Full-Stack Engineer with Design Taste

Truss; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Professional development budget

Remote/hybrid flexibility

Job summary

Truss is looking for a Full-Stack Engineer with a strong design sense to own product surfaces from design to code. This pivotal role involves working directly with founders to create user-friendly interfaces.

You will utilize your expertise in Django, React, and PostgreSQL while enjoying the flexibility of remote or hybrid work options. Ideal candidates have a solid background in real-time strategy games and must provide live project URLs they've designed and shipped.

Qualifications

• 3+ years building production web applications.
• Comfortable in Next.js with SSR and ISR.
• Must be legally authorized to work in Canada or eligible for TN status.

Responsibilities

• Own product surfaces end-to-end — design and code.
• Ship features that construction firms use for payments, invoicing, and onboarding.
• Push our design system forward and improve marketing pages.

Skills

Deep React + TypeScript experience

Strong Django + Python

PostgreSQL expertise

Product design sensibility

Experience with AI tools

Real-time strategy games background

Tools

Cursor

Linear

Job description

Full-Stack Engineer with Design Taste

San Francisco, CA, US / Remote (CA) Full-time • Engineering, Full stack • 4+ years

Sanity Check

1. This role is remote in Canada. Or in-person in San Francisco.
2. We can only sponsor a TN Visa if you come to the San Francisco office (you are a Canadian citizen moving to the US).
3. If you are remote in Canada, you must be a Canadian Citizen or a permanent resident; we will not sponsor your visa.

About the Role

This isn't a role where you'll be picking from a Figma library someone else built or shipping CRUD screens that look like every other B2B SaaS dashboard. You'll own product surfaces end-to-end — design and code — across our web app, back-office, and marketing site, working directly with the founders to ship interfaces that people actually want to use.

Our stack is Django on the API, React + TypeScript on the web client, Next.js for the back-office and marketing surfaces, and Postgres under the hood. We build inside Cursor, manage work in Linear, and use AI tooling as a core part of how we write and ship — not as a gimmick.

If you can't point us at live URLs of work you have personally designed and shipped, this isn't your role. We're not looking for a full-stack engineer who "cares about design." We're looking for someone who would have been a designer in another life and learned to code so they could ship their own work without compromise.

Our Stack

• API: Python / Django
• Web Client: React (TypeScript), Tailwind, storybook for components
• Back-Office & Marketing: Next.js (full-stack)
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Mobile: React Native (not Expo, due to tap-to-phone pmt’s build)
• Infrastructure: GCP, Terraform, GitHub Actions
• AI Agent: In-house, built with Agno (Python)
• Tooling: Cursor, Sentry, Linear, Graphite, Claude design

What You'll Actually Do

• Own product surfaces end-to-end — design and code, from Figma to production, from typography decisions to Django models
• Ship features across the web client and back-office that construction firms use to move real money — payments, invoicing, reconciliation, onboarding flows
• Push our design system forward. Set the bar for how the product looks, feels, and behaves, and bring the rest of the surface up to it.
• Build and rebuild marketing pages that don't look like a Webflow template. Our website should look like the company we want to be.
• Use Cursor and AI-assisted workflows daily — not as a curiosity, as your default
• Make technical and design decisions that matter — we're early enough that what you build now defines the product for years

What We're Looking For

• A personal website plus URLs to live websites and product surfaces you have personally designed and shipped. This is non-negotiable. The links go at the top of your application. We will open them. If you can only send Dribbble shots, Figma prototypes, or a Notion page of screenshots of work you "contributed to," save your time and ours.
• 3+ years building production web applications — you've shipped real products, not just side projects
• Deep React + TypeScript experience — hooks, state management, component architecture, performance, accessibility. This is your frontend home.
• Strong Django + Python — ORM, REST framework, migrations, background tasks. You don't need to be told what select_related does.
• Comfortable in Next.js — App Router, server components, SSR/ISR. You can ship a marketing site that scores well and looks better than it scores.
• Strong with PostgreSQL — schema design, indexes, query optimization. We're a Postgres shop.
• Strong product design sensibility — typography, spacing, hierarchy, motion, restraint. You can hold your own in a Figma file and you have opinions about why things look the way they do.
• Hands‑on experience with Cursor as your development environment (non-negotiable)
• Actively using AI tools in your development workflow — not just curious about them, actually shipping with them
• Experience with Linear or similar modern project management tools for day-to-day work
• Serious background in real-time strategy games — Warcraft 3, StarCraft, StarCraft 2, Age of Empires, or similar (non-negotiable). We believe the strategic thinking, resource management, multitasking under pressure, and rapid decision-making that RTS players develop translate directly to how great engineers operate. If you know what APM means and why it matters, we want to talk to you.
• Must be legally authorized to work in Canada (or eligible for TN status to San Francisco)

Bonus Points

• You've shipped a fintech, payments, or banking product and understand the domain
• You've designed and shipped your own indie product or tool that you maintain in production
• You have strong opinions about CSS, animation, or component API design — and can defend them
• You've built or rebuilt a company's marketing site and the conversion numbers went the right direction
• You've worked at a startup before and thrive in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
• You were ranked Diamond, Master, or higher in any competitive RTS

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and equity — you're joining early and your compensation reflects that
• Remote/hybrid flexibility (Canada-based) or in-person in San Francisco
• Professional development budget and conference attendance
• A small, sharp team where you'll have real ownership and zero bureaucracy
• The chance to be the design voice for our web product and marketing surface, not a function that ships tickets