Staff UI Software Engineer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff UI Software Engineer

Company: Basis

Location: United States

Job Type: Full time

Category: Software Engineering / UI Development

Date Posted: 2026-05-01

Experience Level: 8+ Years Professional Experience

Remote Status: Remote (US & Canada eligible)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the architectural vision and front-end standards for the Basis application, focusing on scalable and maintainable UI foundations.

• Drive large-scale technical projects, ensuring successful cross-team collaboration and adherence to best practices in UI development.

• Champion a culture of technical excellence, mentorship, and continuous learning within the engineering team.

• Enhance UI performance, quality, and user experience for both internal engineers and external Basis customers.

• Proactively identify and mitigate technical risks, ensuring alignment between business objectives and technology solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is clearly a senior/staff-level position within UI Engineering, specifically focused on foundational elements like design systems and core UI standards. The emphasis on "large-scale technical projects," "defining the architecture," and "mentoring others" points to a significant leadership and strategic impact. The inclusion of "AI coding tools" as a requirement indicates a forward-thinking approach to development workflows.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Architect and implement scalable, performant, and accessible UI components and patterns for the Basis platform using React.js.

• Define and evolve the design system, ensuring consistency and efficiency across all application interfaces.

• Lead the technical direction for the UI Foundations team, driving innovation in front-end tooling, utilities, and core standards.

• Collaborate closely with product management, design, and other engineering teams to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.

• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers on best practices in UI development, code quality, and collaborative development workflows.

• Drive the adoption of modern front-end technologies and methodologies, including micro-frontends and advanced build tooling (Webpack/Vite).

• Take ownership of team deliverables, from initial ideation and technical design through to production deployment and ongoing maintenance.

• Conduct thorough code reviews, providing constructive feedback to uphold high standards of code quality and maintainability.

• Proactively identify and address performance bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, and accessibility issues within the UI.

• Contribute to the strategic technical roadmap for the front-end, including the sunsetting of legacy systems and modernization efforts.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of strategic architectural leadership and hands-on development, typical for a Staff Engineer. The focus on design systems, performance, and cross-functional collaboration aligns with building the foundational elements of a complex SaaS application. The explicit mention of "sunsetting legacy systems" indicates a commitment to modernization and technical debt reduction.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Not specified, but a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is typically expected for this level.

Experience: Minimum of 8 years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong focus on front-end development and UI architecture.

Required Skills:

• Deep expertise in JavaScript, including modern ES6+ features, and extensive experience with the React.js library.

• Proven ability to design and implement complex UI architectures and reusable component libraries.

• Solid understanding of state management patterns (e.g., Redux, Zustand, Context API) and routing within single-page applications.

• Proficiency in modern front-end tooling, including package managers (NPM), build tools (Webpack, Vite), and module federation concepts (micro-frontends).

• Strong grasp of web accessibility standards (WCAG) and best practices for inclusive design.

• Experience with comprehensive unit testing strategies and frameworks for React applications.

• Familiarity with creating and maintaining design systems and style guides.

• Demonstrated ability to mentor other engineers and contribute positively to team culture.

• Experience in diagnosing and resolving performance bottlenecks in front-end applications.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with TypeScript for enhanced type safety in large-scale applications.

• Familiarity with Node.js for server-side rendering or build tooling.

• Knowledge of Ruby on Rails or Java, given their presence in the company's stack.

• Experience with cloud platforms like AWS and containerization technologies like Docker.

• Database experience with PostgreSQL and caching with Redis.

• Messaging queue experience with RabbitMQ or Sidekiq.

• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment strategies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "8 years of professional software experience" is explicitly stated. The required skills are directly extracted from the "What You Bring to the Table" section, emphasizing React, JavaScript, design systems, and AI coding tools. Preferred skills are inferred from the "Our Stack" section to provide a more complete picture of desired technical breadth. The emphasis on AI coding tools is a notable requirement.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase examples of architecting and building complex, scalable front-end applications using React.js.

• Demonstrate experience in developing and maintaining design systems or reusable component libraries.

• Include case studies detailing how you've improved UI performance, accessibility, or developer experience.

• Provide examples of contributions to large-scale technical projects, highlighting cross-team collaboration and impact.

Process Documentation:

• Emphasize your role in defining technical standards and best practices for UI development.

• Detail your experience in driving architectural changes and technical roadmap contributions.

• Showcase how you've mentored other engineers and fostered a culture of learning and technical excellence.

• Provide examples of your involvement in the full software development lifecycle, from ideation to production.

📝 Enhancement Note: While not explicitly stated as "portfolio requirements," the "Ways You Will Contribute" and "What You Bring to the Table" sections strongly imply the need for candidates to demonstrate experience in these areas. A Staff Engineer is expected to have a track record that can be presented, often through a portfolio or detailed project descriptions. The focus is on architectural leadership, process improvement, and mentorship.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $136,908 - $213,577 per year.

Explanation: This range is provided by the employer and reflects compensation for this role and level in most U.S. locations. The final offer will be determined by factors including geographic location, candidate experience, and specific skills. Total compensation may also include bonuses, equity, and other benefits.

Benefits:

• 401k/RRSP matching

• Mental health support

• Paid sabbaticals

• Generous parental leave

• Flexible work week

• Flexible work options (remote, hybrid, on-site)

Working Hours: The job is full-time, and while specific hours aren't detailed, the mention of a "flexible work week" and "flexible work options" suggests a degree of autonomy and adaptability, common in tech roles. Expect a standard 40-hour work week, with expectations for availability during core business hours for collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range and benefits are directly extracted from the provided text. The "working hours" section infers flexibility based on the provided "flexible work week" and "flexible work options" benefits, while acknowledging the standard expectation of a 40-hour full-time role. The note about location-based compensation is included as per the job description.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology / Ad Tech Software. Basis provides an all-in-one platform for digital media operations, automating planning, reporting, and financial reconciliation for agencies and brands.

Company Size: The description doesn't explicitly state the company size but refers to "other teams" and "multiple teams," suggesting a mid-to-large-sized organization. The "Staff" level also implies a mature organization.

Founded: The founding date is not provided.

Team Structure:

• The role is within the "UI Foundations" team, which builds and maintains design systems, front-end utilities, tooling, and core UI standards.

• This team's output is utilized by all other "application feature teams."

• Collaboration is expected with Engineering and Product members from other teams, indicating a matrixed or cross-functional structure.

Methodology:

• Emphasis on creating a "positive and supportive environment."

• Commitment to building "robust, dependable building blocks" for customer-facing interfaces.

• Focus on "defining the architecture and front-end standards for the future of the Basis application."

• Encourages a "culture of learning and high standards of technical achievement."

• Prioritizes "equity, access, and continuous learning" in collaboration, design, and decision-making.

Company Website: basis.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is built from the provided "WHO WE ARE" and "ABOUT THE TEAM" sections. The industry is clearly Ad Tech SaaS. The team structure is inferred from the description of the UI Foundations team's role and its dependency on other feature teams. The "Methodology" section synthesizes the cultural and operational approaches mentioned.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Staff UI Software Engineer. This is a senior individual contributor role, typically one or two levels below Principal Engineer or Architect. It signifies a high degree of technical expertise, influence, and leadership in a specific domain (UI Foundations). The role involves driving significant technical initiatives, mentoring others, and shaping architectural direction.

Reporting Structure: The exact reporting structure is not detailed, but a Staff Engineer often reports to an Engineering Manager or Director of Engineering. They work closely with Product Managers and other engineering leads.

Operations Impact: The primary impact of this role is on the efficiency, scalability, and user experience of the Basis platform. By improving UI foundations, design systems, and front-end tooling, this engineer directly influences the productivity of other development teams and the quality of the end-user product. This indirectly contributes to revenue by enabling faster feature development and a more robust, appealing product.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in UI architecture, performance optimization, accessibility, and emerging front-end technologies.

• Leadership Development: Transition into technical leadership roles, such as Tech Lead for a larger initiative or team, or pursue a Principal Engineer/Architect track.

• Cross-functional Influence: Expand influence across product, design, and other engineering domains, contributing to broader strategic technical decisions.

• Mentorship: Continue to grow as a mentor and subject matter expert, guiding the development of engineering talent within Basis.

• AI Integration: Become a leader in leveraging AI tools for development, shaping best practices and exploring new applications within the engineering workflow.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Operations Career Level" is defined based on the "Staff" title and the described responsibilities. "Operations Impact" focuses on how UI development affects the broader business and revenue. Growth opportunities are inferred from the typical career progression paths for senior individual contributors in software engineering, with specific emphasis on the role's domain and the mention of AI tools.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Basis offers flexible work options: remote, hybrid, or on-site at their Chicago headquarters. This suggests a modern, adaptable work environment catering to diverse employee needs.

Office Location(s): Headquarters in Chicago. Remote and hybrid options are available across the U.S. and Canada.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The role emphasizes collaboration with multiple teams, product management, and design, suggesting a dynamic and interactive work setting.

• Tools & Technology: Access to modern front-end tooling, AI coding assistants, and likely a robust development infrastructure (AWS, Docker).

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for regular interaction through pull requests, demos, and working relationships, fostering a culture of shared learning and problem-solving.

Work Schedule: Full-time, with a "flexible work week" and "flexible work options." This implies a focus on results and autonomy rather than strict adherence to traditional office hours, provided core collaboration needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: The work environment details are derived from the company's stated flexible work options and the emphasis on collaboration and modern tooling. The "Workspace Context" section synthesizes how the role and company culture foster interaction and leverage technology.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a recruiter screen to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Technical Interviews: Expect multiple rounds focusing on:

  • Core Skills: Deep dives into JavaScript, React.js, state management, and web performance.
  • System Design/Architecture: Discussions on how you'd design and scale UI components, manage micro-frontends, and build robust design systems. Emphasis on large-scale technical projects.
  • Problem Solving: Live coding exercises or take-home challenges focusing on UI development, algorithm implementation, or debugging.
  • AI Tooling Proficiency: Questions or exercises assessing your ability to effectively use and critically evaluate AI coding tools.

• Behavioral/Leadership Interview: Assess your ability to mentor, collaborate, drive initiatives, handle complex stakeholder needs, and embody company values. Expect questions related to previous large-scale projects and technical leadership.

• Hiring Manager/Team Lead Interview: Final discussion on role fit, career aspirations, and team dynamics.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase Architectural Impact: Highlight projects where you defined significant architectural changes, built scalable design systems, or led major technical initiatives.

• Quantify Achievements: Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work (e.g., performance improvements, reduction in bugs, increased developer velocity, successful adoption rates of components).

• Demonstrate Collaboration: Include examples of cross-functional work, mentorship activities, and contributions to team best practices.

• Highlight AI Proficiency: If possible, include examples or discuss your methodology for using AI coding tools effectively and responsibly in your development workflow.

• Focus on Process: Explain your approach to problem-solving, code reviews, and technical decision-making.

Challenge Preparation:

• System Design: Practice designing scalable UIs, component libraries, and micro-frontend architectures. Consider trade-offs, performance implications, and maintainability.

• Coding Challenges: Brush up on JavaScript fundamentals, React hooks, state management, and common algorithms. Practice debugging and optimizing code.

• AI Tooling Integration: Be prepared to discuss how you'd integrate AI tools into your workflow for specific tasks (e.g., generating boilerplate, exploring unfamiliar code, optimizing performance).

• Behavioral Questions: Prepare STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) answers for questions about leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, and handling technical challenges.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section is built by inferring typical interview processes for a Staff Engineer role in a tech company, combining standard technical assessments with the specific requirements mentioned (AI tools, architecture, mentorship). Portfolio tips are tailored to showcase the skills and experience expected at this level.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• JavaScript: Core language for front-end development.

• React.js: The primary UI library for building components and applications.

• TypeScript: Preferred for type safety in complex applications, likely used extensively.

• Node.js: Used for build tooling (Webpack/Vite) and potentially server-side rendering or backend services.

• NPM: Standard package manager.

• Webpack/Vite: Modern build tools for efficient front-end development.

• AI Coding Tools: Claude Code, Cursor,

Codex, or similar are integral to the development workflow for code generation, debugging, and exploration.

Analytics & Reporting: While not explicitly listed, typical tools for monitoring UI performance and user behavior might include:

• Performance Monitoring: Tools like Lighthouse, WebPageTest, or integrated APM solutions.

• Error Tracking: Sentry, Bugsnag, or similar.

• Analytics Platforms: Google Analytics,

Amplitude, or internal dashboards for tracking feature usage and user engagement.

CRM & Automation: Not directly relevant to this UI Engineering role, but the company's overall stack might include:

• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot (for Sales/Marketing).

• Backend Languages: Ruby on Rails, Java (mentioned in stack).

• Databases: PostgreSQL (primary), Redis (caching).

• Message Queues: RabbitMQ, Sidekiq (for background processing).

• Cloud Infrastructure: AWS, Docker.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section directly lists the technologies mentioned in the "Our Stack" section and infers common related tools based on the role's responsibilities (UI development, performance monitoring, AI tooling). The distinction between primary UI tools and broader company stack is made clear.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Integrity in Hiring: Emphasis on verifying identity, education, and employment history; transparency and authenticity are paramount.

• Thoughtful Collaboration & Continuous Learning: Prioritizing equity, access, and learning in all aspects of work, from design to decision-making.

• Inclusivity & Respect: Creating environments where all voices are valued and supported; celebrating diversity of thought and background.

• Product & Design Intuition: Valuing strong product sense and design awareness among engineers.

• High Standards & Technical Achievement: Fostering a culture of excellence, quality, and continuous improvement in engineering.

• Positivity, Clarity, Strong Work Ethic: Core principles for team culture that drive productivity and a supportive atmosphere.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close collaboration with Product, Design, and other Engineering teams is essential for defining and implementing UI foundations.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: A culture where senior engineers mentor others, and knowledge is shared through pull requests, demos, and open communication.

• Process-Oriented: Emphasis on establishing and championing best practices, driving large-scale projects, and ensuring alignment between business goals and technical execution.

• Feedback-Driven: Collaborative code reviews and working relationships foster a culture of constructive feedback and continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Operations Values" are directly extracted from the company's statements on "Integrity in Hiring," "What You Bring to the Table," and general cultural statements. The "Collaboration Style" is synthesized from the descriptions of how the UI Foundations team interacts with other teams and the emphasis on mentorship and best practices.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Architectural Complexity: Designing and maintaining a robust UI architecture and design system that serves a rapidly evolving product and multiple feature teams.

• Cross-Team Dependencies: Managing technical initiatives that require alignment and buy-in from multiple engineering teams, each with their own priorities.

• Technical Debt Management: Driving the sunsetting of legacy systems while ensuring continuous delivery of new features and improvements.

• Adopting New Technologies: Successfully integrating and standardizing the use of emerging technologies like AI coding tools across the engineering organization.

• Balancing Innovation and Stability: Ensuring that advancements in UI technology and architecture do not compromise the stability, performance, or accessibility of the core platform.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced UI Architecture: Opportunity to deepen expertise in scalable front-end architectures, micro-frontends, and modern state management.

• AI in Development: Become a leader in leveraging AI coding tools, exploring their potential for code generation, debugging, and improving developer productivity.

• Mentorship and Leadership: Develop leadership skills by mentoring junior engineers, leading technical initiatives, and contributing to strategic technical roadmaps.

• Industry Best Practices: Stay at the forefront of UI development trends, accessibility standards, and performance optimization techniques.

• Cross-Functional Exposure: Gain a deeper understanding of the ad tech domain and business operations through close collaboration with Product and other engineering teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges are identified by considering the inherent complexities of a Staff Engineer role focused on foundational elements within a growing tech company, particularly in a domain like Ad Tech. Growth opportunities are aligned with the role's responsibilities and the company's stated values and tech stack.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Technical Strategy: "How would you approach designing a scalable design system for a complex enterprise application with multiple teams contributing?" or "Describe a time you drove a significant architectural change. What were the challenges, and how did you overcome them?"

• Collaboration & Mentorship: "How do you ensure alignment across multiple engineering teams on front-end standards?" or "Describe your approach to mentoring engineers, particularly in the context of adopting new technologies like AI coding tools."

• Problem Solving & Performance: "Walk me through how you would diagnose and resolve a performance bottleneck in a React application." or "How do you balance the need for rapid feature development with maintaining code quality and accessibility?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Basis and our mission in the Ad Tech industry?"

• "How do you foster a culture of continuous learning and high technical achievement within a team?"

• "Describe your experience working with AI coding tools. How do you ensure the quality and ownership of AI-generated code?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio by project. For each, clearly state the problem, your role, the technologies used, the challenges, your specific contributions, and the quantifiable outcomes.

• Highlight Architecture: Emphasize your architectural decisions, design system contributions, and how you scaled solutions.

• Showcase Mentorship: Include examples of code reviews, technical guidance provided, or initiatives you led that helped upskill other team members.

• Demonstrate AI Use: If applicable, include a section or discuss how you've leveraged AI tools to improve efficiency, solve complex problems, or explore codebases.

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the business impact of your work, using metrics whenever possible.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview questions are crafted to probe the core competencies of a Staff UI Engineer, including architecture, mentorship, problem-solving, and AI tool usage, based on the job description. Portfolio presentation advice is tailored to showcase the unique requirements of this role.

---

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff UI Software Engineer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Lever job portal link.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight your 8+ years of experience, specific accomplishments in JavaScript, React.js, UI architecture, design systems, and any experience with AI coding tools. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate a selection of your strongest projects that demonstrate your expertise in building scalable UI applications, leading technical initiatives, and mentoring. Be ready to discuss these in detail, focusing on architecture, impact, and collaboration.

• Practice Interview Questions: Review potential technical, behavioral, and system design questions, especially those related to UI architecture, performance, accessibility, and the use of AI coding tools. Prepare specific examples using the STAR method.

• Research Basis: Understand Basis's mission, product, and culture. Be prepared to articulate why you are a good fit for their team and how your skills align with their goals, particularly in the Ad Tech space.

⚠️ 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.