implement designs. Other times you'll create them.
The expectation is craft — not just working code, but software that feels good. Loading states, empty states, error messages, keyboard shortcuts, and the thousand small decisions that separate a polished product from a functional one.
TECH STACK
TypeScript, React, TanStack, Zustand, TailwindCSS, IndexedDB, Cloudflare Workers.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
4+ years of frontend engineering experience
A portfolio of complex web apps you've shipped — not side projects, but production systems real users depend on.
Deep React fluency
You love React and deeply understand state management — when to useMemo, how callbacks work, the component lifecycle, and how to write beautiful, reusable components. You recognise prop drilling before it becomes a problem and know when to lift into context or Zustand instead.
Full-stack comfort
Comfortable owning a feature end to end — DB migration, backend route, frontend fetch, and UI. You don't need a separate engineer for each layer.
Performance instinct
You know when to cache, when to refetch stale data, and how to optimistically update the UI. You notice duplicated network requests and care about the app feeling snappy.
Product sense and design intuition
Able to take a rough product direction, sketch an interaction, and ship something that feels right — without waiting for a designer to hand you a finished spec.
High autonomy, low ego
You ship, gather feedback, and iterate. You don't wait for permission. You unblock yourself.
US work authorisation or O-1 eligibility
Must be based in the Bay Area or willing to relocate before starting.
Bonus
Experience with multiplayer apps (Y.js, Automerge, CRDTs). Building interfaces for LLM-based tools — streaming responses, handling uncertainty, progressive disclosure. Local-first architectures (IndexedDB, service workers, sync strategies). Design background or strong visual sense. Previously a founding frontend engineer who established standards from scratch.
LOCATION
In-person only — San Francisco office. Must be US-based or willing to relocate. European candidates may be considered for O-1 visa sponsorship.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
1. Application — resume and a few short questions. Exceptional candidates go from first touch to offer within 2 weeks.
2. 1-minute Loom — tell us who you are and why this role.
3. 15-minute intro call — align on location, motivation, and logistics.
4. System design interview — a deep dive into how you think and architect systems, walking through a real product problem together.
5. Final conversation — your questions answered and work trial scoped.
6. Paid work trial — in person, a few days to two weeks, working on a real project to see how we work together.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Salary
$180,000 – $240,000 depending on experience.
Equity
Meaningful early-stage equity.
Health and dental
Comprehensive health and dental coverage.
401(k)
401(k) included.
Time off
Considerable PTO.
Perks
Gym budget and daily lunch.