Staff Software Engineer, Electron & Browser Infrastructure - Slack Desktop

About the role

Slack is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Desktop team within the Architecture & Systems organization. This role focuses on building the Desktop Framework, which underpins the Slack desktop client across all platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional initiatives across Electron and at Slack associated with increasing developer productivity, OS level stability, performance, or security alongside desktop and frontend stakeholders.
• Contribute to key architectural decisions to adapt our existing frontend and desktop infrastructure to support new product features.
• Navigate ambiguity, often identifying and offering solutions to problems like framework migrations or rendering bottlenecks that are not yet evident to the leaders who presented them.
• Maintain and improve the core systems that power the Slack desktop client and Electron framework, including Slack and Electron-based infrastructure and tooling.
• Mentor and develop engineers across the organization, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
• Collaborate with teammates across engineering to identify, define, and solve strategically important initiatives, acting as a leader in communication to de-escalate conflicts and drive consensus.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience writing client-side code (React + TypeScript) for modern web applications at scale.
• Deep Chromium experience, or experience contributing to large scale open source projects.
• Experience working in a large-scale, shared codebase with hundreds of contributors, establishing patterns that allow other teams to contribute effectively without friction.
• Expertise in building complex systems and tooling, with the ability to lead technical design that guides the best decisions across the team.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to tie technical infrastructure to company goals like performance, reliability, and developer velocity.
• Routinely and facilitates dialogue between junior and senior members to surface blockers.
• Experience with performance profiling and debugging tools for web-based desktop applications.
• Familiarity with desktop development, along with the ability to understand and explain technical trade-offs and complexities.
• A commitment to proactively offering regular, constructive feedback and gracefully receiving it to improve yourself and the team culture.
• Eagerness to learn, but similar excitement to teach.
• Understanding that the perfect solution is informed by the people who will be building on your work, rather than being purely dependent on technical merits.
• Bonus points for experience contributing to the engineering reputation externally (e.g., blog posts, speaking at conferences, open source contributions).
• Experience developing on Windows and maintaining build infrastructure for Windows desktop applications.
• Experience in fast-paced and dynamic product development environments.

Qualifications

• Experience with performance profiling and debugging tools for web-based desktop applications.
• Familiarity with desktop development, along with the ability to understand and explain technical trade-offs and complexities.
• A commitment to proactively offering regular, constructive feedback and gracefully receiving it to improve yourself and the team culture.
• Eagerness to learn, but similar excitement to teach.
• Understanding that the perfect solution is informed by the people who will be building on your work, rather than being purely dependent on technical merits.
• Bonus points for experience contributing to the engineering reputation externally (e.g., blog posts, speaking at conferences, open source contributions).
• Experience developing on Windows and maintaining build infrastructure for Windows desktop applications.
• Experience in fast-paced and dynamic product development environments.

Skills

• Deep Chromium experience or experience contributing to large scale open source projects.
• Experience working in a large-scale, shared codebase with hundreds of contributors, establishing patterns that allow other teams to contribute effectively without friction.
• Expertise in building complex systems and tooling, with the ability to lead technical design that guides the best decisions across the team.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to tie technical infrastructure to company goals like performance, reliability, and developer velocity.
• Routinely and facilitates dialogue between junior and senior members to surface blockers.
• Experience with performance profiling and debugging tools for web-based desktop applications.
• Familiarity with desktop development, along with the ability to understand and explain technical trade-offs and complexities.
• A commitment to proactively offering regular, constructive feedback and gracefully receiving it to improve yourself and the team culture.
• Eagerness to learn, but similar excitement to teach.
• Understanding that the perfect solution is informed by the people who will be building on your work, rather than being purely dependent on technical merits.
• Bonus points for experience contributing to the engineering reputation externally (e.g., blog posts, speaking at conferences, open source contributions).
• Experience developing on Windows and maintaining build infrastructure for Windows desktop applications.
• Experience in fast-paced and dynamic product development environments.

Benefits

• Time off programs
• Medical, dental, vision, mental health support
• Paid parental leave
• Life and disability insurance
• 401(k)
• Employee stock purchasing program

Pay

The typical base salary range for this position is $197,300 - $313,700 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $237,700 - $344,700 annually.

Schedule

This is a full-time position.