Frontend Engineering Manager
About Us
Close is a bootstrapped, profitable, 100% remote, ~80 person team of thoughtful individuals who value autonomy and impact. We’re eager to make a product our customers fall in love with over and over again.
We love startups & SMBs. Since 2013, we’ve been building a CRM that focuses on better communication, without the hassle of manual data entry or complex UI. Our goal: double the productivity of every sales rep.
Our app’s frontend is a single-page TypeScript web app mostly written in React (originally built with Backbone.js). Our mobile app is built using React Native. We bundle with Webpack and target only modern browsers. We test with Jest, React Testing Library, and Playwright. Our UI updates in near real-time and is written in LESS/CSS (with flexbox and grid layout) using CSS modules and takes advantage of fun technologies like Websockets and WebRTC.
We care about performance (e.g. route-based code splitting), maintainability, and testability of our frontend code. Our product development process is inspired by Shape Up. We sweat the UI/UX details and work collaboratively with the Product team throughout the design process. This means diving into lo-fi wireframes, and communicating continuously when those ideas are brought to life using Figma and code.
Our frontend app is built on top of our REST API & GraphQL endpoints. Our backend tech stack consists of Python/Flask, MongoDB, Postgres, Elasticsearch, and Redis. We run our services in Docker on AWS.
We ❤️ open sourcing our code and ideas on our GitHub and on The Making of Close, our behind-the-scenes Product & Engineering blog. Check our projects such as react-custom-scroller, use-infinite-scroll, use-abortable-effect, and smart-tooltip-delay or insights from our day-to-day work on such as Highlights From a Complex Downshift.js Refactor, A Case Study in"Reactizing" a Complex Backbone View, and Finding the cause of a memory leak in Jest tests.
About You
We're looking for an experienced full-time Frontend Engineering Manager to join our engineering team and build & lead the 3rd Frontend team. You should be an empathetic leader, have spent part of your career as a senior-level engineer, and want to help build & grow a team of high-performing engineers.
You should have senior-level (4 years+) experience building modern frontend applications, preferably using React or similar framework.
You should have significant experience (2 years+) leading and growing a team of engineers. You enjoy helping engineers thrive and grow in their roles. You should have a very good idea of how to run 1:1s with your direct reports and how to form strong relationships. You should be comfortable with giving continuous feedback and doing performance reviews. You are expected to grow the team as-needed and help lead a hiring process.
You have a track record of managing engineering teams that delivered great products and features. You should be very comfortable working with the Product and Design teams to formulate product ideas, skilled at writing & reviewing technical specifications, and planning work for your team. You can take on non-critical path technical work if time allows.
You’re comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with a medium-sized talented team where you're supported in your efforts to grow professionally. You are able to manage your time well, communicate effectively, and collaborate in a fully distributed team.
You are physically located in the United States.
Bonus points if you have...
- Experience practicing the Shape Up product development methodology
- Experience scaling a small engineering team into a few teams
- Experience building JS-based mobile apps
- Built B2B SaaS products
- Experience with sales or sales tools
About the Role
- Manage and grow a team of 4-6 high-performing engineers (US and EU timezones), support them through 1:1s and continuous feedback, and empower their career growth.
- A mix of team leadership, people management, product ideation, project coordination, and maximum 10% of your time spent on non-critical path IC work.
- Work with a team of mostly-senior engineers, product managers, and designers to deliver great features.
- Manage and optimize development processes as the team grows.
- Participate in formulating a long-term frontend strategy.
Why work with us?
- Culture video 💚
- 100% remote company (we believe in trust and autonomy)
- Choose between working 5 days/wk (standard full-time) or 4 days/wk @ 80% pay
- Annual team retreats ✈️
- Quarterly virtual summits
- 5 weeks PTO + Winter Holiday Break
- 2 additional PTO days every year with the company
- 1 month paid sabbatical every 5 years
- Paid parental leave
- Medical, Dental, Vision with HSA option (US residents)
- 401k matching at 6% (US residents)
- Dependent care FSA (US residents)
- Contributor to Stripe's climate initiative 🌍❤️
- Our story and team 🚀
Our Values
- Build a house you want to live in -- Examine long-term thinking and action
- No BS -- Practice transparency and honesty, especially when it’s hard
- Invest in each other -- Build successful relationships with your coworkers and customers
- Discipline equals freedom -- Keep your word to yourself and others
- Strive for greatness -- Constantly challenge yourself and others
How We Work Together
- Productivity, Quality & Impact: We don’t track hours. We trust you’re an adult and know best how to prioritize, meet your goals and contribute at a high level.
- Asynchronous communication & collaboration: We have team members all over the world. We don’t expect anyone to work untraditional hours, that means our default is async. Most teams have 2-5 hours of internal meetings weekly.
- Appreciation for Deep Work: *During your normal work day, not after a day of meetings*.
- Autonomy & Freedom: Create a work environment that is sustainable for you. We place a high amount of trust and responsibility with our team members from the start.
At Close, everyone has a voice. We encourage transparency and practice a mature approach to the work-place. In general, we don’t have strict policies, we have guidelines. Work/Life harmony is an important part of our business - we believe you bring your best to work when you practice self-care (whatever that looks like for you).
We come from 20+ countries located in 5 of the 7 continents. We’re a collection of talented humans, rich in diverse backgrounds, lifestyles, and cultures. Every year we meet up somewhere around the world to spend time with one another. These gatherings are an opportunity to strengthen the relationships within our global community.
Our team is growing in more ways than one - in the last few years, we've launched 24 babies (and counting!). Unanimously, our favorite and most impactful value is “Build a house you want to live in.” We strive to make decisions that are authentic for our people and help our customers become more successful.
Our application process was designed to promote equitable and unbiased hiring practices. We ask a small series of questions that are similar to what would be asked in the first interview. This helps us learn more about you right from the start so please be sure to answer each question thoughtfully. Each application will receive two screens by two different reviewers. Regardless of fit, you will hear back from us letting you know if we'll be moving forward.
Interested in Close but don't think this role is the best fit for you? View our other positions.