Staff Frontend Engineer - Interactive Maps

Verkada • San Mateo, CA

6d • $185,000 - $265,000

About The Position

We are looking for a founding Staff Engineer to lead the technical architecture of our next-generation Spatial Platform. For the past decade, floor plans have been static images; we are rebuilding that foundation from the ground up as a high-performance, interactive, and collaborative 3D engine.
This is a greenfield role for a builder who wants to own a core pillar of Verkada’s infrastructure before we hit the public markets. You won't just build features—you will architect a platform that supports 8+ product lines, solving the "hard math" of geospatial projections and the "hard graphics" of rendering thousands of interactive assets at a buttery-smooth 60 FPS.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience building complex, customer-facing web applications or high-performance graphics engines.
• Mastery of Web Technologies: JavaScript fundamentals (scoping, closures, contexts, prototypes, classes, etc.) and React expertise (common state and data libraries like React Query, Zustand, etc.)
• CS Fundamentals: A degree in Computer Science or a related field, with strong intuition for data structures, memory management, and linear algebra.
• Mathematical Precision: Understanding of coordinate system conversions, geospatial projections, and 3D geometry.
• Product Grit: An obsessive eye for smooth interactions and the ability to bridge the gap between CAD-level precision and consumer-grade UX.

Nice To Haves

• Graphics Stack: Experience with Deck.gl, MapLibre, Three.js, or raw WebGL/WebGPU.
• Collaborative Systems: Experience with real-time sync architectures (e.g., Yjs, Automerge, or Operational Transforms).
• Low-Level Web: Proficiency in high-performance 2D/3D graphics (Canvas API, low-level buffer management, or custom shaders).
• Geospatial Mastery: Familiarity with PostGIS, vector tiling (MVT), and GIS workflows.

Responsibilities

• Architect a Dual-Engine System: Design a hybrid rendering architecture that bridges high-density geospatial visualization (via MapLibre/Deck.gl) with a high-frequency, imperative editing surface (via Three.js/Custom WebGL).
• Optimize for Latency: Solve the "500-element wall" by implementing partial GPU buffer updates and custom shaders, ensuring sub-millisecond input latency during real-time vertex manipulation.
• Build the Sync Engine: Lead the development of an offline-first, real-time collaborative editor utilizing CRDTs (Conflict-free Replicated Data Types) to allow multi-user planning of complex campuses.
• Spatial Intelligence: Develop power-user tools like real-time 3D line-of-sight analysis, signal strength heatmaps, and AI-driven hardware placement suggestions.
• Set the Standard: Work closely with backend teams to optimize binary vector tile (MVT) delivery and define the architectural patterns for our entire frontend organization.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level