Staff Software Engineer

Crossing Hurdles; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Crossing Hurdles is seeking a Frontend Architect in San Francisco, California, to develop a next-generation AI-native design platform. The role requires 8–12+ years of experience in systems software, particularly with strong WebAssembly and performance engineering skills. Candidates should be capable of designing secure sandboxes for untrusted code execution, guiding technical direction, and mentoring fellow engineers. Compensation ranges from $100k to $300k, inclusive of equity.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building systems software in high-growth tech environments.
• Strong expertise in WebAssembly with knowledge of ABI boundaries and memory models.
• Experience integrating and optimizing JS/TS tooling pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Design and build a high-performance virtual filesystem.
• Drive measurable performance improvements across execution paths.
• Set technical direction for runtime architecture.

Skills

WebAssembly expertise

Building systems software

Full-Stack or Frontend Engineering

Performance engineering

Building high-performance virtual filesystems

JS/TS tooling integration

Job description

Crossing Hurdles is a global recruitment consultancy partnering with a startup who is building a next-generation AI-native design platform where every visual edit becomes real, executable code in real time with lean team of 19 members and funding of $44M backed by leaders from Microsoft, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Notion.

Role: Frontend Architect - WebAssembly & Bundling

Compensation: $100k - $300k + Equity

Experience: 8–12+ years (3+ years owning runtime/platform architecture)

Work Model: IC role (Not a people-management position)

Collaboration: Willing to overlap with the India team (early mornings/evenings in US)

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience building systems software in high-growth tech environments
• Experience as a Full-Stack or Frontend Engineer
• Strong WebAssembly (WASM) expertise — ABI boundaries, memory models, host interfaces
• Experience integrating and optimizing JS/TS tooling pipelines
• Performance engineering discipline with measurable improvements (cold start, incremental builds, memory)
• Experience building high-performance virtual filesystems (in-memory + persistence, caching, module resolution)
• Design and build a high-performance virtual filesystem
• Integrate and optimize bundling and tooling pipelines
• Drive measurable performance improvements across execution paths
• Design secure sandboxing and isolation for untrusted code execution
• Set technical direction for runtime architecture
• Mentor engineers while remaining a hands‑on individual contributor