Product Engineer (ANZ / Remote)

About Optimal

Optimal is a comprehensive user insight platform empowering product teams and UX researchers to make confident, data-driven decisions.

We provide a powerful suite that transforms complex human behaviors into actionable insights. Our platform helps our customers understand how people interact with their digital experiences, revealing the "why" behind user behaviors so they can build products that truly connect with their audience.

We work with industry leaders like Lego, Nike, Netflix and Apple, to bridge the gap between user expectations and product reality.

About the role

We’re looking for an experienced Product Engineer to join our Innovation team - a cross-functional crew building the next generation of user research tools. This team is focused on rapid development and market delivery of new, inventive ways to conduct research at scale.

You’ll work across the full product development lifecycle, from early-stage exploration to enterprise-ready delivery, building thoughtful, user-centric experiences powered by modern web tech and emerging AI capabilities.

This is a frontend-leaning full stack role, working closely with our Head of Product Innovation, Product Engineer, AI engineer, and a Product Designer.

This role can be fully remote across New Zealand or Australia (AEDT). We do have an office in Wellington, NZ.

What you’ll do:

• Design, build, and ship new research features from concept to production
• Work across the fullstack with a focus on frontend UX using React, and some backend work in Ruby on Rails
• Collaborate with designers, product, and AI engineers to prototype and validate new product ideas
• Build beautiful, performant interfaces that delight our users and make complex tasks feel simple
• Contribute to architecture and infrastructure decisions in a pragmatic, delivery-focused way
• Stay close to the problem space and user needs, actively shaping product direction through hands-on exploration
• Work in a nimble, cross-functional team that values taste, creativity, and fast feedback loops
• Take new ideas to market quickly, and iterate based on real-world usage

What we’re looking for:

• Strong product mindset - you build with the user in mind and care about the “why” as much as the “how”
• Excellent frontend engineering - deep React experience and strong UI skills
• Solid backend development - Ruby (or equivalent) experience to support full stack delivery
• Cloud basics - familiarity with AWS and deployment practices
• Foundational AI knowledge - an interest in integrating modern AI tools into user-facing products
• Entrepreneurial spirit - you’re proactive, self-starting, and love creating new things
• Team collaborator - thrives in open, creative environments and cross-functional squads
• Creative and opinionated - you bring taste and care into your craft, and can prototype and polish with equal flair

Our values and culture

We’re proud of our team culture - we’re collaborative, curious, and committed. Our values guide everything we do:

• Live In Our Customers’ Shoes - We succeed when our customers do. We deeply understand their experiences - because we live them too.
• Own It - We show up with curiosity and accountability and we do it at pace. We challenge with care, support each other, and commit fully - because we’re in this to win.
• Bold & Brave - We are daring, adaptive and always learning. Change doesn’t shake us, it fuels us.
• In It Together - We lead with kindness, empathy, and respect. We challenge each other with care and compassion. We work hard and celebrate our wins.

What’s in it for you:

• A culture of curiosity, autonomy, and continuous improvement
• Flexible working - while we do have an office in Wellington, NZ, we're remote-friendly and this role can be based anywhere within NZ or Australia (AEDT)
• A wellness allowance, working from home budget, and genuinely great people to work with
• Competitive salary that reflects your skills and experience and an Employee Share Options Plan (ESOP)
• The chance to build products that help teams around the world create better experiences

If this sounds like a role that excites you, apply today. We’ll be interviewing as applications come in.