Sr. UI Engineer

Senior UI Engineer
About the company

Joist AI is revolutionizing how Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firms manage marketing and revenue operations. Our AI-powered platform streamlines proposal workflows and content operations so teams can collaborate faster and win more work.

About the role

We're looking for a Senior UI Engineer who obsesses over the last 5%: spacing that breathes, motion that informs, micro-interactions that feel inevitable. You'll own front-end craft end-to-end; from exploratory prototypes in Figma to production-ready React components—bringing clarity and polish to complex, data-heavy workflows. This role partners closely with Product and Design to ship usable, accessible, and elegant experiences at startup speed.

What you'll do

• Design & ship delightful UI: Build responsive, accessible React interfaces with a focus on visual hierarchy, typography, spacing, and interaction finesse.
• Prototype to learn: Create fast prototypes (Figma + code) to validate flows, micro-interactions, and edge cases before we over-invest.
• Own the design system: Evolve our component library (tokens, theming, variants), document usage in Storybook, and raise the bar on consistency.
• Make complexity feel simple: Translate dense requirements (RFP analyzers, editors, timelines, dashboards) into intuitive, low-friction flows.
• Performance matters: Profile and optimize hydration, bundle size, virtualization, and perceived latency; measure with real user metrics.
• Quality culture: Write tests (RTL, Jest/Vitest, Playwright), run visual regression, and champion code reviews focused on UX outcomes.
• Partner across functions: Work with Product, Design, and Backend to sequence delivery, clarify scope, and land high-impact iterations.
• Mentor through craft: Give incisive design and code feedback; model taste and practical judgment for the team.

Background we're looking for

• 6+ years building production web apps with modern React, TypeScript, and component architectures.
• Proven track record shipping polished UI in a complex B2B product (workflows, editors, dashboards, or data-heavy apps).
• Strong fluency with Figma, design systems, tokens, and accessibility standards.
• Comfortable with state management (React Query/TanStack, Zustand/Redux), routing, form patterns, and WebSocket/real-time UX.
• Experience with Storybook, Tailwind/shadcn/ui (or similar), and Framer Motion (or equivalent) for purposeful micro-interactions.
• Demonstrated ability to decompose ambiguous UX problems and communicate trade-offs clearly with stakeholders.
• Bonus: data-viz (Recharts/D3), collaborative editors, PDF/Word rendering, canvas/RTEs, or AEC/enterprise SaaS.

Experience we'd be particularly excited about

• A portfolio with before/after examples that explain why your decisions improved comprehension or task time.
• Design-system stewardship at scale (tokens, dark mode/theming, accessibility audits).
• Turning messy domain logic into simple, progressive workflows.
• Instrumenting UX with product analytics and using data to drive iteration.

Our tech stack (you'll touch)

React + TypeScript
• Tailwind + shadcn/ui
• Redux
• Playwright/RTL/Jest/Vitest
Backend APIs: FastAPI
• AWS (Lambda, RDS, S3, Step Functions)
• WebSockets

What to expect

We run a rigorous, fast interview process focused on craft, judgment, and impact:

• Intro chat (30 min): your background, the role, mutual fit.
• Portfolio walkthrough (45–60 min): deep dive on 2–3 projects—goals, constraints, your decisions, measurable outcomes.
• Practical exercise: a small UI task emphasizing interaction design, accessibility, motion, and code structure.
• Review & team conversation (60 min): discuss your approach, trade-offs, and how you work cross-functionally.

If you're excited to make sophisticated workflows feel effortless—and you care about the tiny details users can feel but can't name—we'd love to talk.

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