What are the responsibilities and job description for the Staff Frontend Engineer position at Horizon Search?
About Us
We’re a Series A defense-tech startup using proprietary GenAI to transform government contracting.
The U.S. spends $750B annually on federal contracts, but winning them requires massive, error-prone proposals that take teams weeks or months. Our platform—trained on real winning bids and federal regs—delivers compliant, high-quality drafts in days. Result: customers (major defense primes to emerging players) have already won $2.2B using us, with explosive growth ahead.
Founded by ex-Anduril, Robinhood, Google, and DoD leaders, backed by top-tier investors, and still small and fast-moving. This is frontier AI applied to classified workflows, national-scale impact, and huge equity upside—all in one place.
The Role
This Senior/Staff Front-End Engineer role is a rare opportunity to own the entire user experience of a mission-critical GenAI platform that’s already powering over $2.2 billion in won government contracts. You’ll build and refine a highly polished, secure, and intuitive frontend (TypeScript, React, Next.js) for enterprise users who work with sensitive and often classified data—think defense primes and Fortune 500 contractors relying on your UI every day to turn weeks of proposal work into days.
Working hand-in-hand with founders and early customers, you’ll ship fast, iterate based on real feedback, and set the bar for performance, accessibility, and pixel-perfect craft in a regulated environment. Beyond code, you’ll help shape product direction, mentor future hires, and scale a frontend system that needs to feel magical while meeting the strictest compliance and security standards. It’s high-ownership, high-impact engineering with massive early-stage equity in a red-hot Series A company that’s transforming one of the largest and most important markets in the world.
Requirements
- 5 years of frontend engineering experience with a focus on product development
- Mastery of TypeScript, React, and Next.js
- Proven track record shipping exceptional, polished user interfaces at scale
- Deep obsession with UI/UX details, performance, accessibility, and pixel-perfect execution
- Strong product sense and ability to translate complex workflows into intuitive experiences
- Experience building enterprise-grade applications (bonus if handling sensitive/compliant data)
- Located in the SF Bay Area or willing to relocate
- Passion for early-stage startups and high-ownership environments
Strong Bonus
- Early engineer at a high-growth startup
- Experience at product-first companies (e.g., Linear, Ramp, Vercel)
- Familiarity with AI products or large language model interfaces
- Background in defense-tech, fintech, or regulated industries
Benefits
- Massive early-stage equity
- Full medical, dental, and vision coverage (100% premiums covered for you dependents)
- Unlimited PTO flexible holidays (we actually encourage taking real time off)
- Commuter benefits parking/transit fully covered
- Home-office stipend top-tier equipment
- Daily catered lunches fully stocked kitchen in our SF office
- Visa sponsorship green card support available (after ~1 year for exceptional performers)
- 401(k) with company match
- Parental leave (generous for both primary and secondary caregivers)
- Fast-track growth – we’re small, moving fast, and early hires own huge parts of the product and company direction
Salary : $200,000 - $250,000