UX Prototyping Lead - #1739693

TL;DR: We’re looking for a very experienced front-end/hybrid engineer to be the UX Prototyping Lead on our Product Design team. You will explore, design, test and refine prototypes of possible new products and features, and support us on projects involving front-end build.

About Cloudsmith

Cloudsmith is transforming how organizations handle software artifacts and secure their supply chains. As a fully managed multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, we enable organizations to build software better, through best-in-class artifact management and software supply chain security. Our vision is to become the software supply chain itself, powering the future of software delivery.

We are the world's most potent artifact management platform, built by developers for developers. Our platform supports over 30 formats spanning languages, container formats, and operating systems, with enterprise-grade features, including vulnerability and security scanning, world-class policy management and enforcement, and web-scale to handle the Fortune 500. Organizations integrate Cloudsmith as critical infrastructure into their development, deployment, and distribution pipelines, trusting us to protect and accelerate, no matter the scale.

Backed by top-tier investors and on a trajectory toward IPO and beyond, we're building mission-critical infrastructure that powers software delivery for organizations worldwide. We operate at the cutting edge of cloud-native technology, tackling complex distributed systems challenges that directly impact millions of developers. Now is an exciting time to join us as we revolutionize how organizations deliver and secure software and help write the next chapter of our rocketship growth story.

We believe that our ability to project a coherent (trustworthy) brand, while offering an exceptional UX is key to our success as a company. Cloudsmith’s customers are typically large enterprises with stringent requirements around productivity and security. Our web applications are used by our most senior customers; people overseeing large teams, ensuring they have the tools they need to remain productive and secure.

The Role

As the UX Prototyping Lead on our Product Design team, you will explore, design, test and refine prototypes of possible new products and features.

In this mode, a typical project would be to take a brief, then work with a designer, to explore, design, test and refine a new feature for app.cloudsmith.com, delivering working software. You would then act as a bridge/expert as the feature is taken forward as production software, working with one of our larger engineering squads.

As well as this prototyping role, you will also work on our design systems and public-facing channels, such as our brand website and documentation website.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, your responsibilities will be:

• Opportunity identification: Working with product team to identify and describe emerging product needs; new features, new product opportunities. Helping to refine briefs, understand customer problems, and establish success criteria - before you start prototyping
• Design exploration: Exploring possible approaches to solving problems in the browser
• Design definition: Defining the target user experience, and informing the best way to deliver on those experiences, working with designers
• Prototype development: Creating intuitive, efficient, and engaging user interfaces for the browser
• We’ve aligned on NextJS as our front-end framework of choice across all web applications
• We use Sanity CMS for content management
• All of our web applications are deployed to Vercel
• We interact with the Cloudsmith API as required
• Testing: Taking prototypes to customers or internal teams for feedback and testing sessions
• Refinement: Improving prototypes to a point where they can be used self-serve, as part of Early Access with customers
• Delivery and documentation; describing your work does, doesn’t do, what data is needed for a future working version of the prototype
• Collaboration to production: Working with engineering teams who inherit prototypes to share knowledge and help them get work into production
• Collaborating with brand and product designers on periodic improvements to cloudsmith.com, help.cloudsmith.io, and other public-facing channels
  
  

Required Experience, Qualities & Skills

• 8+ years working on front-end prototyping projects - with extensive experience in HTML, CSS, JS
• Some experience developing web applications in React and/or NextJS (3-5 years of experience)
• Strong understanding around accessing and manipulating data, working with APIs and various data sources
• Strong understanding of design practice and deliverables; working with design component libraries, design systems, Figma etc.
• Some experience of working in Sanity (headless CMS) is a plus
• Some experience in back-end/server-side development is a plus
  
  

Our Preferred Candidate

• Likes to work fast to deliver a prototype early, prompting discussion and further refinement
• Has a core toolkit of well-understood tools and technologies, but is open to learning new frameworks and technologies when necessary
• Loves working in a fast paced environment with lots to learn, and many problems to solve
  
  

Benefits, Location & Work Environment

Note: You must be based in Ireland or the United Kingdom and have the right to work independently without requiring sponsorship.

Headlines

• A position based in Ireland or the United Kingdom.
• A competitive compensation package, including equity.
• With comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Plus, generous annual leave and flexible working policies to suit your lifestyle.
• Including a professional development budget for conferences and training.
• In a dynamic, innovative, trust-centric, and supportive work environment.
• With the opportunity to shape a fast-growing Series B startup (and beyond).
• Regular [(monthly-ish)] travel may be required for team meetings.
• Regular [(quarterly-ish)] travel may also be required for events and customers.
  
  

Health and Wellness

Regardless of your location, we deeply care about Cloudsmithers and their families' health and wellness; a sustainable pace is essential. In addition to generous annual leave (PTO), we offer parental leave and health benefits to cover you and your dependents. We also offer flexible, family-friendly working policies.

Personal Growth

You will have an enormous opportunity to learn new skills alongside your colleagues, and your continued professional development is essential to us because it's important to you. We will support you with budgets for equipment, training, books, conferences, travel, and certifications. The more powerful you become, the better for all of us.

Facilities

Cloudsmith is headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with fully-equipped office space that’s open 24x7. We use our H.Q. regularly for activities like working sessions, team planning, meets and greets, and sometimes other group activities (like games!). We also hold all-hands offsites in Belfast thrice yearly, with guest speakers and team activities. Many Cloudsmithers work remotely, so we rely on our online collaboration tools; Slack, Google Docs, Linear, and other popular collaboration tools are how we work.

About Equal Opportunity

Cloudsmith is an equal-opportunity employer proud to nurture a diverse workplace that welcomes applications from individuals of all races, genders, and ethnic groups. We do not discriminate on age, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, military service, or health conditions. We will not tolerate discrimination of any kind within our workforce.

The Final Word

We're looking for someone who can balance creativity with technical skill, and who exhibits a desire to move quickly. You'll need deep experience working in the browser, with data and APIs, shipping complex user experiences where there is limited prior-art. We're critical infrastructure by developers / for developers and building the world's software supply chain platform and ecosystem. We want to hear from you if you're excited to build what's next with our Product team, delivering a lasting impact on the software industry from today until IPO and beyond.