Company Description
TechSmart is an AI software and workforce development company helping high schools and CTE career centers prepare students for the future of work. We partner with school districts nationwide to deliver AI and software development curriculum, teacher training, and a learning platform that equips students with practical, in-demand skills aligned to entry-level roles and emerging technology pathways.AI is reshaping how we learn, work, and build software, and school districts are moving quickly to ensure students graduate with real, practical AI skills.
TechSmart exists to make that transition attainable for schools at scale.With this focus, we are building a new AI-powered learning platform to support scalable, AI-focused learning experiences for high school CTE programs. We are seeking a Senior Platform Software Engineer (Frontend-Leaning) to help design and implement the core user-facing architecture that powers curriculum delivery, instructional workflows, and educator and student experiences as the platform evolves.
Building a New Platform
TechSmart is building a new AI-powered learning platform from the ground up to support modern curriculum delivery, instructional workflows, and data-driven insights for high schools and CTE programs. This work is early, foundational, and highly collaborative, with many core platform decisions still being shaped.This is true greenfield platform work. You will help define frontend architecture patterns, shared systems, and technical standards that will support the product as it scales—from early pilots to broad district adoption.
The focus is on building durable, maintainable systems rather than one-off features.Engineers at TechSmart work closely with Product and UX Design partners to shape how the platform evolves. You’ll have meaningful input into technical direction, system boundaries, and tradeoffs, with the opportunity to influence how educators and students experience the platform for years to come.
Position Overview
We are seeking a Senior Platform Software Engineer (Frontend-Leaning) to play a key role in designing and building the core user interface and experience layers that power TechSmart’s AI-driven learning platform. In this role, you will shape frontend architecture and platform patterns while working closely with Product, Design, and Backend Engineering partners as the platform scales.This is a hands-on senior engineering role focused on building durable frontend systems and translating product vision into scalable UI architecture—not simply implementing individual features.
You will contribute to foundational technical decisions, help establish shared frontend standards, and ensure the platform evolves predictably through sprint-based delivery.At TechSmart, “Senior” means owning systems end-to-end, influencing technical direction, and raising the bar for engineering quality through thoughtful design, execution, and mentorshipThis role is well-suited for an experienced engineer who enjoys working on greenfield platforms, owning complex frontend systems, and growing in scope and influence as the product and engineering organization mature. You’ll balance near-term product delivery with longer-term platform and design system investments, playing a critical role in shaping how educators and students experience the platform over time.
What You’ll Help Shape and Influence (First 6–12 Months)
- Establish core frontend architecture patterns and shared platform standards in partnership with the engineering team, setting a strong foundation for future development.
- Design and implement foundational user-facing experiences aligned with early platform milestones, including curriculum delivery and instructional workflows.
- Lead the initial implementation and evolution of the platform’s design system in close collaboration with UX and Product Design, balancing consistency, accessibility, and flexibility.
- Influence frontend technical direction as the platform moves from early build to initial adoption, helping shape decisions around structure, tooling, and patterns.
- Contribute to defining how frontend systems scale over time, identifying early technical risks and opportunities as usage expands across schools and districts.
- Partner closely with Product and Engineering leadership to translate roadmap initiatives into well-scoped, high-quality frontend work delivered through sprint-based execution.
Key Responsibilities
Frontend Platform Development
- Design and implement scalable, maintainable frontend architecture using a modern reactive framework such as Vue (with Vite) or equivalent.
- Design, drive, and evolve frontend systems—including application structure, state management, routing, data-fetching patterns, and shared utilities.
- Build and maintain reusable component libraries and UI primitives that support consistency, accessibility, and rapid feature development.
- Translate complex product workflows and requirements into intuitive, performant user interfaces aligned with the product roadmap.
- Ensure frontend performance, reliability, and responsiveness across browsers, devices, and real-world classroom environments.
Design System & UI Platform
- Lead the creation and ongoing refinement of the platform’s design system, encompassing shared components, layout foundations, typography, and interaction patterns.
- Partner closely with UX and Product Design to translate visual designs into reusable, accessible, and production-ready components.
- Establish clear standards and guidelines for component usage, styling, and extension to ensure consistency across features and the team.
- Document design system patterns to support adoption, onboarding, and efficient development as the engineering team grows.
Agile Product Execution
- Partner closely with UX and Engineering leadership to translate roadmap initiatives into well-scoped frontend work aligned with sprint and release planning.
- Contribute technical perspective during product discovery and roadmap planning, helping shape scope, sequencing, and feasibility.
- Participate actively in sprint planning, backlog grooming, reviews, and retrospectives, delivering work with predictable velocity and quality.
- Deliver iteratively with predictable velocity, balancing speed with long-term maintainability and quality.
Cross-Stack Collaboration & Quality
- Work closely with backend engineers (e.g., Django or equivalent) to integrate APIs and data flows cleanly into the frontend.
- Partner with Product, UX, and Engineering leadership to ensure features meet acceptance criteria and real classroom needs.
- Contribute to testing strategies (unit, integration, and end-to-end) to support confident, iterative releases.
- Provide thoughtful code reviews, mentor other engineers, and help raise frontend engineering standards across the team
Preferred Background and Experience
- Senior Engineering Experience: 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with meaningful influence over the direction and evolution of frontend systems in production web applications.
- Frontend Platform Expertise: Strong experience building frontend applications using a modern, component-based framework such as Vue (with Vite) or equivalent, with expertise in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Programming Languages: Proficient in TypeScript, Python, or another gradually typed language.
- Design System Experience: Experience building or contributing to a design system or shared component library.
- Product-Oriented Development: Experience collaborating closely with Product and UX partners to deliver high-quality user experiences
- Backend Collaboration and Development: Comfortable collaborating with backend engineers and also contributing directly to backend development when needed, including integrating frontend systems with APIs and services (e.g., Django or equivalent).
- Cloud Infrastructure: Experience working in AWS or similar cloud-hosted environments.
- Agile Execution: Experience delivering work in sprint-based environments with a focus on quality and maintainability.
- Ownership & Communication: Strong sense of ownership, clear communication, and effective cross-functional collaboration.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field or equivalent practical experience.
What we value
- Clear thinking and sound judgment over clever or complex solutions.
- Maintainable, well-structured systems over quick fixes.
- Ownership and accountability for outcomes, not just tasks.
- Thoughtful collaboration and shared responsibility across disciplines.
How we work
- Small, focused teams with clear ownership and accountability
- Strong collaboration between Engineering, Product, and Design from discovery through delivery
- Emphasis on clear requirements, clean interfaces, and sustainable development practices
- Preference for asynchronous communication and protected focus time
- Meetings are purposeful, limited, and designed to support, not interrupt, deep work
Compensation
This is a full-time role with a competitive base salary, equity, and benefits. Compensation is determined based on experience and role scope.The expected base salary range for this role is
$120,000–$140,000.
In addition to base salary, TechSmart offers equity participation, comprehensive benefits, and the opportunity to take meaningful ownership in a greenfield platform.
We aim to pay fairly, transparently, and competitively within each market, and we revisit compensation as roles evolve and responsibilities grow.
Interested in Joining Us?
At TechSmart, you’ll work on a platform with real-world impact, helping educators teach, and students build, the skills that will shape the future of work. This is an opportunity to build core platform architecture at an early stage, where your technical decisions will meaningfully influence the product, the engineering culture, and how AI education is delivered at scale.You’ll join a small, thoughtful team that values clear thinking, strong ownership, and pragmatic, reliable engineering. We care deeply about building things well, collaborating closely across disciplines, and creating an environment where experienced engineers can do their best work without unnecessary process or noise.If you’re excited about greenfield platform work, shaping durable frontend systems, and contributing to a mission-driven product with long-term impact, we’d love to hear from you.To apply click the Apply to Position button above.Please provide a cover letter, sharing what excites you about the company, this role and building frontend platforms.We look forward to reviewing your application and connecting with you soon.
