Desktop Engineer – AI

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.