Frontend Systems Architect Equity at AI Design Startup Backed Operators

Job Title

Frontend Systems Architect (Lead / Staff)

AI-native design tool, 19-person team, SF, backed by operators from OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Notion, and Dropbox

Join a 19-person team building the first AI-powered design tool rebuilt from the ground up by product designers for product designers. The dual canvas lets you design how a product looks and how it works in a single environment, with no more translation round trips to the codebase. Backed by operators and investors from OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Notion, and Dropbox, founded in 2024 and solving some of the hardest problems in real-time collaboration and AI-generated canvas rendering  a Frontend Systems Architect you will be the technical anchor for the entire frontend organization, solving genuinely hard problems like maintaining high performance on canvases with thousands of AI-generated nodes, and owning module boundaries, state and data flow, rendering strategy, and extensibility end to end.

• Own the technical architecture for a next-generation AI design tool backed by operators from OpenAI, Google, Stripe, Notion, and Dropbox, working on canvas rendering problems at a scale and complexity that almost no frontend engineer ever gets close to in their career
• This is a high-leverage hands‑on role where you set the long-term technical direction, mentor engineers, and still write code every day, in a team of 19 where your architectural decisions directly shape what the product becomes rather than being filtered through layers of process
• Greenfield thinking is genuinely encouraged, you will be solving problems that no existing design tool has solved before, in a category that is being rebuilt from scratch for the AI era, with a team that ships from one-line briefs and values speed and product instinct over documentation and PRDs

• Own module boundaries, state and data flow, rendering strategy, and extensibility for a complex AI-generated canvas system, maintaining high performance across thousands of nodes using React, Type Script, Zustand, Recoil, and Jotai with deep attention to Lighthouse scores, bundle size, and rendering optimization
• Write and enforce testing standards using Cypress or Playwright with a TDD mindset, use Chrome Dev Tools and React Profiler to systematically diagnose and resolve rendering issues, and bring pixel-level attention to UX detail working closely with designers on a product that designers themselves will use every day
• Set the technical direction for real-time collaboration systems and AI-generated UI at a company that is reinventing how product teams work, while sitting in on customer calls and contributing to product thinking as a genuine technical leader rather than just an executor

• 6 to 10 years of frontend engineering experience with an architecture focus, from a top product-led tech company, ideally with early engineer experience at a VC-backed product-first startup, a CS degree, and a track record of proven frontend performance work across Lighthouse, bundle size, and rendering optimization
• Not a fit if your only experience is at large companies with no 0 to 1 product building exposure, if you rely on heavy documentation and structured environments to execute, or if you have no startup or product-led company experience in your background

• Apply via this Linked In job post
• We will review and reach out if there is a strong match
• If aligned, we will introduce you directly to the team
• If this role is not the right fit, we may suggest and make introductions to other high-signal startup roles we are actively recruiting for, always with your permission

This is a real, active role we are supporting in close partnership with the hiring team. We do not post speculative roles and work closely with teams on their actual hiring needs.