Frontend Lead

We’re looking for a Frontend Lead who enjoys owning the product UI end-to-end and raising the bar for frontend architecture, quality, and developer experience in a fast-moving startup.

You’ll lead frontend engineering across our web applications — product surfaces, design systems, performance, accessibility, and how frontend integrates with APIs and platform services. This is a role for someone who wants to do more than ship screens or review PRs — you’ll set technical direction, mentor engineers, and make the frontend a reliable part of the product.

You’ll have meaningful ownership over how users experience Phinite in the browser.

What you’ll do

• Own frontend technical direction from design through production: architecture, patterns, performance, quality, and continuous improvement.

• Lead delivery of complex product UIs — multi-step workflows, real-time surfaces, dashboards, settings, and high-interaction tools.

• Establish and evolve a coherent frontend architecture (app structure, state management, data fetching, routing, error handling, and shared libraries).

• Build and maintain a design system / shared component layer so UI is consistent, accessible, and fast to ship.

• Partner with product and design to turn ambiguous requirements into sharp UX and maintainable implementations.

• Set standards for TypeScript, React patterns, testing, code review, and frontend observability.

• Own frontend performance — load time, interaction latency, bundle size, rendering cost, and perceived responsiveness.

• Drive frontend reliability: error boundaries, resilient API clients, empty/loading/error states, and graceful degradation.

• Improve accessibility (a11y) and inclusive UX as a first-class requirement, not an afterthought.

• Work closely with backend, platform, and security to design clean API contracts and safe auth/session UX.

• Mentor frontend engineers through design reviews, pairing, feedback, and clear technical writing.

• Raise the quality bar in PRs without blocking velocity — teach the “why,” not just the “no.”

• Help hire and grow a strong frontend team as the company scales.

• Participate in architecture discussions and represent the frontend / UX perspective early in design.

• Make pragmatic technology decisions without over-engineering.

• Help establish engineering practices as the product and team scale.

What we’re looking for

• At least 5+ years of frontend engineering experience, including leadership or tech-lead ownership of meaningful product surfaces.

• Strong mastery of modern React and TypeScript in production applications.

• Experience owning frontend architecture rather than only implementing tickets.

• Strong product sense — you care about clarity, flow, edge cases, and how the UI feels under real use.

• Strong understanding of browser fundamentals — rendering, layout, networking, caching, storage, and security boundaries.

• Experience designing reusable component systems and shared frontend platforms.

• Strong understanding of state management, async data flows, caching, and client–server contract design.

• Experience improving frontend performance with measurable outcomes.

• Strong debugging skills across UI, network, state, and integration failures.

• Ability to take ownership of a frontend problem from investigation through permanent resolution.

• Comfort working with ambiguity and making decisions with incomplete information.

• Clear communication and willingness to work closely with product, design, backend, QA, and security.

• Ability to balance speed, UX quality, maintainability, and long-term architecture.

• Experience mentoring engineers and raising team standards.

Nice to have

• Experience with Next.js (App Router), React Server Components, or similar modern React frameworks.

• Experience leading frontend for B2B / SaaS / complex workflow products (not only marketing sites).

• Experience with design systems (Radix, shadcn/ui, Storybook, tokens, theming).

• Experience with Playwright, Vitest/Jest, React Testing Library, and visual regression testing.

• Experience with real-time UIs (WebSockets, streaming, optimistic updates).

• Experience with charts, canvases, graph editors, or other high-interaction surfaces.

• Experience with frontend observability (RUM, error tracking, Web Vitals, session replay).

• Experience with accessibility audits and WCAG-minded delivery.

• Experience with Tailwind CSS or comparable styling systems at scale.

• Experience hiring, leveling, and growing frontend engineers.

• Experience working at an early-stage or high-growth startup.

Tech stack

We believe most technologies can be learned when needed. However, knowing the following is a huge plus:

• TypeScript / React / Next.js for product UI.

• Tailwind CSS and component primitives for design systems.

• Playwright / Vitest / React Testing Library for UI and integration quality.

• REST / WebSocket clients and disciplined API contract usage.

• GitHub Actions (or similar) for frontend CI.

• Browser DevTools / Lighthouse / Web Vitals for performance and debugging.

• Storybook (or equivalent) for component documentation and review.

• Error tracking / RUM tools for production frontend health.

What we value

Ownership over handoffs

You don’t wait for another team to make the UI “feel right.” You own the user-facing outcome and push issues to resolution.

UX quality over checkbox shipping

A merged PR is not the same thing as a good product experience. Loading, empty, error, and edge states matter.

Platform thinking over one-off screens

We prefer shared patterns and components that make the next feature cheaper and more consistent.

Performance as a feature

Slow UI is broken UI. We care about what users feel, not only what the build log says.

Clarity over cleverness

Frontend code should be understandable by the next engineer — and by you in six months.

Partner with design and product

Great frontend leadership is collaborative. You improve the idea, not just implement the mock.

Engineering judgment over framework fashion

New libraries and patterns should solve real problems, not exist because they are trendy.

Teaching over gatekeeping

Raising the bar means making the team better, not only rejecting PRs.

Taking responsibility for outcomes, not just commits

The goal is a product UI that users trust and a frontend codebase the team can ship on confidently.

This is a high-ownership leadership role where you’ll have meaningful influence over product UX, frontend architecture, and engineering culture.

Probably skip

• Looking for a narrowly scoped IC role with no interest in mentoring, standards, or technical direction.

• You consider frontend primarily “making it look like Figma.”

• You ship UI without thinking about loading, errors, accessibility, or edge cases.

• You are uncomfortable reading network traces, API contracts, or production error reports.

• You treat TypeScript as optional ceremony rather than a tool for correctness.

• You prefer giant untested components over clear boundaries and testable units.

• You chase every new React fashion without understanding tradeoffs.

• You avoid hard UX/product conversations and only want ticket execution.

• You are uncomfortable with ambiguity, changing priorities, or early-stage startup constraints.

• You rely on AI-generated UI without understanding layout, state, or accessibility implications.

• You leave known UX or frontend reliability issues unresolved because “QA will catch it.”

• You leave the production UI on fire.

• Your primary engagement is standup.

• You have lots of other engagements in real life and working in a fast-paced environment is your liability.