Staff Software Engineer, Front End

YOUR MISSION

Software is the central nervous system for True Anomaly's engineering and product thesis. Software bridges the gap between military objectives, theoretical astrodynamics and the human and autonomous control of spacecraft and ground systems in time and space. True Anomaly is seeking an exceptional Staff Front End Software Engineer to lead the technical direction and evolution of our complex spacecraft modeling and simulation software.

This is a high-impact, strategic leadership role. You'll define and drive the frontend technical roadmap, lead cross-functional initiatives that span engineering, product, and operations, and establish the architectural foundations that will scale our platform for years to come. You'll identify strategic technical investments, champion them across the organization, and lead their execution. You won't just build features—you'll shape the product direction, influence company objectives, and mentor the engineers who will build the next generation of our platform. When you see systemic issues affecting velocity or quality, you'll diagnose root causes, build consensus around solutions, and drive organizational change to address them.

You do not need to have experience building space ground systems or experience in aerospace. You'll lead high-priority, greenfield initiatives with strategic importance to the company and a chance to fundamentally impact the outcome of future conflict (and the future of the company), all while enjoying world-class benefits including platinum healthcare, flexible work hours/location, highly competitive compensation and a generous stock options package.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead and deliver large-scale, cross-functional frontend initiatives that align with strategic company objectives, from technical vision through production deployment and long-term evolution
• Define and drive the frontend technical roadmap and architectural strategy, establishing patterns, frameworks, and systems that enable the entire engineering organization to move faster
• Serve as the primary technical decision-maker for frontend architecture, evaluating and adopting new technologies, and establishing engineering standards that balance innovation with maintainability
• Proactively identify systemic technical debt, scalability challenges, and architectural limitations—then build business cases, secure buy-in, and lead multi-quarter initiatives to address them
• Elevate the engineering organization through technical mentorship, establishing best practices, leading design reviews, and developing the skills of senior, mid-level, and junior engineers
• Partner with executive leadership, product, design, backend engineering, space operations, and astrodynamics teams as a key technical stakeholder, influencing product strategy and company direction
• Drive engineering efficiency and excellence by establishing metrics, tooling, and processes that improve code quality, deployment velocity, and developer experience
• Build and maintain technical documentation, architectural decision records, and knowledge-sharing systems that scale organizational learning
• Represent the frontend engineering perspective in strategic planning, resource allocation, and cross-company technical decisions
• Identify and develop emerging technical leaders within the team, creating growth pathways and opportunities for engineers to expand their impact

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN THIS ROLE 

• You recognize that the team is repeatedly solving similar problems in different ways—you design and champion a unified framework, drive its adoption across teams, and measure its impact on velocity
• You identify a fundamental scalability limitation in the frontend architecture before it becomes a crisis—you build a compelling case with data, present it to leadership, secure a quarter of engineering time, and lead the migration
• You're involved in early product strategy discussions, not just implementation—you're shaping what we build by contributing technical insights about feasibility, risk, and opportunity
• A critical production issue arises affecting multiple teams—you quickly establish incident command, coordinate the response, drive it to resolution, and lead the post-mortem that prevents recurrence
• You see a pattern of technical decisions being made in isolation—you establish a lightweight architectural review process that improves decisions while respecting team autonomy
• You're asked about the 6-month frontend roadmap and can articulate not just what's being built, but why it matters, what success looks like, what the risks are, and what alternatives were considered
• Junior and mid-level engineers come to you not because they're stuck on a problem, but because they want to validate their architectural thinking—and you help them grow as technical decision-makers
• You notice the team is spending 30% of their time on a particular class of bug—you trace it to a root architectural cause, propose a fundamental rework, and lead its implementation
• You disagree with a strategic product or technical decision being made at the executive level—you present a well-researched alternative with clear tradeoffs and business impact, influencing the final direction

QUALIFICATIONS

• 12-14 years of software development experience (or 8+ years with a Master's degree, or 5+ years with a PhD)
• Expert-level mastery of HTML/CSS and modern TypeScript/JavaScript, including deep understanding of performance optimization, browser internals, memory management, and runtime characteristics
• Deep expertise in modern React and the broader frontend ecosystem, including architectural patterns for large-scale applications, advanced state management, performance profiling and optimization, and emerging frontend technologies
• Proven track record of establishing comprehensive testing strategies across unit, integration, and end-to-end layers, including championing testing culture and tooling adoption
• Extensive experience designing, building, and evolving component libraries, design systems, and frontend infrastructure that serve multiple teams and products
• Expert-level understanding of distributed systems integration patterns including gRPC, REST, WebSockets, and GraphQL, with experience influencing API design and backend architecture decisions
• Demonstrated ability to work full-stack when necessary, with enough backend and infrastructure knowledge to make informed architectural decisions and unblock teams
• History of leading technical initiatives in Git-based workflows, establishing code review standards, and fostering collaborative engineering culture
• U.S. Citizen and eligible for DoD Secret or TS/SCI clearance

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Strong engineering background in Software Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Science, or related technical fields
• Proven experience as a technical lead, staff engineer, or principal engineer on production systems with significant user bases and business-critical requirements
• Track record of leading large-scale migrations, architectural overhauls, or platform rewrites while maintaining product velocity
• Deep expertise building and optimizing complex, data-intensive applications with demanding performance requirements (real-time processing, large-scale datasets, complex visualizations, distributed systems)
• Advanced proficiency with Three.js, React Three Fiber, WebGL, or other web-based 3D rendering technologies, including low-level performance optimization and shader programming
• Experience bridging engineering and design through deep UI/UX collaboration, design systems development, and tools like Figma—able to influence design decisions with technical constraints and possibilities
• Experience in highly regulated industries (aerospace, defense, healthcare, finance) with understanding of compliance, security, and operational constraints
• Practical space industry or aerospace experience
• Published technical writing, open source contributions, or conference speaking that demonstrates thought leadership
• Exceptional communication skills that enable you to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels of the organization

COMPENSATION

• Base Salary: $175,000-$230,000
• Equity + Benefits including Health, Dental, Vision, HRA/HSA options, PTO and paid holidays, 401K, Parental Leave 

Your actual level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, location, and experience. 

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Work Location—Successful candidates will be located near Long Beach, Denver or Colorado Springs. This role requires four days a week onsite with one day remote. 
• Work environment—the work environment; temperature, noise level, inside or outside, or other factors that will affect the person's working conditions while performing the job.
• Physical demands—the physical demands of the job, including bending, sitting, lifting and driving.

This position will be open until it is successfully filled. To submit your application, please follow the directions below.
#LI-Onsite