Staff Frontend Engineer

The Onset; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

The Onset is seeking a Staff Frontend Engineer to join a large-scale digital product environment. You will own complex frontend and architecture challenges, remaining hands-on while guiding engineers through technical design decisions and performance improvements.

You will influence technical direction across high-traffic customer-facing products, mentor peers, and partner with product, design, and architecture teams to ensure scalable, reliable solutions.

Qualifications

• Proven experience with React and TypeScript in large-scale frontend environments.
• Strong frontend architecture and system design capabilities.
• Experience at Staff, Principal, Lead, or senior technical leadership level.
• Proven ability to operate across high-traffic customer-facing platforms.
• Solid understanding of frontend performance and scalability.
• Experience with APIs, distributed systems, and backend services.
• Strong knowledge of testing, CI/CD, observability, and production support.
• Ability to clearly explain trade-offs and guide engineering decisions.
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve frontend architecture across large-scale web applications.
• Remain hands-on with React, TypeScript, and modern JavaScript.
• Lead system design and drive technical decision-making.
• Improve performance, reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Review code and uplift engineering standards.
• Collaborate across frontend, backend, and platform teams.
• Mentor engineers and support solving complex technical problems.
• Partner with product, design, and architecture on solution direction.
• Identify technical risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Help teams make pragmatic architecture and delivery decisions.

Skills

React

TypeScript

Frontend architecture

Leadership

High-traffic systems

Performance optimization

APIs & distributed systems

Testing & CI/CD

Observability & production support

Job description

About the role

We're looking for a Staff Frontend Engineer to join a large-scale digital product environment and take ownership of complex frontend and architecture challenges. This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone who wants broad influence without moving away from engineering. You'll work across high-traffic customer-facing products, helping shape technical direction, improve performance and scalability, and guide other engineers through complex design decisions.

Key responsibilities

• Designing and evolving frontend architecture across large-scale web applications
• Remaining hands-on with React, TypeScript and modern JavaScript
• Leading system design and technical decision-making
• Improving performance, reliability, scalability and maintainability
• Reviewing code and helping lift engineering standards
• Working across frontend, backend and platform teams
• Mentoring engineers and supporting complex technical problem solving
• Partnering with product, design and architecture on solution direction
• Identifying technical risks, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement
• Helping teams make pragmatic decisions around architecture and delivery

About you

• Strong experience with React, TypeScript and modern frontend engineering
• Experience operating at Staff, Principal, Lead or senior technical leadership level
• Strong frontend architecture and system design capability
• Experience working across high-traffic or complex customer-facing platforms
• Strong understanding of frontend performance and scalability
• Experience working with APIs, distributed systems and backend services
• Strong knowledge of testing, CI/CD, observability and production support
• Ability to clearly explain technical trade-offs and alternative approaches
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction