About the Company
Speechify is a mission-driven company dedicated to removing reading barriers to learning. With over 50 million users, its text-to-speech products transform written content—PDFs, books, articles, web pages—into audio, enabling faster reading, better comprehension, and increased accessibility. Recognized by Google as Chrome Extension of the Year and by Apple with its 2025 Design Award for Inclusivity, Speechify has built a suite of applications for iOS, Android, Mac, Chrome, and the web. The company operates fully distributed with nearly 200 employees globally, including engineers from Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and alumni from leading PhD programs and high-growth startups like Stripe and Vercel.
Role Overview
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to take ownership of our Windows desktop application. You will lead the design, architecture, and development of native Windows applications, ensuring they are fast, reliable, and accessible to all users. This role is critical to shaping the future of our Windows product—you will drive technical decisions, mentor other engineers, and collaborate closely with product designers, UX researchers, and QA teams. You will own features end-to-end, from conception through release and maintenance, and have a direct impact on millions of users who rely on Speechify to learn and read more effectively.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the design, architecture, and development of native Windows desktop applications using Windows App SDK, WinUI (or related UI frameworks), C#, XAML, and C++ where needed.
- Define and enforce best practices for Windows desktop development: code architecture, performance, memory management, responsive UI, cross-version compatibility (Windows 10/11+), and maintainability.
- Drive accessibility efforts: integrate and validate support for Windows accessibility APIs (e.g., Microsoft UI Automation), ensure proper focus management, keyboard navigation, screen-reader support, and usability for users with disabilities.
- Collaborate with product designers, UX researchers, QA, and other stakeholders to shape feature planning, UI/UX architecture, and the long-term roadmap for the Windows platform.
- Take ownership of the full lifecycle of features: conception, design, implementation, testing, release, and maintenance. Ensure quality, reliability, and consistency across releases.
- Identify, diagnose, and resolve complex bugs, performance bottlenecks, memory leaks, rendering issues, and compatibility problems, proposing robust architectural or design solutions.
- Perform code reviews, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to technical direction and documentation.
Tech Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: C#, C++, XAML, .NET (including .NET Core/.NET 5+), Win32 API, WinRT, COM
- UI & Application Frameworks: Windows App SDK, WinUI 3, UWP (familiarity helpful)
- Accessibility: Microsoft UI Automation, Windows Narrator support
- Development Tools: Visual Studio, Git, CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions)
- Automated Testing: Unit tests, integration tests, UI automation tests (e.g., Appium, WinAppDriver)
- Performance & Quality: Memory profilers, performance analysis tools, telemetry/analytics (e.g., Application Insights, Crashlytics)
- Collaboration: Jira, Confluence, Slack