Desktop Engineer - AI

Full Description

A1 is a self-funded AI group, operating in full stealth.

We’re building a new global consumer AI application where backend systems are not glue - they are the control plane that connects models, data, users, and product experiences.

This is a founding desktop engineering role.

You will design and build a high-performance desktop application with deep AI features, tight OS integration, and real-time collaboration - operating under real-world constraints like memory pressure, startup time, large local state, and continuous updates.

Why This Role Matters

• You define how users experience AI-powered collaboration on desktop

• Your work directly impacts speed, reliability, and trust at scale

• You solve hard problems at the intersection of OS, frontend, real-time systems, and AI

• You build production systems used daily — not prototypes

• You help set desktop engineering standards from day one

What You’ll Do

• Build and maintain cross-platform desktop apps using Electron

• Design responsive, scalable UI for real-time collaboration

• Implement desktop-specific capabilities:

• File system access

• Native notifications

• Auto-updates

• Deep linking

• Integrate AI-powered features (chat, agents, AI assistance) via backend APIs

• Optimize memory usage, startup time, and runtime performance

• Profile and reduce Electron overhead

• Handle large local state and message history efficiently

• Ensure smooth real-time updates (messages, typing indicators, presence)

• Maintain stability across macOS and Windows environments

Requirements

• 4+ years of software engineering experience

• Hands-on experience building production Electron applications

• Strong knowledge of:

• JavaScript / TypeScript

• React or similar UI frameworks

• Desktop application lifecycle

• Experience with:

• IPC communication

• Local storage (SQLite, IndexedDB, filesystem)

• WebSockets or other real-time transport

• Strong debugging and performance profiling skills

Nice to Have

• Experience integrating AI features in production:

• LLM-based chat

• AI agents

• Streaming AI responses

• Understanding of AI constraints:

• Latency vs UX tradeoffs

• Cost considerations

• Non-deterministic outputs

• Experience handling large local datasets or long-lived app sessions

• Familiarity with native OS behaviors on macOS or Windows

Our Team & Culture

We operate as a dense, senior, high-performance team.

We value clarity, speed, craftsmanship, and relentless ownership.

We behave like founders — we build, ship, iterate, and hold ourselves to a high technical bar.

If you value excellence, enjoy building real systems, and want to be part of a small team creating something globally impactful, you’ll thrive here.

About A1

A1 is a self-funded, independent AI group, focused on building a new consumer AI product with global impact. We’re assembling a small, elite team of ML and engineering builders who want to work on meaningful, high-impact problems.

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