About the role

Role Overview

Principal Frontend Engineer (Hybrid, San Francisco)

Serve as the technical authority and discipline lead for a high-growth mobile-first web platform in a digital marketplace scaling to billions of transactions per month. You will define long-term frontend strategy, lead architectural modernization, and ensure the system performs reliably during major traffic spikes (drops, live auctions, promotions).

Key Responsibilities

Define and own the architectural vision for all web applications; ensure systems are modular, performant, and resilient at scale.
Modernize frontend architecture: migrate monolith repositories to microservices and deliver new category launches on a 2–3 month cadence.
Design high-concurrency frontend systems capable of supporting 1M+ users in minutes during peak events.
Establish frontend standards across the org: patterns, build pipelines, and best practices.
Partner with product, marketing, and executive leadership to influence the roadmap and manage technical debt as the platform expands into new collectible categories.

Requirements (Mandatory)

8–15 years of frontend engineering experience, including 2+ years in staff/principal roles at B2C companies.
2+ years of architectural leadership with end-to-end ownership of frontend architecture (not just feature delivery).
Experience with a marketplace, e-commerce, or real-time consumer platform (e.g., Goat, StockX, Fanatics, DraftKings, Uber).
Experience designing systems for high-traffic events (drops, auctions, promotions, live transactions) used by real consumers.
React, TypeScript, and Next.js expertise.
AI-native engineering workflow (fluent with Claude and Cursor, and can use an in-house harness).
Strong system architecture and web performance optimization expertise.
Set standards and design direction for a growing distributed team.
Ability to clearly articulate technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders (product, marketing, executives).
Consumer-facing depth building dynamic, user-facing products at scale.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.

Nice-to-haves

Experience with SSR/SSG, AWS, and modern build tools.
Familiarity with adjacent marketplace platforms and real-time consumer systems.

About Career Renew

Career Renew recruits for a client that is building a collectibles-focused digital marketplace. The platform offers grading, authentication, secure vaulting, and digital card pack openings, enabling collectors to curate online showrooms. The role is for a fast-scaling, high-traffic consumer web platform.