Staff Frontend Engineer

About the role

ABOUT RETELL AI

Retell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B.

Our vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI “workers” that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction.

We're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world.

Let's build the future together.

Recent recognition:

• No. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026

• Top 50 AI Apps, a16z (2025)

• #3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026

• Best Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026

• #4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025

• Enterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC

• Top-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard

• Backed by Y Combinator

ABOUT THE ROLE

Retell AI transforms customer experience with voice AI for enterprises, including CVS/Aetna, American Airlines, Lenovo, and Grab.

We’re looking for a Staff Frontend Engineer to lead complex frontend projects and shape the user experience of our voice AI platform. You’ll build tools that help customers create, deploy, monitor, and improve AI voice agents.

You’ll partner closely with engineering, product, and design to turn complex workflows into intuitive interfaces. This is a hands-on role with ownership from defining the problem and choosing the technical approach through launch and iteration.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead frontend projects from concept to production, owning architecture, implementation, and delivery.

• Build responsive, reliable interfaces using React, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.

• Partner with product and design to simplify complex workflows across agent configuration, dashboards, and analytics.

• Shape frontend architecture, reusable components, and patterns that help the team ship faster.

• Improve application performance, accessibility, and reliability as customer usage grows.

• Raise code quality through thoughtful reviews, testing, mentoring, and hands-on technical leadership.

• Work with backend engineers to design APIs and data flows that support a smooth user experience.

YOU MIGHT THRIVE IF

• You have 9+ years of software engineering experience, with deep expertise in frontend development.

• You’ve operated at Staff level or equivalent scope, leading substantial projects and influencing technical direction.

• You have strong experience with React and TypeScript, browser fundamentals, and modern frontend architecture.

• You’ve shipped complex web applications and can explain the technical and product tradeoffs behind your decisions.

• You care about interaction details, usability, accessibility, and performance.

• You’re comfortable taking an ambiguous problem, defining an approach, and driving it through delivery.

• You enjoy writing code, mentoring engineers, and working closely with product and design.

Bonus points: Experience building enterprise SaaS, developer tools, real-time interfaces, data visualizations, or AI products.

WHY THIS ROLE

• Real ownership over core systems.

• Direct influence on product and company direction.

• A small, high-caliber team with very little process drag.

• Problems that matter to customers, revenue, and scale.

If you want a role where your decisions visibly shape the company, this is it.

JOB DETAILS

• Cash: $225-$350k

• Equity: Offers Meaningful Equity

• Location: Redwood City, CA, US (100% Relocation Provided)

• US Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT).

OTHER BENEFITS

• 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance

• $70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks

• $200/month wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, etc.)

• $300/month commuter reimbursement (gas, Caltrain, etc.)

• $75/month phone bill reimbursement

• $50/month internet reimbursement

COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY

• Best Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.

• Top 1% Talent: Above-market pay (top 5 percentile) to attract exceptional builders.

• High Ownership: Small teams, >$1M revenue/employee, and significant equity.

• Performance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.

INTERVIEW PROCESS

1. Recruiter Screen (15min): Speak with a member of the talent team to learn more about us and which team you would be a good fit for.

2. Technical Interview (45 min): Practical coding session focused on code fluency and system design (For frontend roles, we will focus on React-specific questions. For backend roles, we take a technology-agnostic approach.)

3. Technical Interview (45 min): This is a systems design-focused interview. There will be no coding; we want to assess your skills in systems design.

4. Onsite/Virtual Interviews (2–3 hrs): Hosted in our office if located in the Bay Area or virtual, with three rounds:

   1. Practical Coding: Tackle real-world coding tasks with debugging.

   2. System Design: Architect a production-ready system.

   3. Codebase Review & Improvements