Senior Software Engineer, Windows​/Desktop - Sugar Land

Senior Software Engineer, Windows/Desktop Applications – Sugar Land, USA

Apply for the Senior Software Engineer, Windows/Desktop Applications role at Speechify
.

The mission of Speechify is to make sure that reading is never a barrier to learning. Over 50 million people use Speechify's text‑to‑speech products to turn PDFs, books, Google Docs, news articles, and websites into audio, so they can read faster, read more, and remember more. Speechify's offerings include the iOS app, Android app, Mac app, Chrome extension, and web app.

The company recently earned accolades such as Google’s Chrome Extension of the Year and Apple’s 2025 Design Award for Inclusivity. Speechify operates in a fully distributed environment—no physical office—with engineers, researchers, and scientists from top tech companies and startups worldwide.

• Lead the design, architecture, and development of native Windows desktop applications using Windows App SDK, WinUI (or related UI frameworks), C#, XAML, and—when needed—C++.
• Define and enforce best practices for Windows desktop development across the codebase: architecture, performance, memory usage, responsive UI, cross‑version compatibility (Windows 10/11+), and maintainability.
• Drive accessibility efforts: integrate and validate support for accessibility APIs (e.g. Microsoft UI Automation), ensure UI controls, focus management, keyboard navigation, screen‑reader support, and usability for users with disabilities.
• Collaborate closely with product designers, UX researchers, QA, and other stakeholders to shape feature planning, UI/UX architecture, and long‑term roadmap for the Windows platform.
• Take ownership of the full lifecycle of features—from conception to release—ensuring quality, reliability, and consistency.
• Identify, diagnose, and resolve complex bugs, performance bottlenecks, memory leaks, rendering issues, or compatibility problems, and propose robust architectural or design solutions.

• 3+ years of Windows desktop application development using Windows App SDK, WinUI (or similar), C#, XAML, with additional experience in native Windows code (C++, Win
  32/WinRT/COM).
• Deep understanding of Windows application architecture, including interop between managed code (.NET) and native code.
• Proven track record of designing, building, and shipping production‑quality desktop applications focused on reliability, performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Strong experience with accessibility APIs on Windows (e.g. Microsoft UI Automation) and a dedication to building accessible and inclusive software.
• Excellent software engineering fundamentals: OOP, design patterns, data structures, algorithms, memory management, multithreading or asynchronous programming where relevant.
• Experience leading technical design, mentoring other engineers, conducting code reviews, and making architecture‑level decisions.
• Strong communication skills; ability to articulate trade‑offs, collaborate with cross‑functional teams, and drive consensus.
• A user‑centric mindset focused on building polished, intuitive, and accessible experiences for end users.

• Experience writing automated tests for UI, including unit tests, integration tests, and UI automation tests.
• Experience optimizing desktop apps for memory usage, startup time, rendering performance, high‑DPI support, and responsiveness under load.
• Experience with localization/globalization, right‑to‑left UI support, internationalization, and accessibility for multiple regions.
• Familiarity with telemetry, analytics, crash reporting, logging, and error monitoring in desktop applications.
• Previous experience shaping CI/CD workflows, release pipelines, and deployment strategies for desktop applications.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of feature areas or modules and drive them long‑term, including maintenance, refactoring, and technical debt management.

• A high‑impact role: define architecture, shape the future of Speechify’s Windows product, and directly influence millions of users.
• A collaborative, flat‑structure engineering culture—build, decide, and grow into broader technical…