Sr. AI Desktop Engineer

Photon; Tempe (AZ); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

None

Job summary

Photon is seeking an experienced software engineer to design, build, and ship enterprise-grade desktop applications using Electron for macOS and Windows. You will collaborate with design teams to deliver fast, intuitive UX and integrate advanced AI features, including LLMs and RAG, into end-user workflows.

You will automate complex desktop workflows, ensure secure integrations, and own release processes with signing, notarization, and auto-updates across multi‑platform environments.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building and shipping production cross-platform desktop applications with Electron on macOS and Windows.
• Strong focus on user experience, partnering with design, prototyping and testing with real users, delivering fast, accessible interfaces for non-technical corporate staff.
• Experience automating workflows into desktop-first digital processes, including local caching, syncing, notifications, and multi-window experiences.
• Experience integrating AI-enabled services into desktop apps, including LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, agent/workflow orchestration, and responsible AI safeguards.
• Strong API and integration skills: REST, GraphQL, and event-driven services, collaborating with backend engineers for performance and resilience.
• Desktop release and quality practices: code signing/notarization, auto-update channels, enterprise distribution via MDM, CI/CD for multi-platform builds, monitoring, automated UI testing, phased rollouts.
• Backend familiarity in Python or similar, with cloud fluency (Azure/AWS/GCP), containers, CI/CD, and observability to extend Tulip services as needed.
• Security: OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, enterprise SSO, local data protection, secrets management.
• Excellent communication to translate observed work processes into technical designs and executable engineering work.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering/IS or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and ship cross‑platform desktop apps with Electron on macOS and Windows.
• Partner with design to deliver fast, accessible UX and prototype/test with real users.
• Automate desktop workflows with local caching, sync, notifications, and multi‑window experiences.
• Integrate AI features (LLMs, RAG, agentic workflows) into end‑user applications.
• Consume and shape REST/GraphQL/event streams; collaborate with backend teams for performance.
• Lead desktop release processes: signing, notarization, auto‑updates, and enterprise distribution.
• Ensure security and SSO integration; manage secrets and data protection.
• Communicate with stakeholders to translate needs into concrete engineering work.

Job description

Client is investing in enterprise AI capabilities to accelerate delivery, enable self-service technology, and help teams solve meaningful business problems faster. Tulip is a strategic AI platform that provides reusable patterns, tools, and services to make AI-enabled solution delivery easier, safer, and more scalable across the organization. Increasingly, Tulip reaches the business through desktop applications used every day by corporate, support center, and operations teams across Mac and Windows.

The ideal candidate is a pragmatic builder and strong technical partner who obsesses over the end-user experience, holds desktop software to a native-quality bar on both macOS and Windows, navigates ambiguity, and consistently delivers high-quality, AI-enabled desktop solutions aligned to business priorities.

Job Qualifications

8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant hands-on experience building and shipping production cross-platform desktop applications with Electron (or comparable frameworks) on both macOS and Windows.

Demonstrated focus on user experience: partnering with design, prototyping and testing with real users, and shipping interfaces that are fast, accessible, and intuitive for non-technical corporate and operations staff.

Experience automating manual and fragmented workflows into desktop-first digital processes, including local caching and sync, background and long-running tasks, native OS notifications, deep links and protocol handlers, file system and clipboard integration, and multi-window experiences.

Experience integrating AI-enabled services into end-user applications, including large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, agent or workflow orchestration, conversational and voice interfaces, and responsible AI guardrails at the point of use.

Strong API and integration skills: consuming and shaping REST, GraphQL, and event-driven services, and working with backend and platform engineers to make desktop clients performant and resilient.

Experience with desktop release and quality practices: code signing and macOS notarization, auto-update channels, enterprise distribution through Intune, Jamf, or comparable MDM, CI/CD for multi-platform builds, crash and performance monitoring, automated UI testing, and phased rollouts.

Working proficiency in Python or a comparable backend language, with enough platform and cloud fluency (Azure, AWS, or GCP; containers; CI/CD; observability) to extend Tulip services where the desktop experience requires it.

Experience securing desktop and enterprise integrations, including OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect, enterprise SSO on managed Mac and Windows endpoints, local data protection using the OS keychain and credential vault, and secrets management.

Strong communication skills, with the ability to work directly with corporate and operations teams to observe how work actually gets done and translate that into technical designs and executable engineering work.

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field preferred, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience building desktop or internal productivity applications for corporate, support center, finance, or operations teams in complex enterprise environments.

Experience with design systems, accessibility standards, usability testing, and instrumenting product analytics to measure adoption and task completion.

Familiarity with Azure AI, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Fabric, vector search, prompt orchestration, or agentic AI frameworks, and with enterprise AI governance and responsible AI controls.

Experience integrating desktop applications with enterprise systems such as Microsoft 365, ERP, ticketing, HRIS, data platforms, or identity providers.

Experience working in retail, restaurant, ecommerce, loyalty, finance, supply chain, or high-volume enterprise environments.

Experience partnering with product managers, designers, business analysts, forward deployed engineers, and enterprise architects to move ideas from user discovery to delivery.

Skills

Cross-platform desktop application engineering with Electron on macOS and Windows

User experience design partnership, prototyping, usability testing, and accessibility

Native-feeling desktop UX, OS integration, notifications, and performance and memory tuning

API, integration, and eventing patterns across enterprise and AI services

LLM, RAG, agentic workflows, and AI evaluation applied to end-user experiences

Python, SQL, cloud-native engineering, and secure service design

Desktop CI/CD, code signing and notarization, auto-update and release management, crash and performance monitoring, and automated testing

User discovery, stakeholder communication, and translating operational needs into product

Peer mentorship, engineering standards, design reviews, and code quality

These KRAs describe the primary outcomes expected from this role and how success will be evaluated.

Desktop Experience and Product Delivery

Design, build, and ship desktop applications on Tulip that corporate, support center, and operations teams find fast, intuitive, and worth using every day.

Example Measures: Adoption and active usage, task completion time, user satisfaction, crash-free sessions

Workflow Automation on the Desktop