Senior iOS Engineer

Cantina, Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Health insurance (medical, dental, and

Vision coverage

Job summary

Cantina Labs is seeking an experienced iOS Engineer to lead the development of high-performance features for our flagship social AI platform. You will craft personalized feeds, immersive UIs, and AI-powered media features, working closely with product, design, and cross-functional teams.

We value experts in custom graphics, animation pipelines, and media technologies who can deliver scalable, polished experiences for a large user base.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of iOS development experience.
• Fluency in Swift, UIKit, and Objective-C with graphics/animation foundations.
• Readable, maintainable, well-documented, tested code.
• Experience integrating RESTful APIs and Git workflows.
• Basic understanding of Figma for spacing/sizing (export icons optional).
• Video editing or real-time media features a plus.
• Ability to translate product/UX requirements into code.
• Knowledge of scalable, reusable components and attention to motion details.

Responsibilities

• Work with UIKit, AVFoundation, Combine, Core Animation and more.
• Lead development of new AI and media-driven features.
• Build and optimize video/audio pipelines and real-time media effects.
• Participate in Architecture meetings to uphold quality standards.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, and QA to ship polished experiences.
• Own features in a small team delivering to a large user base.
• Contribute in a supportive team with constructive feedback.

Skills

Swift

Objective-C

custom graphics

animation frameworks

RESTful APIs

Git

Figma

video editing

real-time media features

modular components

attention to detail

Tools

UIKit

AVFoundation

Combine

Core Animation

Job description

Cantina Labs is a social AI company, developing a suite of advanced real-time models that push the boundaries of expression, personality, and realism. We bring characters to life, transforming how people tell stories, connect, and create. We build and power ecosystems. Cantina, our flagship social AI platform, is just the beginning.

If you're excited about the potential AI has to shape human creativity and social interactions, join us in building the future!

About the Role:

As an iOS Engineer at Cantina, you’ll lead the development of innovative, high-performance features — from crafting personalized feeds and immersive custom UIs to empowering bots with AI-driven capabilities like chatting, text-to-speech, voice selection, image creation, and real-time media effects.

Working closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Sean Parker, you’ll influence the direction of a product central to the company’s mission, move quickly to deliver impactful updates, and enjoy the autonomy to bring your ideas to life.

We’re looking for someone who thrives on pushing the limits of iOS development and has a passion for creating visually stunning, high-performance experiences. Your expertise in custom graphics, animation frameworks, and media pipelines will help shape the creative foundation of our flagship app, elevating both user experience and innovation in the social AI space.

What You’ll Do:

• Work with frameworks and technologies like UIKit, AVFoundation, Combine, Core Animation, and more.
• Lead development of new AI and media-driven features.
• Build and optimize video/audio pipelines, real-time media effects, and AI-powered visual features.
• Participate in Architecture meetings to help ensure our apps meet the highest quality standards.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, and QA teams to deliver polished, scalable experiences.
• Take ownership of features — be part of a small team that ships an application to a large user base.
• Be part of an incredibly supportive team that values feedback, both positive and career-growth oriented.

What You’ll Bring:

• 8+ years of experience developing iOS applications, or equivalent education.
• Fluency in Swift, UIKit, and Objective-C, with a strong foundation in custom graphics and animation frameworks.
• Ability to write readable, maintainable, documented, and thoroughly tested code.
• Experience developing integrations with RESTful APIs.
• Proficiency with Git and version control workflows.
• Basic understanding of Figma — able to determine spacing and sizing; bonus if you can export icons and understand variables.
• Experience with video editing, real-time media effects, or AI-driven media features is a plus.
• Ability to effectively translate Product, UX, and UI requirements into code.
• Skilled at evaluating and communicating engineering solutions and trade-offs to teammates and potentially non-technical stakeholders.
• Can create scalable and reusable components that are flexible and modular.
• Attention to detail, motion, and animation.

Compensation:

The anticipated annual base salary range for this role is between $180,000-$240,000. When determining compensation, a number of factors will be considered, including skills, experience, job scope, location, and competitive compensation market data.

• Competitive salary and generous company equity
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance – 99.99% of premiums covered by Cantina
• 42 days of paid time off, including:
  • 15 PTO days
  • 15 company holidays
  • 2 floating holidays
• Generous parental leave & fertility support
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Lifestyle spending account – $500/month to use however you’d like
• Complimentary lunch and snacks for in-office employees