Staff Engineer - UI Platform Job Toronto Ontario Canada,Software Development

The Role

Rakuten Kobo is looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Front-End, to join our awesome development team that owns the front-end web platform and in-house design system. The team is responsible for enabling and empowering the delivery of delightful, performant, and accessible user experiences. This is a remote position based in Toronto, Canada.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll be a technical leader and mentor to the team. You’ll work closely with cross-functional stakeholders and senior leadership to drive decision making and alignment. Our engineers are enthusiastic and operate across the development spectrum, including front-end architecture, design system, back-end integrations, infrastructure, and deployment pipelines. We take full responsibility for our work, from driving requirements gathering and solutioning, to implementation and testing, through to releasing and monitoring.

Rakuten Kobo is looking for an engineer who shares these passions, takes pride in delivering high-quality solutions, and is eager to elevate the craft of software engineering.

Reporting to the Senior Software Engineering Manager, the Staff Software Engineer will play a pivotal role in shaping the technical direction and execution across all aspects of delivery. This includes leading technical design discussions, strategic planning, navigating complex challenges, and ensuring the reliability and observability of our systems in production.

Responsibilities

Lead the development of the front-end web platform, identifying areas of opportunity and points of friction in enabling other teams to effectively build on top of it.

Work closely with architects and principal engineers to define and implement our vision for our front-end architecture, alongside advancements to underlying frameworks.

Take ownership of technical decisions and guide the team through complex challenges, ensuring best practices are followed and scalable solutions are implemented.

Lead the expansion of our in-house design system, ensuring consistency and reusability of components and patterns. Work closely with design and accessibility teams.

Explore opportunities to expedite the process of moving from designs to display, with minimal developer involvement, by leveraging automation and the latest AI tooling.

The Skillset

Required

Computer Science or Computer Engineering degree, or equivalent experience.

Ability to clearly communicate and collaborate with various teams and cross-functional stakeholders. Comfortable presenting to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Passionate about fostering a culture of learning and technical excellence through knowledge sharing, mentorship, meticulous code reviews, and constructive feedback.

Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment, with a focus on iterating quickly and improving continuously. Familiar with Agile methodologies, such as Kanban and Scrum.

Expertise with front-end development frameworks, ideally React and Next JS. Extensive knowledge of CSS, including libraries such as Tailwind and Styled Components.

Excellent understanding of web and accessibility standards, including interactivity, responsiveness, performance, security, and cross-browser compatibility.

Extremely high level of proficiency with JavaScript and TypeScript.

Expertise with design systems, preferably React Aria, and Storybook.

Experience with trunk-based development and version control systems, preferably Git.

Knowledgeable about testing strategies and techniques (unit, integration, end-to-end).

Nice to Have

Knowledge of scripting languages, such as Python or Ruby.

Knowledge of object-oriented programming and principles.

Experience with test automation using Selenium or Playwright.

Experience with CI/CD pipelines, leveraging Git Hub Workflows and Argo CD.

Familiar with communication protocols, including HTTP, RPC, and Web Sockets.

Experience with containerization and orchestration, using Docker and Kubernetes.

Familiar with message brokers and streaming platforms, such as Rabbit

MQ and Kafka.

Familiar with architectural patterns, such as back-end for front-end and API gateways.

The Perks

Flexible hours and hybrid remote working environment

Subsidized in-office lunches

Full benefits starting from your first day

Paid Volunteer days, unlimited sick days, and 3% RRSP matching

Monthly commuting allowance for those who are hybrid

Lifestyle spending account

Talent and development training budget

Free Kobo device + free weekly e-book or audiobook

Weekly Kobo Tech University sessions

Maternity/paternity leave top up

Dog friendly office


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