Middle Software Engineer - Growth Foundations

Building the Future of Open Finance

Payward - the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks - has spent the last 15 years building one of the most modern and globally accessible financial infrastructure platforms in the industry, built to advance an open, global financial system.

Before you apply, we encourage you to explore our culture page to understand what drives us and how we work.

The team

Founded in 2011, Kraken is one of the world's longest-standing crypto platforms, trusted by over 10 million individuals and institutions across the globe. It offers spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services, with products built for both individual investors and institutional clients.
The Growth Foundations team is a new, dedicated team within Growth focused on establishing foundational frontend infrastructure, best practices, and component systems that serve Kraken's entire .com platform. We are building the standards and tools that enable all frontend development across the organization to move faster, maintain higher quality, and align with modern development practices. The team collaborates closely with Engineering, Product, Marketing, and Design to create a robust component library and establish best practices that set the gold standard for frontend development at Kraken. Our mission is to empower teams across the organization with well-architected, reusable components and clear guidelines that accelerate development while ensuring consistency, quality, and maintainability across all Kraken customer-facing experiences.
This is a fast-moving, delivery-focused team. You'll ship a steady stream of projects rather than settle into long-term platform maintenance, and the work is very UI-heavy.

The opportunity

• Design, build, and ship a comprehensive component library and design system using React.js and our custom-built CMS that serves as the foundation for all .com experiences

• Build and document reusable, accessible components and integrate with our custom CMS to enable dynamic content management and component configuration across the platform

• Deliver polished, pixel-perfect UI implementations that faithfully translate designs into production, working closely with Design to get every detail right

• Move quickly across multiple projects and initiatives, balancing speed of delivery with quality

• Establish and evolve frontend best practices, coding standards, and architectural patterns that become the model for development across the organization

• Create comprehensive component documentation and guidelines that empower developers across teams to build consistently and efficiently

• Set the standard for high-quality code, mentor junior and senior engineers, and significantly influence technical decisions and strategy discussions

• Design and implement scalable, well-documented systems that support growth and complexity across multiple teams and initiatives

• Optimize component performance, accessibility, and developer experience to accelerate team velocity and reduce friction in the development workflow

• Drive process improvements and lead by example, establishing patterns and practices that become foundational to frontend development at Kraken

What you bring

• A keen eye for design and a passion for pixel-perfect implementation

• A strong understanding of component-driven design and reusable architecture patterns

• Experience building and maintaining design systems or component libraries at scale

• A track record of thriving in fast-paced environments and delivering projects quickly

• A passion for establishing best practices and improving developer experience across teams

• Strong communication skills to collaborate with designers, product managers, and engineers across the organization

Skills you should HODL

• 4+ years of experience in software development, with a focus on web and component-driven applications

• Deep understanding of JavaScript/TypeScript and proficiency with React framework

• Strong UI engineering skills, including advanced CSS and translating design mockups into pixel-perfect, responsive interfaces

• Experience building or contributing to design systems or component libraries

• Strong experience with modern frontend build tools and tooling (webpack, vite, etc.)

• Experience with API design and integration (RESTful APIs, GraphQL)

• Proficiency with frontend testing frameworks and component testing best practices

• Experience working with or integrating a CMS (custom-built or headless)

• Strong understanding of web accessibility (WCAG) and UI/UX best practices

• Experience within a large technology organization or fast-growing startup

• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English

Nice to haves

• Knowledge of the cryptocurrency industry and blockchain technology

• Experience with Next.js and server-side rendering patterns

• Familiarity with TypeScript in a large codebase

• Experience mentoring other engineers on component architecture and best practices

Unless a specific application deadline is stated in the job posting, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.

Please note, applicants are permitted to redact or remove information on their resume that identifies age, date of birth, or dates of attendance at or graduation from an educational institution.

We consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, assessing candidates in a manner consistent with the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Our commitment

Payward is powered by people from around the world and we celebrate the diverse talents, backgrounds, contributions, and unique perspectives that everyone brings to the table. We hire based on merit, seeking out people with the right abilities, knowledge, and skills for the job. We encourage you to apply for roles where you don't fully meet the listed requirements, especially if you're passionate or knowledgeable about crypto.

We may ask candidates to complete job-related skills or work-style assessments as part of our hiring process. These assessments evaluate competencies relevant to the role and are applied consistently across candidates for similar positions. Results are considered alongside experience and interviews, and are not the sole basis for any employment decision.

As an equal opportunity employer, we don't tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, whether based on race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.

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