Senior Desktop Engineer, Able

• 6+ years of software engineering experience, including production-grade TypeScript/Node.js
• 3+ years building and shipping Electron applications to real end users — not internal tools or proofs of concept
• Hands-on native macOS development in Swift and/or Objective-C, with AppKit and at least one system-level framework such as Core Audio, AVFoundation, ScreenCaptureKit, or the Accessibility API
• Practical experience writing native Node addons (N-API / node-addon-api) or bundling and communicating with out-of-process native helpers
• Demonstrated experience with macOS code signing, notarization, entitlements and the TCC permission model — you have debugged a rejected notarization and know how to read the log
• Working knowledge of the Windows desktop platform: Win32 APIs, Authenticode signing, and the practical realities of SmartScreen and antivirus reputation
• Strong grasp of multi-process architecture, IPC, and debugging issues that only reproduce on a user's machine

Desirable

• At Ruby Labs, we are looking for a Senior Desktop Engineer to own and drive a new cross-platform desktop product from first commit to production
• This is a high-ownership role with an unusually deep systems component. The application is not a wrapped web app: it captures system and microphone audio in real time, renders an always-on-top overlay across the user's workspace, registers global shortcuts, and integrates with the operating system at a level that requires native code on both macOS and Windows
• Our architecture is Electron for the application and UI layer, with native modules and helper processes in Swift and C++ where the platform requires it. You will own that boundary — deciding what belongs in TypeScript, what belongs in native code, and making the two halves behave as one reliable product
• You will also own everything that happens after the build: code signing, notarization, entitlements, permission onboarding, auto-update, and crash reporting. On this product, those are not an afterthought; they are a significant share of the engineering work, and getting them wrong is what stops users from ever running the app
• You will operate as the senior technical voice for desktop within your team, setting the engineering standard for the platform
• Own the Electron architecture end to end — main, renderer and helper processes, IPC design, context isolation, process lifecycle — and deliver major features within agreed timelines
• Build transparent, frameless, always-on-top overlay windows that behave correctly across full-screen spaces, multiple displays and mixed-DPI setups, alongside global shortcuts, tray presence and low-latency UI under continuous background load
• Design a clean platform abstraction in TypeScript so the macOS and Windows implementations stay isolated and independently testable, and write idiomatic Swift and C++ in the native layer
• Keep the product reliable: defensive handling of unstable platform APIs, tests and code reviews, performance, memory and battery budgets, and remediation of security-review and penetration-test findings within agreed severity SLAs
• Build and maintain the native layer: Node addons (N-API / node-addon-api) and out-of-process helpers in Swift and C++
• Implement real-time system audio capture — Core Audio process taps and ScreenCaptureKit on macOS, WASAPI loopback on Windows — including device change handling, format negotiation, and graceful recovery from driver-level failures
• Integrate with the Accessibility API (AXUIElement) on macOS and UI Automation on Windows to read application context reliably
• Own the IPC protocol and lifecycle between Electron and the native helpers, and keep the application working as Apple and Microsoft change their platforms
• Own code signing and notarization on macOS — hardened runtime, entitlements, nested binary signing, provisioning profiles — and Authenticode signing, SmartScreen reputation and antivirus false positives on Windows
• Design the permission onboarding flow — microphone, system audio, screen recording, accessibility — so that grant rates stay high and failure states are recoverable
• Build and maintain the release pipeline: CI matrix builds, signing from CI with HSM-backed certificates, auto-update, staged rollout and rollback
• Own crash reporting and production telemetry for the desktop client, and act on what it tells you

• After submitting your application, we conduct a thorough review which typically takes 3 to 5 days, but may occasionally take longer due to the volume of applications received. If we see a potential fit, we proceed with the following steps:
• Recruiter Screening (40 minutes)
• Technical Interview (60 minutes)
• Final Interview (40 minutes)