Senior Software Engineer (Inbox Desktop

Join Proton and build a better internet where privacy is the default The Team

Our business unit, Inbox, is a cross‑functional team of about 60 engineers, product managers, designers and data analysts driving the development of Proton Mail, the company’s flagship product, and Proton Calendar. Our mission is to create an end‑to‑end encrypted solution with a better user experience than any other productivity products on the market. While it is not always an easy journey, it is one that offers the chance to create meaningful impact and drive lasting change that we are fully committed to.

The Inbox Desktop team is responsible for developing desktop clients of Inbox, specifically the Proton Mail Desktop App, Proton Mail Bridge, and the Export tool. We are in the process of rebuilding our client applications on a new, innovative technology stack centred around cross‑platform Rust code. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to take the technical ownership of the Proton Mail Desktop App on Windows and Linux platforms.

Currently, we use many languages and frameworks in the team like Golang, C++, Qt, JS, Type Script, React, or Electron. We use standard tools for communication and work organization (Git, Git Lab, Git Hub, Git Lab CI, Jira, Confluence). Our backend runs on premise in Proton’s data centres, and all our client‑code is open source and GPL
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As a Senior Software Engineer in the Inbox Desktop team, you will play a crucial role in driving the development of one of Proton’s most vital desktop offerings, the Proton Mail Desktop App. We expect you to be customer‑centric, continuous learner, passionate about technology and usability. You are adept at turning technical complexities into seamless user experiences. Effective teamwork, data‑driven decision‑making, using APIs wisely, collaboration with Product, Design, and with other teams are essential aspects of this role.

In the Inbox organization, we believe that a psychologically safe environment is critical to foster innovation, collaboration and growth. We are rooted in science, and according to both academic research and empirical evidence, teams that feel safe to take risks and express their ideas are more likely to be innovative and perform better: you will play a key role in helping us creating such an environment across the entire organization.

• Research :
  Assessing new technologies, supporting cross team and cross business unit technical decision making.
• Work breakdown :
  Transforming product specifications into technical requirements and lead your team to their successful implementation.
• Product development :
  Ensuring high‑quality user experiences within our product portfolio by implementing, deploying and maintaining existing and new features.
• Scalability :
  Enhancing software development lifecycle, tools, and processes to improve developer experience and to ensure our solutions are scalable.
• Coding :
  Writing clear, concise and testable code to maintain and elevate the quality of our codebase.
• Project management :
  Managing the scoping, planning and execution of new features, technical initiatives and greenfield projects.
• Mentoring :
  Fostering a culture of learning, creativity, and accountability for the best possible work through mentorship and team development, role modelling quality assurance and performance optimisation.

While we prefer candidates who cover the entire skillset, don’t hesitate to apply if you’re not an exact match, as we’re willing to help you grow in certain areas.

• Experience :
  Significant, relevant professional software development experience with Rust programming language, or with very strong background in modern C++ and reasonably complex Rust pet projects.
• Desktop software development :
  Experience in developing high quality, fast, Windows and Linux cross‑platform desktop applications. Familiarity with different native and cross‑platform desktop UI frameworks (e.g. Avalonia UI, Qt, Electron, etc.). Experience in working both on user interface and on business logic.
• Product mindset : A product mindset with a focus on offering outstanding user experience in a successful…