Staff Software Engineer, Electron & Browser Infrastructure - Slack Desktop

salesforce.com, inc.; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 197,300 - 313,700; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

Paid parental leave

401(k) plan

Job summary

salesforce.com, inc. seeks a Staff Software Engineer for Slack's Desktop team to lead architectural initiatives and improve the desktop framework. This role requires 10+ years in client-side development, specifically React and Typescript, along with deep experience in Chromium.

You will contribute to systems powering Slack desktop client and work closely with teams to ensure performance and stability. Ideal candidates will excel in communication and have a strong understanding of web and desktop development.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience writing client-side code (React + Typescript) for modern web applications at scale.
• Experience contributing to large scale open source projects.
• Ability to build complex systems and tooling with strategic architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional initiatives to increase developer productivity and OS stability.
• Contribute to architectural decisions for frontend and desktop infrastructure.
• Maintain and improve core systems for the Slack desktop client.

Skills

Client-side development (React + Typescript)

Deep Chromium experience

Performance profiling and debugging

Communication skills

Job description

Slack is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our Desktop team within the Architecture & Systems organization. While most frontend roles focus on building user-facing features, this role is dedicated to building the Desktop Framework – the architectural foundation that underpins the Slack desktop client across all platforms. The team is heavily involved within the Electron open source project, ensuring the continued success and sustainability of the Electron ecosystem on behalf of Slack. We are looking for an engineer who has deep expertise within Google's Chromium project, who is eager to lead cross‑functional efforts to uphold Slack security, performance, and stability within the web and desktop client. This engineer should love to keep up to date with the evolving capabilities of browser and desktop development, be excited about the opportunity to increase developer efficiency and iterate on desktop security and development best practices alongside the rest of the Desktop and Frontend teams, and look forward to opportunities to collaborate across companies to align interests on a unified Electron vision. Our success depends on working closely with other teams at Slack and at other companies, so communication and collaboration skills are a must. This is an opportunity to work on a team of skilled and impactful engineers that directly affects how Slack's desktop client is built.

What you will be doing:

• Strategic Leadership: You will lead cross functional initiatives across Electron and at Slack associated with increasing developer productivity, OS level stability, performance, or security alongside desktop and frontend stakeholders.
• Technical Standards: You will be contributing to key architectural decisions to adapt our existing frontend and desktop infrastructure to support new product features.
• Navigating Ambiguity: You will thrive in ambiguity, often identifying and offering solutions to problems, like framework migrations or rendering bottlenecks, that are not yet evident to the leaders who presented them.
• System Health: You will maintain and improve the core systems that power the Slack desktop client and Electron framework, including Slack and Electron‑based infrastructure and tooling.
• Mentorship & Culture: You will build a safe space for learning and serve as a skilled and trusted mentor to engineers across the organization, developing the ability to coach new leaders rather than just individual contributors.
• Cross‑Functional Execution: You will collaborate with teammates across engineering to identify, define, and solve strategically important initiatives, acting as a leader in communication to de‑escalate conflicts and drive consensus.

What you should have:

• 10+ years of experience writing client‑side code (React + Typescript) for modern web applications at scale.
• Deep Chromium experience, or experience contributing to large scale open source projects.
• Development at Scale: Experience working in a large‑scale, shared codebase with hundreds of contributors, where you have successfully established patterns that allow other teams to contribute effectively without friction. Experience writing understandable, testable code with an eye towards maintainability and scalability.
• Strategic Architecture: Expertise in building complex systems and tooling, with the ability to lead technical design that guides the best decisions across the team.
• Business Alignment: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to tie technical infrastructure your work succinctly to company goals like performance, reliability and developer velocity. Routinely and facilitates dialogue between junior and senior members to surface blockers.
• Technical Breadth: Experience working with performance profiling and debugging tools for web based desktop applications. Familiarity with desktop development, along with the ability to understand and explain technical trade‑offs and complexities.
• Self‑Awareness: A commitment to proactively offering regular, constructive feedback and gracefully receiving it to improve yourself and the team culture.
• Eagerness to learn, but similar excitement to teach.
• Understanding that the perfect solution is informed by the people who will be building on your work, rather than being purely dependent on technical merits. Empathy is a feature.

Bonus Points:

• Experience contributing to the engineering reputation externally (e.g., blog posts, speaking at conferences, open source contributions).
• Experience developing on Windows and maintaining build infrastructure for Windows desktop applications.
• Experience in fast‑paced and dynamic product development environments.

Accommodations:

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Posting Statement:

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. This means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. We can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that is inclusive, and free from discrimination. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at https://www.salesforcebenefits.com. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions. The typical base salary range for this position is $197,300 – $313,700 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $237,700 – $344,700 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.