Senior Full Stack Engineer - Core UX (New York)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Full Stack Engineer - Core UX

Company: Kalepa

Location: New York, NY

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Engineering - Software Development / User Experience

Date Posted: 2026-09-02

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Focus on refining and polishing existing product functionality to deliver an exceptional user experience, ensuring consistency and a cohesive look and feel.

• Implement performance improvements that directly impact end-user experience, paying close attention to layout, interactions, responsiveness, and visual polish.

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

• Contribute to the development of AI systems for the insurance industry, with a focus on improving decision-making processes for professionals.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is for a Senior Full Stack Engineer specifically within the Core UX team, indicating a strong emphasis on user-facing aspects of the product. While the role is "Full Stack," the primary focus on "Core UX" suggests that frontend expertise and a deep understanding of user experience principles are paramount. The company's mission in AI for insurance implies a need for engineers who can translate complex backend functionalities into intuitive and effective user interfaces.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance user interfaces using modern frontend frameworks, with a preference for React, to ensure a premium, well-crafted feel for the product.

• Implement and optimize backend solutions that support seamless frontend functionality, leveraging serverless technologies and cloud environments.

• Conduct thorough debugging and system design to resolve complex technical challenges and ensure robust, scalable application performance.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data scientists and ML engineers, to integrate AI capabilities into user workflows and enhance decision-making tools for insurers.

• Iterate rapidly on features and improvements based on user feedback, performance metrics, and experimentation to drive continuous product enhancement.

• Maintain a high standard of code quality, system design, and documentation, reflecting the company's values of hustle, determination, and excellence.

• Actively participate in code reviews, contributing to a culture of knowledge sharing and continuous learning within the engineering team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary responsibilities are inferred from the "About the role" and "You'll be right at home if you:" sections, emphasizing the blend of frontend polish, backend development, and collaborative problem-solving within an AI-driven insurance tech context.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While not explicitly stated, a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is typically expected for a Senior Engineer role. Candidates with equivalent practical experience will also be considered.

Experience: 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a proven track record in improving and polishing product functionalities to achieve a premium user experience.

Required Skills:

• Proficiency in modern frontend frameworks, with a strong preference for React.

• Expertise in Javascript and Typescript; experience with Python is also highly valued.

• Strong fundamentals in system design, debugging, and complex problem-solving.

• Experience with serverless technologies (e.g., AWS Lambda, EC2) and cloud environments.

• Solid understanding of relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL.

• Demonstrated ability to deliver exceptional user experiences through careful attention to layout, interactions, responsiveness, and visual polish.

• Experience taking full ownership of work and driving projects to completion with minimal oversight.

• Proactive communication skills, including surfacing blockers, asking insightful questions, and keeping stakeholders informed. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with LLMs/generative AI and distributed systems.

• Familiarity with asynchronous workflows.

• Experience in the insurance or FinTech industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required and preferred skills are directly extracted from the "You'll be right at home if you:" section, with an emphasis on the stated preferences for React, JavaScript/TypeScript, and Python, as well as the core competencies of system design and debugging.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase projects demonstrating a strong focus on user experience refinement, visual polish, and interaction design within a full-stack context.

• Provide examples of iterative development, highlighting how feedback and experimentation led to significant product improvements.

• Include case studies of backend solutions that supported complex frontend features, demonstrating scalability and performance optimization.

• Present projects that required collaboration with cross-functional teams, illustrating effective communication and integration of different technical disciplines. Process Documentation:

• Detail the process followed for debugging and problem-solving, including methodologies for root cause analysis and resolution.

• Illustrate the approach to system design, emphasizing how scalability, maintainability, and user experience were considered.

• Document workflows for integrating new technologies or features, particularly those involving AI or complex data processing.

• Showcase how performance metrics were tracked and utilized to drive iterative improvements in user-facing functionalities.

📝 Enhancement Note: Portfolio requirements are inferred based on the role's emphasis on "Core UX," "polishing functionalities," and "iterative improvement," combined with standard expectations for senior engineering roles in a fast-paced tech environment.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $185,000 - $225,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health coverage: 100% covered medical, vision, and dental insurance.

• Generous paid time off (PTO): 20 days per year.

• Significant equity options package.

• Professional development: Continuing education credits and global team offsites.

• Wellness and lifestyle stipends: Healthy living/gym stipend and mobile phone bill stipend.

• Retirement savings: 401(k) plan with employer contribution.

Working Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week, with an emphasis on hustle and determination, suggesting a results-oriented environment where dedication to challenging problems is valued.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range and benefits are directly extracted from the provided text. The working hours are inferred from the standard expectation of a full-time role (40 hours) and the company's stated value of "Hustle and Determination."

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Insurance Technology (InsurTech), Artificial Intelligence (AI). Kalepa is revolutionizing the $7T global insurance industry by building AI systems to perform professional work like underwriting, claims, and pricing. This context implies a need for engineers who understand the criticality of accuracy, trust, and real-world impact in a highly regulated sector.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the mention of a "small team where individual contributions have an outsized impact" and backing by leading investors suggests a growing startup environment, likely in the Series A or B stage. This usually translates to teams of 50-200 employees.

Founded: The company's history of global offsites starting in 2021 indicates it has been operational for at least a few years, implying a degree of stability and growth beyond the initial seed stage.

Team Structure:

• The Core UX team is focused on user experience refinement and product polish.

• Collaboration occurs with a global team of full-stack, data, ML, and DevOps engineers.

• The company emphasizes a flat hierarchy where individual contributions have a significant impact. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decisions: Emphasis on measuring features against customer impact and rigorously testing ideas.

• Iterative Development: Encouraging rapid experimentation, measurement, and iteration.

• AI Integration: Focus on building AI systems that augment and automate professional work in insurance.

• Agile Principles: Implicitly adopted through rapid experimentation and iteration.

Company Website: kalepa.com

📝 Enhancement Note: Company culture details are synthesized from the "About Kalepa" and "Our Values" sections, highlighting the AI-for-insurance mission, startup environment, and the core principles that guide their operations.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Full Stack Engineer position, indicating a role with significant technical responsibility and a need for strong problem-solving skills. Senior engineers are expected to mentor junior team members, lead technical initiatives, and contribute to architectural decisions. The focus on "Core UX" suggests a specialization within frontend and user experience development, but within a full-stack context.

Reporting Structure: The candidate will likely report to an Engineering Manager or Director of Engineering. Collaboration is expected with peers across full-stack, data, ML, and DevOps teams, as well as potentially with product managers and designers.

Operations Impact: The engineer's work directly impacts the usability, performance, and perceived quality of Kalepa's AI products for insurance professionals. By refining the user experience, this role contributes to the adoption and effectiveness of AI solutions, ultimately driving efficiency and better decision-making for their clients, which is central to Kalepa's mission of transforming the insurance industry.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in frontend development, user experience design, or full-stack architecture, potentially specializing further in AI-driven applications.

• Leadership Development: Transition into a Tech Lead role, mentoring junior engineers, and taking ownership of larger project components or architectural designs.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Gain experience working with data science, machine learning, and DevOps teams, broadening understanding of the entire product lifecycle and AI development process.

• Impactful Projects: Contribute to building the "AI operating system for decision-making across insurance," a significant undertaking with high visibility and potential for industry-wide impact.

📝 Enhancement Note: Career growth analysis is based on the "Senior" title, the "Core UX" focus, and the company's mission, inferring typical progression paths and the potential for impact in a growing AI startup.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as Hybrid in New York, NY. This suggests a mix of in-office collaboration and remote work. Kalepa also has remote employees globally, indicating a flexible approach to work arrangements.

Office Location(s): New York, NY. Specific office details are not provided, but it is implied to be a central hub for hybrid employees. The company also facilitates regional meetups and global offsites.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model encourages in-office collaboration, while global remote employees foster diverse perspectives.

• Tooling: Engineers will have access to modern development tools and cloud infrastructure necessary for full-stack development, AI integration, and performance optimization.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for close collaboration with a global team of engineers through virtual communication tools and in-person meetups/offsites.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is approximately 40 hours per week, typical for a full-time engineering role. The company's emphasis on "Hustle and Determination" suggests a dynamic environment where focused work and commitment to solving challenging problems are highly valued, potentially leading to periods of intense work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The work environment is described based on the "Hybrid" status, company's global remote presence, and the emphasis on collaboration and achieving impact.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process: The interview process is not explicitly detailed but typically involves:

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

• Technical Interviews: Multiple rounds focusing on coding skills, system design, debugging, and problem-solving. Expect challenges related to frontend development (e.g., React components, state management, performance optimization) and backend integration.

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

• Hiring Manager/Team Lead Interview: Discussion about the role, team dynamics, and career aspirations.

• Final Round: Potentially a discussion with senior leadership.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Select Projects: Focus on 2-3 key projects that best showcase your full-stack capabilities, with a strong emphasis on UX refinement, performance optimization, and complex problem-solving.

• Highlight UX Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the user experience challenges addressed, the solutions implemented, and the measurable impact on user satisfaction or engagement. Use screenshots, demos, or code snippets.

• Detail System Design: Explain the architecture of your solutions, focusing on how scalability, maintainability, and efficiency were achieved. Discuss trade-offs made and why.

• Showcase Iteration: If possible, demonstrate how you iterated on a feature or solution based on feedback or testing, aligning with Kalepa's "Experiment Relentlessly" value.

• Quantify Achievements: Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work (e.g., performance improvements in milliseconds, reduction in bug reports, increase in user engagement).

Challenge Preparation:

• Coding Challenges: Practice problems related to algorithms, data structures, and common JavaScript/TypeScript/Python patterns. Be prepared for live coding sessions.

• System Design Scenarios: Study common system design principles and practice designing scalable applications, APIs, and databases. Consider how you would approach building features for an AI-powered insurance platform.

• Behavioral Questions: Prepare specific examples using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) that align with Kalepa's values, particularly "Hustle," "Customer Impact," and "Experimentation."

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process and preparation tips are inferred based on standard practices for senior engineering roles at tech startups, with a specific focus on the "Core UX" aspect and Kalepa's stated values.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Frontend Framework: React (preferred), modern FE frameworks.

• Languages: Javascript, Typescript, Python.

• Backend/Cloud: Serverless technologies (AWS Lambda, EC2), cloud environments (AWS implied).

• Databases: Relational databases, PostgreSQL (preferred).

• Version Control: Git (implied).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Tools for tracking user engagement, performance metrics, and A/B testing results to inform iterative improvements. (Specific tools not mentioned, but essential for a UX-focused role). CRM & Automation:

• While not directly customer-facing for this role, understanding how backend systems integrate with potential CRM or workflow automation tools used by insurers would be beneficial. (Specific tools not mentioned).

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack is derived directly from the "You'll be right at home if you:" section, highlighting the core languages, frameworks, and infrastructure components.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Hustle and Determination: A strong work ethic, taking ownership, and relentlessly pursuing excellence and speed. This means tackling difficult problems head-on and not giving up.

• Deliver Customer Impact: An obsession with creating value for insurers, measured by improvements in speed, accuracy, or profitability. Every decision is evaluated against customer benefit.

• Meritocracy: High standards for people and ideas, with rapid growth and rewards for excellence.

• Transparency: Open and honest communication, challenging ideas constructively, and valuing truth over politics.

• Experiment Relentlessly: A culture of quick testing, rigorous measurement, and rapid iteration to solve novel problems. Speed of learning is a key advantage.

Collaboration Style:

• Global & Cross-functional: Working with diverse engineers worldwide, fostering a broad range of perspectives.

• Transparent Communication: Openly sharing information, blockers, and ideas to facilitate rapid problem-solving.

• Experimentation-Driven: Collaborative efforts are likely geared towards testing hypotheses, gathering data, and iterating together.

• Ownership & Accountability: Team members are expected to take ownership of their work and drive projects forward collaboratively.

📝 Enhancement Note: The team culture and values are directly extracted from the "Our Values" section and woven into the collaboration style, reflecting the company's emphasis on results, innovation, and open communication.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of Insurance Domain: Navigating the intricacies of the insurance industry to build AI solutions that are accurate, trustworthy, and compliant.

• Scalability of AI Systems: Ensuring that the AI infrastructure and user-facing applications can scale effectively to meet the demands of a $7T industry.

• Balancing Innovation and Stability: Rapidly experimenting with new AI technologies while maintaining the stability and reliability required for professional-grade software in a conservative industry.

• Core UX Polish: Achieving a premium user experience that balances sophisticated AI capabilities with intuitive design and seamless interaction.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI and ML Integration: Gaining hands-on experience integrating cutting-edge AI and LLM technologies into real-world applications.

• System Architecture: Contributing to the design and evolution of a complex, scalable AI operating system for decision-making.

• Industry Transformation: Playing a key role in digitally transforming a massive, traditional industry like insurance.

• Career Advancement: Clear paths for growth into technical leadership, specialized domains, or management roles within a fast-growing startup.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges and growth opportunities are derived from the company's mission, the nature of AI development in a complex industry, and the seniority of the role.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Full Stack Architecture: "Describe a complex full-stack application you've built. How did you ensure scalability, performance, and a seamless user experience across the frontend and backend?" (Focus on your contributions to both, especially UX polish).

• Problem Solving & Debugging: "Walk me through a challenging bug you encountered. What was your process for diagnosing and resolving it? What did you learn?" (Highlight your systematic approach and ability to handle ambiguity).

• AI Integration: "How would you approach designing a user interface for an AI-powered underwriting tool? What are the key UX considerations for presenting AI-driven insights?" (Connect your UX skills with the company's AI mission).

Company & Culture Questions:

• Value Alignment: "Tell me about a time you demonstrated 'Hustle and Determination' or 'Experimented Relentlessly' in a past project. How did it lead to a positive outcome?" (Prepare specific examples using the STAR method).

• Customer Impact: "Describe a project where your work directly led to significant customer impact. How did you measure that impact?" (Focus on metrics and customer value).

• Transparency/Meritocracy: "How do you handle constructive feedback, or how have you challenged an idea you disagreed with respectfully?" (Demonstrate maturity and collaborative spirit).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use live demos or well-annotated screenshots/videos to showcase the user experience and technical implementation of your projects.

• Quantify Impact: For each project, clearly state the problem, your solution, and the quantifiable results (e.g., performance improvements, user satisfaction metrics).

• Focus on UX Polish: Explicitly call out the elements of your work that demonstrate attention to detail, visual consistency, and a premium user experience.

• Explain Your Process: Be ready to discuss your design and development process, including how you handled trade-offs, collaborated with others, and iterated based on feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation is tailored to a Senior Full Stack Engineer role with a Core UX focus in an AI/InsurTech startup, emphasizing technical depth, UX acumen, and alignment with company values.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the Greenhouse job portal at the provided URL.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 5+ years of software engineering experience, specifically mentioning projects that demonstrate strong UX refinement, performance optimization, and full-stack development using React, JavaScript/TypeScript, and Python. Quantify achievements with metrics where possible.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 2-3 of your strongest projects that showcase your ability to deliver a premium user experience and build robust backend solutions. Be ready to discuss your process, challenges, and the impact of your work.

• Research Kalepa: Understand their mission to build AI for insurance, their core values, and their product offerings. Prepare to articulate how your skills and experience align with their goals and culture.

• Practice Interview Questions: Rehearse answers to common technical (system design, coding, debugging) and behavioral questions, focusing on examples that align with Kalepa's values and the role's responsibilities.

⚠️ 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.

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