Senior Full Stack Engineer - Core UX (New York)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Full Stack Engineer - Core UX

Company: Kalepa

Location: New York, NY (Hybrid)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Software Engineering / User Experience

Date Posted: December 15, 2025

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Focus on refining and enhancing existing product functionality to deliver an exceptional user experience within the Core UX team.

• Ensure product consistency, maintain a cohesive visual identity, and implement performance improvements that directly benefit end-users.

• Collaborate with a global team of full-stack, data, ML, and DevOps engineers to build scalable backend solutions.

• Drive iterative improvements, prioritize quality, and actively shape the everyday experience of Kalepa's users.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is for a Senior Full Stack Engineer, the "Core UX" designation and description emphasize a strong focus on front-end development, user experience refinement, and visual polish. This suggests a need for engineers who can bridge the gap between robust backend architecture and a seamless, high-quality user interface.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of features aimed at enhancing user interface consistency, responsiveness, and overall user experience.

• Collaborate closely with product managers and designers to translate user needs and design specifications into high-quality, well-crafted code.

• Optimize application performance, focusing on speed, efficiency, and a premium, polished feel for end-users.

• Debug complex issues across the stack, ensuring robust and reliable functionality, and proactively identify areas for improvement.

• Contribute to backend development, including building scalable solutions using serverless technologies and asynchronous workflows.

• Participate in system design discussions, architectural decisions, and the continuous improvement of development processes and tooling.

• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to a culture of technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning within the engineering team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "refining existing product functionality" and "iterative improvement" suggests that this role will involve deep dives into current codebase and user journeys, rather than solely new feature development. A strong understanding of UX principles and the ability to translate them into actionable code is paramount.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is typically expected for a Senior Engineer role. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.

Experience: 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a demonstrated track record of improving and polishing functionalities to deliver a premium user experience.

Required Skills:

• Software Engineering Fundamentals: Strong expertise in core software engineering principles, system design, debugging, and problem-solving.

• Front-End Frameworks: Proven experience with modern front-end frameworks, with a preference for React.

• Programming Languages: Proficiency in Javascript and Typescript; Python is also highly valued, with openness to strong candidates from other Object-Oriented programming backgrounds.

• Serverless Technologies: Experience with serverless architectures (e.g., AWS Lambda) and cloud environments.

• Asynchronous Workflows: Understanding and practical application of asynchronous programming and workflow management.

• Relational Databases: Comfort and experience with relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL.

• Ownership & Drive: Ability to take full ownership of work, drive projects to completion with minimal oversight, and embody "hustle & grit."

• Communication: Proactive communication skills, including surfacing blockers, asking pertinent questions, and keeping stakeholders informed.

• Experimentation Mindset: A willingness to test ideas, measure results, and iterate quickly on novel problems.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI.

• Experience with distributed systems.

• Familiarity with other object-oriented programming languages.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "5+ years of software engineering experience" coupled with the "Senior" title indicates that candidates should possess a strong foundation in best practices, architecture, and potentially leadership, even if not explicitly stated as a management role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• User Experience Case Studies: Showcase projects where you significantly improved user experience, focusing on the iterative process, design choices, and measurable outcomes.

• Performance Optimization Examples: Provide examples of how you identified and resolved performance bottlenecks, detailing the tools and methodologies used to achieve faster load times or smoother interactions.

• System Design Contributions: Highlight instances where you contributed to system design, especially concerning scalability, maintainability, and integration of front-end and back-end components.

• Code Quality Demonstrations: Include examples of well-structured, maintainable code, potentially from open-source contributions or personal projects, emphasizing clean architecture and best practices.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Demonstrate understanding of how to map, analyze, and optimize user workflows for efficiency and intuitiveness.

• Iterative Development Methodologies: Showcase experience with agile development, A/B testing, and rapid prototyping to validate and refine solutions based on user feedback and data.

• Performance Measurement & Analysis: Illustrate how you track, measure, and report on key performance indicators related to user experience and application speed.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the "Core UX" focus, a portfolio that visually demonstrates UI polish, interactive elements, and seamless transitions will be highly impactful. Quantifiable improvements in user engagement, task completion rates, or performance metrics are crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $185,000 - $215,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary (based on experience level).

• Significant equity options package, aligning individual success with company growth.

• Work with an ambitious, smart, global, and fun team transforming a $1T global industry.

• 20 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) per year, offering ample opportunity for rest and rejuvenation.

• Global team offsites, fostering team cohesion and cross-cultural collaboration.

• Phone reimbursement, covering personal mobile communication expenses.

• Gym reimbursement, supporting employee health and wellness initiatives.

• Student stipend, potentially assisting with ongoing education or professional development.

Working Hours: The role is designated as full-time, typically implying around 40 hours per week. The hybrid work arrangement offers flexibility in how these hours are structured, balancing office presence with remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is explicitly stated as an estimate and will vary based on factors including relevant experience, interview performance, and geographic location. This is a standard disclaimer but emphasizes the importance of demonstrating strong qualifications during the interview process.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Commercial Insurance Technology (Insurtech), specifically focused on AI-driven underwriting solutions.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the mention of a "global team" and backing by VCs like IA Ventures and Inspired Capital suggests a growth-stage startup, likely in the range of 50-200 employees. This size offers an environment with significant individual impact and rapid growth potential.

Founded: The founding date is not specified, but the company's focus on AI and its current stage imply a relatively recent founding, likely within the last 5-10 years.

Team Structure:

• Global Engineering Team: Comprised of full-stack, data, ML, and DevOps engineers working collaboratively.

• Core UX Team: A specialized unit focused on user experience refinement, likely working closely with product and design.

• Reporting: Senior engineers are expected to work with minimal oversight, implying a flat or semi-flat hierarchy where contributions are valued based on merit and impact.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Strong emphasis on collaboration across different engineering disciplines and with product/design teams to achieve business objectives.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Emphasis on measuring results and iterating based on data, particularly in the context of AI and user experience improvements.

• Agile & Iterative Development: The "Experimentation" value and focus on rapid testing, measuring, and iterating point to agile methodologies and a lean approach to development.

• Customer-Centric Process: Ruthless prioritization of work that drives client growth and solves strategic problems, ensuring development efforts are aligned with customer needs.

Company Website: https://www.kalepa.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Kalepa's stated values ("Hustle & Grit," "Customer Focus," "Meritocracy," "Transparency," "Experimentation") are critical to understanding the company culture. The description explicitly states the culture "isn't for everyone," highlighting the need for candidates who resonate with a fast-paced, high-performance, and transparent environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned at a Senior Engineer level, indicating a need for experienced professionals capable of independent work, complex problem-solving, and potentially mentoring others. The focus on "Core UX" suggests a specialization within the broader engineering function.

Reporting Structure: Senior engineers are expected to take full ownership and drive projects with minimal oversight, likely reporting to an Engineering Manager or Director. Collaboration is key, but individual contribution and initiative are highly valued.

Operations Impact: Engineers at Kalepa have an outsized impact on both technology and business. By refining the user experience and improving product functionality, this role directly contributes to client success, retention, and the overall growth and profitability of Kalepa. The AI Copilot platform's success is directly tied to its user experience.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in React, serverless technologies, LLMs, or distributed systems within a challenging and innovative environment.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to mentor junior engineers, lead feature development, and influence technical direction within the Core UX team and beyond.

• Career Progression: Kalepa's "Meritocracy" value suggests rapid promotions and compensation growth for those who deliver tremendous results, offering a clear path for advancement within the engineering organization.

• Industry Impact: Contribute to transforming the commercial insurance industry through cutting-edge AI technology, gaining valuable experience in a high-growth Insurtech sector.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "Meritocracy" and "rapid promotions" suggests that candidates who demonstrate exceptional performance and leadership potential can expect accelerated career growth at Kalepa, beyond typical senior-level progression.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. This indicates a blend of in-office collaboration and remote work flexibility. The specific cadence of in-office days is not detailed but is common for hybrid roles.

Office Location(s): New York, NY. This provides access to a major tech hub with opportunities for in-person collaboration with local team members.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and global team structure encourage collaboration through various digital tools and scheduled in-office days.

• Technology & Tools: Engineers will have access to modern development tools and cloud environments necessary for building scalable and performant applications.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with a diverse, global team of engineers, fostering a rich learning and problem-solving environment. The mention of global offsites reinforces the company's commitment to team bonding and collaboration.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours/week) with a hybrid arrangement offering flexibility. The "Hustle & Grit" value suggests that while flexibility exists, dedication to achieving goals and meeting deadlines is paramount, potentially involving intense periods of work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature combined with a global remote team means that strong asynchronous communication skills and proficiency with collaboration tools are essential for success.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and alignment with company values.

• Technical Interviews: Expect multiple rounds focusing on coding, system design, debugging, and problem-solving. These may include live coding sessions, take-home assignments, or whiteboard exercises.

• Core UX Deep Dive: Specific interviews focusing on your experience with user experience refinement, UI polish, and performance optimization, likely involving portfolio review.

• Behavioral/Values Interview: Assessment of alignment with Kalepa's core values (Hustle & Grit, Customer Focus, Meritocracy, Transparency, Experimentation).

• Manager/Team Fit Interview: Discussion with hiring managers or potential team members to evaluate collaboration style and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for UX Impact: Select projects that clearly demonstrate your ability to enhance user experience, focusing on the "before and after" of your contributions.

• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, use metrics to showcase the impact of your work (e.g., improved load times, increased user engagement, reduced error rates).

• Showcase Technical Depth: Include examples that highlight your proficiency in React, Typescript, serverless technologies, and database management.

• Explain Your Process: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your approach, the technologies used, the challenges faced, and the solutions implemented.

• Highlight Collaboration: If applicable, describe how you collaborated with designers, product managers, or other engineers.

Challenge Preparation:

• System Design Scenarios: Be prepared for system design questions that might involve scaling applications, designing APIs, or architecting solutions for complex user flows.

• Coding Challenges: Practice coding problems, especially those involving algorithms, data structures, and front-end component design, using Javascript/Typescript.

• Debugging Scenarios: Anticipate questions that require you to diagnose and resolve issues in code or system behavior.

• Value Alignment: Prepare examples from your past experiences that exemplify Kalepa's core values, particularly "Hustle & Grit" and "Experimentation."

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "refining existing product functionality" means interviewers will likely probe deeply into how you approach improving established codebases, not just building new features from scratch. Be ready to discuss your strategies for code maintenance, refactoring, and performance tuning.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Front-End: React, Javascript, Typescript.

• Back-End: Serverless technologies (AWS Lambda), asynchronous workflows, Python (or other OO languages).

• Databases: PostgreSQL (or other relational databases).

• Cloud Platform: AWS (implied by Lambda and general cloud environment experience).

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this engineering role's core responsibilities, but understanding how front-end interactions might feed into CRM or business automation systems could be a plus.

📝 Enhancement Note: The stack is modern and cloud-native, with a strong emphasis on JavaScript/TypeScript for both front-end and potentially back-end (Node.js/Lambda). Experience with AWS services, particularly serverless compute, is a significant advantage.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Hustle & Grit: Expect demanding work, a relentless pursuit of excellence, and a high pace of development. This value drives Kalepa's speed and determination as key differentiators.

• Customer Focus: All work is prioritized based on its impact on clients' growth, profitability, and efficiency. The goal is to solve strategic customer problems, not just build interesting technology.

• Meritocracy: Exceptional results are rewarded with rapid promotions and compensation growth. Individuals who excel are encouraged to lead and thrive without bureaucratic limitations.

• Transparency: Open and honest communication is paramount. Issues are addressed directly, and information is shared freely to facilitate quick problem-solving.

• Experimentation: A willingness to tackle novel problems by quickly testing, measuring, and iterating is fundamental to Kalepa's innovation process.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Engineers are expected to collaborate closely with product, design, and other engineering disciplines (Data, ML, DevOps) to achieve common goals.

• Proactive Communication: Transparency is key, so engineers must proactively communicate blockers, progress, and insights to relevant stakeholders.

• Knowledge Sharing: The global and diverse nature of the team encourages sharing best practices and learnings, likely facilitated through code reviews, internal documentation, and team meetings.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates must be prepared to demonstrate how they embody these values. Specific examples of hustle, customer focus, transparency, and experimentation will be crucial during interviews.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling a Growing Platform: As Kalepa's client base and product suite expand, maintaining performance and consistency across the platform will be an ongoing challenge.

• Balancing Polish with Speed: Delivering a premium user experience requires meticulous attention to detail, which must be balanced with the rapid iteration and development pace expected at a startup.

• Innovating in a Traditional Industry: Transforming a legacy industry like commercial insurance with AI requires navigating unique challenges related to data, regulation, and adoption.

• Maintaining Cohesion in a Global, Hybrid Team: Ensuring consistent communication, collaboration, and culture across geographically dispersed team members working in a hybrid model.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into AI/ML Integration: Gain hands-on experience with how AI and generative models are integrated into enterprise software and impact user workflows.

• Advanced Front-End & Cloud Skills: Opportunities to master modern frameworks like React and advanced cloud-native technologies, particularly serverless architectures.

• Industry Transformation: Contribute to a company that is actively disrupting a massive, traditional industry, offering unique insights into Insurtech.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Develop leadership skills by mentoring junior engineers and potentially leading technical initiatives within the Core UX team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Experimentation" value directly addresses the challenge of solving novel problems. Candidates should be comfortable with ambiguity and view challenges as opportunities for innovation and learning.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Core UX Strategy: "How would you approach refining the user experience of an existing feature to improve its perceived quality and performance? Walk me through your process, including how you'd measure success." (Focus on iterative improvement, user-centric design, and metrics).

• Technical Problem-Solving: "Describe a complex debugging challenge you faced involving front-end and back-end interaction. How did you diagnose and resolve it?" (Highlight systematic debugging, communication, and technical depth).

• Collaboration & Values: "Tell me about a time you demonstrated 'Hustle & Grit' to overcome a significant obstacle on a project. How did your transparency or experimentation mindset contribute to the solution?" (Prepare specific anecdotes that align with Kalepa's values).

Company & Culture Questions:

• Company Mission: "What excites you about Kalepa's mission to transform the commercial insurance industry with AI?" (Research Kalepa's impact and market position).

• Cultural Fit: "How do you align with Kalepa's values, particularly Meritocracy and Customer Focus? Provide examples from your career." (Be ready to discuss how you thrive in a results-oriented, customer-centric environment).

• Team Dynamics: "How do you prefer to collaborate with designers and product managers to ensure a high-quality user experience?" (Emphasize proactive communication and shared ownership).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Visual Storytelling: Use screenshots, GIFs, or short videos to showcase the UI improvements and polish you've implemented.

• Process Walkthrough: Clearly explain the problem, your technical approach, the iterations you made, and the measurable impact of your contributions.

• Highlight Key Technologies: Explicitly mention your use of React, Typescript, serverless, and PostgreSQL where relevant to demonstrate technical proficiency.

• Focus on Impact: Frame your projects around the business or user value they delivered, not just the technical implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: Be prepared to discuss specific examples of how you've improved user experience, not just built features. Quantifiable results and a clear demonstration of your iterative process will be key to impressing the interviewers.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Full Stack Engineer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Greenhouse link: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/kalepa/jobs/5737438004

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in React, Typescript, user experience refinement, performance optimization, and serverless technologies. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 key projects that best showcase your UX improvement skills, technical depth, and quantifiable results. Ensure you can clearly articulate your process and impact for each.

• Research Kalepa: Understand their AI Copilot product, target market (commercial insurance), and company values. Be ready to discuss why you're excited about their mission.

• Practice Value-Based Responses: Prepare anecdotes that demonstrate your "Hustle & Grit," "Customer Focus," "Meritocracy," "Transparency," and "Experimentation" to answer behavioral interview questions.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.