Senior Frontend Software Engineer, AI UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Frontend Software Engineer, AI UX

Company: Pebl

Location: Palo Alto, California, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Software Engineering - AI/ML & UX

Date Posted: September 01, 2026

Experience Level: 8+ Years Professional Experience

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office required)

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive the user-facing AI experience by designing and building innovative conversational AI interfaces.

• Focus on shaping the user interaction with AI assistants, including streaming responses, error recovery, and user trust.

• Leverage expertise in LLM-based and agentic systems to influence both AI behavior and its UI manifestation.

• Contribute to the development of AI-native user experiences, pushing the boundaries of what's currently possible.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role is specifically focused on the user-facing aspects of AI, differentiating it from backend AI infrastructure or internal tooling roles. The emphasis on "AI-native user experience" suggests a forward-thinking approach to product development where AI is a core component of the user interface, not just a background feature.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and implement full-stack features for Pebl's conversational AI assistant, with a strong emphasis on frontend and UX aspects.

• Apply hands-on experience with LLM-based and agentic systems, including prompt design, tool/function calling, and multi-step agent reasoning, to enhance both assistant behavior and UI surfacing.

• Champion product taste and a strong vision for exceptional AI-driven user experiences, prioritizing quality and innovation over merely meeting basic requirements.

• Prototype and propose novel interaction patterns for conversational and generative AI interfaces, adapting to evolving model capabilities.

• Contribute to shaping the future of software interaction at Pebl by working at the forefront of conversational and agentic UX.

• Build and maintain both frontend (TypeScript/React) and backend components, ensuring clean contracts and APIs that support complex agentic workflows.

• Lead by example in writing clean, maintainable code across the technology stack, mentoring junior engineers, and fostering a culture of continuous learning.

• Participate actively in technical discussions, design reviews, and code reviews to uphold high engineering standards.

• Troubleshoot and resolve end-to-end issues in production, including AI-specific failure modes like suboptimal model output, latency, and dropped tool calls.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a blend of technical development and product vision, emphasizing the candidate's role in defining the future of AI interaction. The requirement to "push for a better UX rather than shipping 'good enough'" indicates a culture that values craftsmanship and user-centric design.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a strong technical background typically implies a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a demonstrated strength and preference for frontend/UX work. 1+ years of hands-on experience building LLM-powered or agentic products.

Required Skills:

• Frontend Engineering (strong preference and demonstrated strength)

• Full-stack Development (comfortable across the stack)

• TypeScript

• React

• Conversational AI Interface Development

• LLM-based Product Development (1+ years hands-on)

• Agentic Systems Design and Implementation

• Prompt Engineering

• Tool/Function Calling Design

• UX Design and Product Sense for AI interfaces

• Generative UI Techniques

• API Design and Integration

• Understanding of real-time/streaming data integration

• Production Troubleshooting (end-to-end, including AI-specific issues) Preferred Skills:

• Experience building products beyond standard CRUD apps and dashboards.

• Mentorship of junior team members.

• Experience with backend development and infrastructure.

• Lean mindset: minimizing waste, optimizing workflows, continuous improvement.

• Familiarity with observability and instrumentation for agentic systems.

• Experience with A/B testing and rapid iteration cycles for UX improvements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 8+ years of experience coupled with a specific preference for frontend/UX suggests this is a senior individual contributor role where strategic product input is as crucial as technical execution. The 1+ year of LLM/agentic product experience requirement, while seemingly lower than the overall experience, is critical for this specialized role.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase of complex, interactive user interfaces, particularly those involving dynamic content or AI-driven interactions.

• Examples of full-stack projects where frontend and backend integration was critical to the user experience.

• Demonstrations of how you've translated product vision or user needs into polished, functional software.

• Case studies detailing the design and implementation of AI-powered features, highlighting your role in shaping the user experience.

• Evidence of contributions to projects that go beyond standard CRUD applications, emphasizing craft, polish, or distinctive user experiences. Process Documentation:

• Documentation of the design process for complex frontend features, including wireframing, prototyping, and user testing.

• Examples of how you've collaborated with backend engineers to define API contracts supporting agentic workflows or real-time data.

• Records of troubleshooting complex issues, particularly those involving AI model behavior, latency, or integration failures, and how they were resolved.

• Contributions to code reviews and technical design discussions, demonstrating a commitment to code quality and maintainability.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's focus on defining new AI-native UX, a portfolio demonstrating innovation and a strong product sense is paramount. Candidates should be prepared to articulate their thought process behind UI/UX decisions for AI interactions, not just the technical implementation.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $145,600 - $172,900 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Flexible Time Off: Encourages taking necessary time to recharge.

• Parental Leave: Support for new parents.

• Health and Dental Insurance: Comprehensive coverage where applicable.

• Retirement Savings + Employee Incentive Plan: For long-term financial planning and shared success.

• Equity: Potential for ownership in the company's growth.

Working Hours: Standard 40 hours per week. The role requires in-office collaboration Monday-Wednesday in Palo Alto, CA, with flexibility for remote work on other days.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is competitive for a Senior Software Engineer role in the Palo Alto/Bay Area, reflecting the experience level and specialized skills in AI UX. The hybrid work requirement is a key detail for candidates assessing work-life balance.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically focused on Global Employment and HR Tech, with a significant push into AI-powered solutions.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the mention of a "Global Work Platform™" and hiring in 185+ countries suggests a rapidly scaling company, likely in the startup to mid-size range, with ambitious growth plans.

Founded: The company's description implies a foundation built on compliance leadership and local expertise, suggesting a history of operational excellence that is now being augmented with cutting-edge AI.

Team Structure:

• The role is within the "AI & Knowledge team," specifically focused on building "Alfie," the conversational AI assistant.

• This team is at the "front lines" of defining AI-native user experiences.

• Expect a collaborative environment with other engineers, product managers, and designers focused on AI product development.

• The Senior Engineer will be expected to mentor junior team members. Methodology:

• Emphasis on a "lean mindset": minimizing waste, optimizing workflows, continuous improvement, and quick iteration with rapid feedback cycles.

• Data-driven approach to product development, with a focus on delivering customer value.

• Innovation in AI-native user experiences, moving beyond established patterns to discover new interaction models.

Company Website: https://hellopebl.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Pebl positions itself as a leader in simplifying global employment through technology and AI. The company culture appears to value innovation, speed, and a strong sense of accountability ("accountable for results and impact"). The focus on "purpose in every position" and "where your work moves the needle" suggests an environment where individual contributions are highly valued and directly linked to company success.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Individual Contributor. This role is for an experienced engineer who can operate with a high degree of autonomy, influence product direction, and mentor others. The focus is on deep technical expertise in frontend/UX and emerging AI interaction patterns.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly stated, a Senior Frontend Software Engineer typically reports to an Engineering Manager or Director of Engineering. The role involves close collaboration with product management and other engineering teams.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on Pebl's core product offering by defining and building the user experience for its AI assistant. A successful AI-native UX can significantly enhance customer adoption, satisfaction, and retention, directly contributing to the company's growth and competitive advantage in the HR Tech market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI/ML UX, conversational interfaces, and agentic system design.

• Product Leadership: Influence product strategy and roadmap for AI features, acting as a key voice in defining future user experiences.

• Mentorship & Team Growth: Lead by example, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to building a high-performing AI engineering team.

• Innovation: Work at the cutting edge of AI interaction design, potentially leading to thought leadership or contributions to emerging industry standards.

• Advancement: Potential to move into Principal Engineer or Tech Lead roles within the AI/UX domain as the company scales.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant growth potential for an engineer passionate about AI and UX. The opportunity to shape a nascent field within a scaling company provides a unique platform for career advancement and impact.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model with a requirement for in-office collaboration.

Office Location(s): Palo Alto, California, United States. This location is in the heart of Silicon Valley, offering access to a vibrant tech ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: Monday-Wednesday in-office work is designed for cross-functional collaboration, team brainstorming, and building team cohesion.

• Tools & Technology: Access to modern development tools and infrastructure necessary for full-stack development, AI experimentation, and UX prototyping.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with the AI & Knowledge team, product managers, and potentially other stakeholders to drive product decisions and foster a shared understanding of AI-driven UX.

Work Schedule: Standard 40-hour work week with a hybrid arrangement, allowing for focused remote work on Thursdays and Fridays, balanced with in-office collaboration days.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model balances the need for focused individual work with the benefits of in-person collaboration, particularly crucial for innovative product development in a rapidly evolving field like AI UX.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

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

• Technical Interviews (Frontend/Full-stack): Multiple rounds focusing on coding proficiency, data structures, algorithms, system design, and specific experience with React, TypeScript, and full-stack development. Expect live coding exercises and deep dives into past projects.

• AI/UX Focused Interview: A session dedicated to discussing your experience with LLMs, agentic systems, prompt design, and crucially, your approach to designing AI-native user experiences. Be prepared to discuss challenges in this space and your innovative solutions.

• Product Sense/Design Interview: An interview to assess your product intuition, ability to translate user needs into features, and your vision for what makes an AI experience compelling.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A discussion about your career goals, leadership potential, and how you align with Pebl's mission and values. This is also an opportunity to ask in-depth questions about the team and role.

• Final Round/Executive Interview: Potentially a conversation with a senior leader to ensure alignment and discuss overall impact.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Selectively: Focus on 2-3 projects that best showcase your frontend/UX skills, full-stack capabilities, and any AI/LLM-related work. Prioritize projects demonstrating innovation and polish.

• Highlight AI UX: For AI projects, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role in designing the user experience, the LLM/agentic techniques used, and the resulting user impact. Use visuals and demos where possible.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your work (e.g., improved user engagement, reduced error rates, faster task completion).

• Explain Your Process: Be ready to walk through your design and development process for each project, explaining your rationale for key decisions, especially those related to UI/UX for AI interactions.

• Showcase Collaboration: If possible, highlight projects where you collaborated effectively with backend engineers, designers, or product managers.

Challenge Preparation:

• Coding Challenges: Practice algorithm and data structure problems, and be ready for live coding sessions in TypeScript/JavaScript.

• System Design: Prepare for system design questions, focusing on how you would architect features for a conversational AI assistant, considering scalability, real-time updates, and AI model integration.

• AI UX Scenarios: Think about hypothetical scenarios for improving AI assistant interactions (e.g., handling confusing user input, designing trust-building elements, optimizing streaming responses).

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is likely rigorous, reflecting the seniority of the role. A strong portfolio that clearly articulates AI UX contributions and demonstrates product sense will be critical for success.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Frontend Framework: React (strong command required)

• Language: TypeScript (strong command required)

• Backend/API: Comfortable with designing and integrating with backend services and APIs. Specific backend languages/frameworks are not detailed but likely include Node.js due to TypeScript prevalence.

• AI/LLM Interaction: Experience with LLM-based systems, prompt engineering, tool/function calling, multi-step agent reasoning.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While specific tools aren't listed, expect to use analytics to understand user interaction with the AI assistant and identify areas for UX improvement. This could involve standard web analytics tools, custom event tracking, and potentially specialized AI observability platforms. CRM & Automation:

• Pebl's core business is a Global Work Platform, so CRM and automation tools are central to their operations. However, this specific role focuses on the AI UX, so direct experience with CRM configuration might be less critical than understanding how AI can interface with such systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis is clearly on modern frontend technologies (React, TypeScript) and hands-on experience with LLM/agentic system concepts. Candidates should be prepared to discuss how they leverage these tools to build sophisticated, user-centric AI experiences.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Purpose-Driven: A strong emphasis on individual contributions driving company success and a sense of mission.

• Accountability: Owning results and impact, with a focus on delivering value.

• Innovation: Pushing boundaries in AI-native UX, not just following existing playbooks.

• Lean Mindset: Optimizing workflows, minimizing waste, and focusing on quick, iterative feedback cycles.

• Collaboration: Working effectively across functions to build and improve products.

• Continuous Learning: Embracing a rapidly evolving space and fostering a culture of improvement.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close collaboration between frontend, backend, product, and design teams to create cohesive AI experiences.

• Process Improvement: A culture that encourages identifying and optimizing workflows and development processes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Mentorship and active participation in technical discussions and code reviews to share expertise and maintain high standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: Pebl appears to foster a culture that values both individual drive and collaborative effort. The emphasis on innovation in AI, combined with a lean and iterative approach, suggests an environment where engineers are empowered to experiment and contribute significantly to product direction.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Pioneering AI UX: Working in a rapidly evolving field where best practices for AI-driven user interfaces are still being discovered and defined. This requires adaptability and a willingness to experiment.

• Balancing Innovation with Stability: Delivering cutting-edge AI features while ensuring a robust, reliable, and performant user experience.

• Integrating AI Complexity: Effectively surfacing the capabilities and nuances of LLM-based and agentic systems in an intuitive and user-friendly manner.

• Hybrid Work Collaboration: Effectively collaborating and maintaining team cohesion in a hybrid work environment, ensuring alignment on complex technical and product decisions.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Cutting-Edge AI: Directly contribute to and learn about the latest advancements in conversational AI, generative models, and agentic systems.

• Product Strategy: Gain experience in shaping product roadmaps and defining user experiences for new technology frontiers.

• Mentorship: Develop leadership and mentoring skills by guiding junior engineers and contributing to team growth.

• Industry Exposure: Work in a fast-paced startup environment within the growing HR Tech and AI sectors.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role presents a significant opportunity for growth by tackling complex, cutting-edge challenges in AI UX. The company's focus on innovation means continuous learning and adaptation are inherent to the role.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you significantly influenced the UX of a product, especially one involving complex or novel technology. What was your process, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on product sense, UX design, and impact.)

• "How would you approach designing the user experience for an AI assistant that needs to handle ambiguous or multi-turn user requests? What are the key UX considerations?" (Focus on conversational AI UX, error handling, and user trust.)

• "Walk us through a project where you integrated a complex backend system or real-time data stream with a frontend application. What were the challenges, and how did you ensure a smooth user experience?" (Focus on full-stack integration, API design, and frontend implementation.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your research, how do you see Pebl's mission of simplifying global employment being enhanced by AI-native user experiences?" (Demonstrate understanding of the company's core business and AI's role.)

• "Pebl emphasizes a 'lean mindset.' How have you applied lean principles in your past software development roles, and how would you bring that to this team?" (Showcase understanding of iterative development and efficiency.)

• "How do you approach mentoring junior engineers, and what is your philosophy on fostering a culture of continuous learning within a team?" (Assess leadership potential and team contribution.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI UX Case Study: Select a project that exemplifies your ability to design and build user-facing AI features. Clearly articulate the problem, your innovative UX solutions, the LLM/agentic techniques employed, and the measurable impact.

• Frontend Craftsmanship: Showcase a project demonstrating your mastery of modern frontend development (React, TypeScript), emphasizing code quality, performance, and polished UI.

• Full-Stack Integration: Be prepared to discuss the backend aspects of your projects, highlighting API design, data flow, and how frontend and backend components worked together seamlessly.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating not only strong technical skills but also a deep understanding of AI UX principles, a product-oriented mindset, and alignment with Pebl's innovative and lean culture.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Frontend Software Engineer, AI UX position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 key projects that best highlight your frontend/UX expertise, full-stack capabilities, and any experience with AI/LLM interactions. Ensure these projects demonstrate innovation and polish.

• Tailor Your Resume: Emphasize your 8+ years of software engineering experience, with a clear focus on frontend/UX achievements. Highlight your 1+ year of hands-on LLM/agentic product experience, including specific techniques like prompt design and tool calling. Integrate keywords naturally.

• Prepare Your AI UX Narrative: Be ready to articulate your vision for AI-native user experiences and how you've translated that into tangible features. Practice explaining complex AI concepts and their UX implications clearly.

• Research Pebl: Understand their Global Work Platform, their mission, and their stated values. Prepare thoughtful questions about the AI & Knowledge team's roadmap and culture.

⚠️ 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.