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About Us

Shorthand exists to empower creative teams to produce and publish beautiful, transformative content radically faster. We’ve begun our journey by creating an easy-to-use platform for one of the most creatively and technically demanding use cases on the web — immersive feature stories — and we’re proud to count many of the world’s best known and most discerning publishers, brands, not-for-profits, and universities as loyal customers.

Shorthand is a growing, investor-backed company with customers on every continent (except Antarctica!), and there’s never been a more exciting time to join our band of geeks with art and heart.

We’re looking for a Senior UX Engineer to join our team. We tend to do things a little differently at Shorthand. For one thing, we’re a small, fully remote team distributed around the world and have established systems and processes in place. We welcome applicants from Australia and the Asia Pacific region for this role, as long as you are able to work during the AEST time zone (Brisbane).

What you’ll be doing 

The mission of Shorthand is to create a beautifully informed world. In order to do that, we need to ship tools that make it easy to create immersive reading experiences for the web because it will otherwise be unaffordable and painfully cumbersome for organisations to produce such content. 

Our Senior UX Engineer role is a big part of the Shorthand magic. As a Senior UX Engineer at Shorthand you will own the implementation of the user experience of our product. Bridging the gap between design and engineering, you will bring creativity and pragmatism in order to deliver a delightful and accessible experience for our customers. 

You’ll know you’ve been successful in this role when there is widespread adoption of the design system components within the Engineering team, and externally via positive customer feedback and improved usage metrics.

The role will join our Engineering Team, working very closely with the Design team, and report to the Director of Story Engineering. 

In this role, you’ll:

• Lead the implementation and maintenance of our design system.
• Be the technical lead in user experience within the Engineering team.
• Collaborate with the design and engineering teams to deliver a consistent, delightful and accessible user experience.
• Collaborate on the ideation of new features.
• Create working prototypes of new features that can be tested with users.
• Participate in user testing.
• Conduct code reviews and mentor others on best practices in front-end implementation and accessibility.

What we’re looking for

• A minimum of 4 years in a similar role, demonstrable via a portfolio or similar examples of your work.
• Strong foundational skills in JavaScript, HTML and particularly CSS (along with experience or interest in TypeScript and React or equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience using CI/CD processes (E.g. Gitflow in CircleCI, Jenkins or similar).
• Is experienced in writing tests and using test automation tools (Cypress, Playwright, Jest, React Testing Library, Applitools preferably).
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing interfaces from Figma (or equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience building rapid prototypes in code that can be tested with users.
• Deep understanding of common interaction patterns.
• Demonstrated experience delivering UI that balances delight and performance.
• Demonstrated experience with accessibility and cross-browser support.
• Experience with UI animation techniques.
• University qualification in computer science or a closely related field, or equivalent career experience preferred.

You’ll be a great fit for our team if you:

• are a creative customer-focused problem solver and always willing to go that extra mile.

• are whip-smart, can learn fast, prioritise competing demands, and stay calm under pressure.

• are a proactive self-starter who is resourceful finding solutions to any challenge.

• are a supportive team player who loves collaborating and helping others achieve their goals.

• are interested in storytelling, creative writing, web design or a related field. (We will be asking you to write your own Shorthand story as part of the recruitment process!)

• have excellent written and face-to-face communication skills, and can effectively discuss technical challenges and opportunities for recommendations.

• consider yourself to be a developer who primarily focuses on the interface and user experience aspects of front-end development, such as design implementation.

• preferably has experience collaborating with diverse, geographically-dispersed teams and working remotely.

Why work for us

We offer:

• Options for working your way: fully remote working, flexible hours and an allowance for a co-working space if you prefer.
• True autonomy, with freedom to own and grow the role you occupy.
• The opportunity to work in a growing SaaS company that is still small enough that you can make a real impact.
• An allowance for setting up your home office, a laptop, and any peripherals you need to do your job.
• An Employee Option Plan for all team members.
• A Health and Wellness fund to support your healthy lifestyle, as well as access to coaching and counselling services.
• Paid parental leave if you are growing your tribe.

We're building a high-performing engineering team where brilliance meets collaboration. Our team thrives on a vibrant mix of talent, including talented women in leadership roles and across all levels of seniority. Alongside colleagues from various backgrounds, nationalities, and age groups, this blend of perspectives fuels innovation and fosters a truly inclusive environment where everyone's voice is heard and valued.

The base salary range for this position is $100,000 - 135,000 AUD. Base salary ranges are determined by multiple factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skills, experience and local market benchmarks.

Shorthand’s interview process

We value direct communication here at Shorthand and want to be transparent on how we hire. Our process involves:

1. An initial Zoom screen: You’ll have an informal Zoom meeting with the hiring manager to discuss your background, the role, and what led you to apply.
2. A work task: We’ll ask you to complete a take-home task, similar to the work you’ll be doing in the role, using our software platform. This should take approximately 2-4 hours. This helps you to develop familiarity with our platform ahead of meeting with the hiring panel and helps us to verify that you’d be a great fit for the role.
3. Interviews: You’ll have interviews with the hiring panel over Zoom. This means you’ll typically get to meet another 3 people from Shorthand, including our CEO.
4. Final checks: The successful candidate will undergo a reference and criminal background check prior to us sending the final employment agreement.

Our workplace is 100% distributed and all interviews are conducted virtually unless otherwise advised. Please let us know of any reasonable accommodations you may need during the interview process. Applications close Monday 10 March 2025.