Staff Software Engineer - Collaborative Web Platform

About Pantheon

Pantheon unites top-tier developers driven by ownership and impactful work, powering over 300,000 websites globally for clients like Google, Princeton, and the United Nations. Their WebOps platform supports developers and marketers in building and scaling WordPress, Drupal, and Next.js sites reaching billions worldwide. They foster a remote-forward, expert team culture focused on meaningful contributions and craftsmanship.

The Opportunity

This unique role offers the chance to architect and build a cutting-edge, real-time collaborative web content platform from the ground up. Pantheon is shaping a new product category combining developer tools, visual editing, and cloud-native content infrastructure, addressing the outdated paradigms of traditional CMS built for a prior web era.

Role Overview

The Staff Engineer will blend technical leadership with hands-on development across the full stack, including backend APIs, real-time sync services, and frontend visual editing interfaces. Collaborating tightly with product and design, you will define architecture, set engineering standards, and guide a focused team to deliver key milestones for this pioneering platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect and own the design of a real-time content platform, encompassing data models, synchronization protocols, API surfaces, and client-side state handling.
• Drive strategic technical decisions balancing developer usability, operational simplicity, and scalable cloud-native multi-tenant infrastructures.
• Establish team engineering standards such as API design guidelines, testing approaches, performance targets, and observability practices.
• Evaluate and select third-party services and components with a clear decision framework on building versus buying.
• Develop backend services supporting collaborative editing, conflict resolution, and content delivery at scale across distributed cloud environments.
• Create frontend systems enabling real-time visual editing experiences, including page builders and publication workflows.
• Manage integration layers linking editing tools with platform APIs, webhooks, and developer extension models.
• Contribute to user experience architecture by partnering with design on innovative, stateful editing interaction models.
• Collaborate across teams to translate ambiguous problems into concrete technical plans and phased delivery strategies.
• Mentor engineering team members through code reviews, pairing, architecture feedback, and detailed documentation.
• Engage with customers and partners to validate architectural assumptions and ensure practical integration solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Over 10 years of software engineering experience featuring full product lifecycle ownership.
• Proven full-stack abilities, delivering backend production systems (APIs, data services, cloud infrastructure) and frontend interactive UIs and component systems.
• Experience building real-time or collaborative systems such as live data synchronization, multiplayer apps, or event-driven architectures.
• Familiarity with cloud-native platforms (GCP, AWS, Cloudflare, Azure), containerization, and modern deployment workflows.
• Strong expertise in API design including REST, GraphQL, and event-driven interfaces with appropriate application judgment.
• Deep understanding of frontend architecture, including component modeling, state management, rendering performance, and browser technologies beyond framework use.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.

Desired Attributes and Values

• A proactive ownership mindset energized by ambiguous challenges and focused on impactful outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills capable of simplifying complex tradeoffs for cross-functional partners and delivering clear technical documentation.
• System-level thinker mindful of architectural decisions' long-term consequences like technical debt or optionality.
• Patience and persistence suited for zero-to-one product development involving non-linear progress and collaborative iteration.

Bonus Skills

• Experience working on visual or low-code editing platforms like page builders, WYSIWYG editors, or drag-and-drop component systems.
• Understanding of various CMS architectures (headless, hybrid, traditional) and their real-world tradeoffs.
• Background in developing developer-facing tools or extensible platforms (SDKs, plugin APIs, CLI tools).
• Contributions to open-source projects in web platforms or developer tooling ecosystems.

Compensation and Benefits

• Competitive salary and equity package.
• Generous paid time off, including company holidays and sick leave.
• Comprehensive medical coverage including dental and vision.
• High-end equipment for work.
• Optional office space available in Vancouver, BC.
• Monthly stipends for wellness, educational resources, and access to professional learning platforms.
• Engaging team and company-wide events fostering inspiration and skill development.

Equal Opportunity and Accessibility

Pantheon is committed to diversity and inclusion, welcoming candidates from all backgrounds and complying with laws protecting individuals with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations during hiring are available upon request.

Additional Information

The Canadian base salary range is between 139,200 and 174,000 CAD annually. Hiring typically occurs below the top of this range and is based on individual qualifications.

Visa sponsorship is not provided for this position at this time.