Senior Full Stack Engineer

Respondent is a profitable research marketplace with real traction - research teams at Microsoft, Canva, and Anthropic use our platform to recruit participants for studies. We have 4 million participants across 150+ countries, a growing customer base, and a business that funds its own growth. The foundation is solid.

Now we're doing something more ambitious. We're rebuilding the entire recruiting experience AI-native from the ground up - faster matching, smarter screening, studies that fill in minutes. We're early in that journey and this role is core to how we get there. You'll work across the Respondent platform - researcher and participant experience, core marketplace infrastructure, and the AI-native features we're building - shipping work that customers use every week.

Who this is for

You're a strong full stack engineer who thinks like a product person. You care about what you're building and why - not just whether the code is clean. You understand that the best decision isn't always the most elegant one, and you've learned when to go deep on quality and when to move fast and iterate.

You're AI-native in how you work - you use AI tools in your dev workflow every day and you're curious about how AI can improve the product itself. More broadly, you move without being asked, connect your work to business outcomes, and don't need structure and process to feel oriented.

What we're not looking for

Not a fit if your instinct is to reach for the most technically interesting solution rather than the most commercially sensible one. We're building a product customers love, not a showcase.

If you need heavy process and clearly defined scope before you can move, this won't work - but if ambiguity energises you and you're good at making reasonable calls with incomplete information, you'll thrive here.

What you'll actually do

• Build and ship features across the full stack - front-end, back-end, and infrastructure - with a focus on researcher and participant experience
• Work closely with Product to define what to build, not just how to build it - you'll have a genuine voice in shaping priorities
• Apply AI pragmatically - in how you build (AI-assisted workflows, tooling, dev practices) and in what you build (AI-native features that make the platform faster and smarter)
• Make architectural trade-offs that balance performance, scalability, and complexity - you know when to go deep and when to ship fast
• Raise the bar across the engineering team - through the quality of your code, your product thinking, and how you approach problems

Skills and experience

• 5+ years full stack engineering experience - strong across the full stack - front-end, back-end, and infrastructure. Our stack is TypeScript, Node.js, React, AWS, and MongoDB
• Experience building at a startup or marketplace - you understand the pace, the trade-offs, and what it actually takes to ship product in a resource-constrained environment
• Product-minded - you've worked closely with or alongside Product, have opinions on what to build and why, and can operate without heavy PM oversight when needed
• Familiar with AI tooling in practice - in your dev workflow and ideally in what you've shipped
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience

Why Join Us?

• Real impact: You’ll be part of a small, high-ownership engineering team where your work ships fast and directly shapes the experience for customers like Microsoft and Dropbox.
• Profitable and growing: We’re a 30-person startup that’s scaling - you’ll get the excitement of startup growth with the stability of proven traction.
• Modern tech and mindset: Work with the latest tools and AI-powered dev practices, giving you a front-row seat to cutting-edge engineering.
• Culture that cares: Be part of a tight-knit global team (Sydney, Manila, US). We’re collaborative, supportive, and believe in balancing high performance with a fun workplace.
• Solve real business problems: Work closely with our Product, Commercial and Design teams. You get to expand your Engineering knowledge to solve real business problems