TL;DR: We’re looking for a very experienced front-end/hybrid engineer to be the UX Prototyping Lead on our Product Design team. You will explore, design, test and refine prototypes of possible new products and features, and support us on projects involving front-end build.

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE, QUALITIES & SKILLS

• 8+ years working on front-end prototyping projects - with extensive experience in HTML, CSS, JS
• Some experience developing web applications in React and/or NextJS (3-5 years of experience)
• Strong understanding around accessing and manipulating data, working with APIs and various data sources
• Strong understanding of design practice and deliverables; working with design component libraries, design systems, Figma etc.
• Some experience of working in Sanity (headless CMS) is a plus
• Some experience in back-end/server-side development is a plus

THE FINAL WORD

We’re looking for someone who can balance creativity with technical skill, and who exhibits a desire to move quickly. You’ll need deep experience working in the browser, with data and APIs, shipping complex user experiences where there is limited prior-art. We’re critical infrastructure by developers / for developers and building the world’s software supply chain platform and ecosystem. We want to hear from you if you’re excited to build what’s next with our Product team, delivering a lasting impact on the software industry from today until IPO and beyond.

THE ROLE

As the UX Prototyping Lead on our Product Design team, you will explore, design, test and refine prototypes of possible new products and features.
In this mode, a typical project would be to take a brief, then work with a designer, to explore, design, test and refine a new feature for app.cloudsmith.com, delivering working software. You would then act as a bridge/expert as the feature is taken forward as production software, working with one of our larger engineering squads.
As well as this prototyping role, you will also work on our design systems and public-facing channels, such as our brand website and documentation website.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

In this role, your responsibilities will be:

• Opportunity identification: Working with product team to identify and describe emerging product needs; new features, new product opportunities. Helping to refine briefs, understand customer problems, and establish success criteria - before you start prototyping
• Design exploration: Exploring possible approaches to solving problems in the browser
• Design definition: Defining the target user experience, and informing the best way to deliver on those experiences, working with designers
• Prototype development: Creating intuitive, efficient, and engaging user interfaces for the browser

We’ve aligned on NextJS as our front-end framework of choice across all web applications
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- We use Sanity CMS for content management
- All of our web applications are deployed to Vercel
- We interact with the Cloudsmith API as required
- Testing: Taking prototypes to customers or internal teams for feedback and testing sessions
- Refinement: Improving prototypes to a point where they can be used self-serve, as part of Early Access with customers
- Delivery and documentation; describing your work does, doesn’t do, what data is needed for a future working version of the prototype
- Collaboration to production: Working with engineering teams who inherit prototypes to share knowledge and help them get work into production
- Collaborating with brand and product designers on periodic improvements to cloudsmith.com, help.cloudsmith.io, and other public-facing channels