The mandate: Build core platform features across the whole stack — prompt orchestration and telephony integrations on the backend, dashboards and analytics on the frontend — in React, TypeScript, and Node.js. You lead projects from architecture to production and work directly with the founding team. The differentiator against the Backend and Frontend reqs: this seat is explicitly for people who want both. Same band, same company, same interview skeleton, but the scope is end to end and the JD names the bridge as the job — "bridge backend architecture (like prompt orchestration and telephony integrations) with frontend experiences (such as dashboards and analytics tools)." One notable loop difference: the first technical round is 60 minutes here versus 45 on the specialist reqs, and the third onsite round is an existing codebase exercise rather than Tools & Automation. Retell is testing whether you can read and extend unfamiliar code, which is exactly what a full-stack hire does on day one. Brief candidates on both. What You'll Own
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Core features spanning the stack: prompt orchestration, dashboards, analytics, telephony integrations
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Full-stack systems from polished UIs to robust APIs and DevOps workflows
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Projects end to end — architecture, coding, deployment, iteration
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Intuitive interfaces and APIs that get customers live in hours
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Customer onboarding support, debugging, and turning feedback into product improvements Requirements Hard gates:
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2+ years full-stack experience with React, TypeScript, Node.js, or Python. Genuine depth on both sides — not backend-with-some-React or frontend-with-some-Express.
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Degree in CS, CE, or equivalent practical experience
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On-site in Redwood City (relocation covered)
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Can code and design live. A 60-minute technical round, a 45-minute system design round, and a three-round onsite including reading an existing codebase. Profile:
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4–8 years total for the senior bar (the JD's 2+ is the floor, not the target — the band signals senior)
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Founder-style ownership. "Take ownership like a founder, proactively solving problems across the stack."
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Adapts fast to new tools and problem domains
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Communicates clearly in a small team Strong bonuses:
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Genuinely shipped both halves — has owned a feature from database schema through UI without handing off. This is the single highest-value signal.
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Real-time systems: WebSockets, streaming, live data on both ends
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Telephony: Twilio, Vonage, Telnyx, SignalWire, SIP
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Data-dense UI: dashboards, analytics, developer consoles, observability tooling
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API design for external developers
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Node.js and Python depth, not just React familiarity on the backend side
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Design sensibility — no dedicated design org at 50 people
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Startup experience, especially as an early engineer or technical founder Location and visa:
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On-site, Redwood City. 100% relocation provided.
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Sponsorship: Yes — H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT), and O-1 Anti-patterns
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"Full stack" that means backend plus a bit of React, or frontend plus a bit of Express. The 60-minute round and the codebase exercise will expose thin ends.
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Engineers who need a spec, a ticket, and a defined scope
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Big-company engineers who worked inside a mature platform with a dedicated design partner and an infra team
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Anyone who wants zero customer contact — onboarding support is named in the JD
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Slow-cycle enterprise engineers on quarterly release trains
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Remote requirements Who Will Thrive Here
Someone who's been the person who ships the whole feature — schema, API, UI, deploy — and prefers it that way. They have real opinions about both state management and database indexing. They've probably been an early engineer at a startup or built something of their own. At 50 people they get to define how a category-leading product works end to end, which is the actual reason to take this over a bigger company paying similar money.