Frontend/Javascript Engineer
Thread
Posted 2 years ago
As a Frontend/Javascript Engineer at Thread, you’ll share responsibility for the architecture and direction of frontend code at Thread. You’ll help to define the standards for how frontend engineering is done, sharing your experience with the team and evangelising the latest frontend technologies and techniques that you believe can improve the way we work.
You’ll be instrumental in building features for our customers and internal users, working closely with designers, product managers, stylists, and others around the company. You’ll be involved in the product development process from the ideas stage all the way through building, testing, shipping, and monitoring in production.
What will you be working on?
Our frontend codebase is mostly React, but we haven’t fully moved over to a Single Page Application yet. This is one of the main initiatives that you will work on at Thread. There are some big challenges with this, including moving the responsibility of URL routing from the backend to the frontend, separating out the frontend into its own deployment process, and further decoupling it from the backend.
Within the engineering team we review everything that goes into production, both to improve the quality of our code and to share knowledge between team members. We automate the checking of style so that code reviews can focus more on architecture and maintainability. We have robust tools and processes for this for our backend code, and are keen to level up how we do this on the frontend, and you’ll be a part of setting this direction.
We have a GraphQL API that fully powers our iOS app, but the web hasn’t fully transitioned over to it yet. You’ll play a part in helping us design new GraphQL APIs for the web frontend, and building an API integration in the frontend.
You’ll work on improving the performance of the frontend application. This will include monitoring performance metrics over time, addressing issues, and helping to improve our practices for the development of performant code.
Most of us on the team have frontend experience so we’ll be contributing to the codebase as we work on new features and updates, but we are not frontend experts. You’ll code review contributions from others on the team and help us to learn frontend best practices. You will be a key part of architecture and design meetings about the future of the frontend and its integration with the backend.
What is it like to work at Thread?
We have a relaxed working environment, and trust our employees to be productive on a schedule that suits them.
We have a flexible holiday policy. We don’t track or limit the amount of time you have off, and believe you should be able to take off the time you need, when you need it. Recently Thread employees have taken time off to spend half-term with their kids, taken a last minute long-weekend to go hiking, and taken a few days off to play video games and recuperate.
We are committed to a transparent working environment, and as a part of this all email that isn’t personal goes to mailing lists accessible by anyone on the team. Our founders and team leads take questions on any subject at a weekly all-hands meeting, and most importantly we try to cultivate a culture where asking questions is encouraged and where responses will be clear and meaningful.
We place a high value on learning and personal growth. Everyone has regular 1:1s with their managers to discuss how they want to develop, we give and receive 360 feedback to direct our growth and are encouraged to attend conferences and share resources that will help us develop new skills. On a company-level, we host biweekly Lunch & Learn sessions, run blameless 5 Whys whenever something goes wrong, have an all-company offsite twice a year to go deeper on improving how we work together, and conclude most projects with a retrospective to draw out any lessons on how to improve.
We have a considered approach to our compensation. Twice a year we survey the market for every role, and ensure that we are paying at the top end for a startup in London. As the market changes and as your role and experience develop, so will your compensation. This is important to us as we want to create a company that proactively rewards your growth and experience, rather than rewarding those most comfortable with asking for a raise.
Our culture is important to us and so we spend time every month as a company reflecting on various aspects of our culture and coming up with experiments to improve upon it, we frame our project retrospective discussions with our values, and we recognise those who have a positive impact on it. We haven’t got everything right, but with these practices we believe we’re on a path to having an effective and enjoyable culture.
You should apply for this role if
- Maintain an awareness of the latest frontend technologies and love realising great experiences for our users.
- Enjoy and have experience building complex frontend applications in JavaScript.
- Enjoy the technical challenges of building large frontend applications and ensuring they stay performant for users across a range of devices and internet connections.
- Enjoy crafting great user experiences, not just in terms of design, but in every place a user interacts with Thread.
- Want to work in a team that values clear and empathetic communication.
- Have experience with React - it’s Thread’s framework of choice for our frontend components and you’ll be working with it every day.
- Want to share knowledge and experience, to improve the code quality, practices, and processes across the team.
Talented engineers can work anywhere, so why choose us?
- Opportunity to become recognised as one of the leaders in your field through playing a key role in the future growth of a high-profile startup
- Be part of a values-led team that are working hard to create one of the highest quality cultures in the world. Learn more about what we’re trying to do in our culture deck.
- Informal, non-hierarchical, non-political, sociable work environment with lots of autonomy and independence
- We’re looking for people who want to help shape the broader company and culture. Being part of the Thread team is an interactive experience – we all help to evolve the culture. We don’t want passengers
- Gain first-hand experience of how to start, grow, market and raise funding for startups (perhaps useful for your own company one day)
- Even when we’re not fully remote, we offer working-from-home opportunities and flexible working hours, to help you develop a healthy work-life balance
- A competitive salary and a generous equity stake in the company (you’re working hard to make the company successful, so we believe you should share generously in the reward!)