Front End Engineer - DROP Sprockets : Job Details

Front End Engineer – Confidential High-Growth Startup (Hybrid | Chicago)

Location: Chicago, ILWork Environment: HybridRecruiting Partner: Next Step Recruitment

About the Opportunity

Next Step Recruitment is supporting a confidential, private equity-backed startup in stealth mode in their search for a Front End Engineer. This is a chance to join a high-impact team at a pivotal moment—building modern web applications from the ground up in a fast-paced, product-driven environment.

We're looking for an engineer with strong front-end fundamentals and a passion for crafting intuitive, performant user interfaces. You'll work closely with product, design, and backend teams to deliver features that power real-time, scalable tools for thousands of users.

Why This is a Great Opportunity

• Ground-floor access to a stealth startup backed by a major private equity firm—your work will have direct impact on the product and user experience.

• Start-up speed, without chaos: Join a small, focused team where things move fast but intentionally, with thoughtful design and clear goals.

• Technical ownership without isolation: You'll own scoped features, contribute to architectural discussions, and work closely with experienced engineers who value quality.

• Career growth: A strong role for someone looking to level up their impact and visibility, while still in a hands-on, builder's seat.

• Build something real: The product is solving complex problems at scale—this isn't one-off landing pages or marketing sites.

What You'll Be Doing

• Build and maintain scalable front-end components using React and Next.js.

• Translate UI/UX designs into functional, responsive, and performant user interfaces.

• Collaborate with designers, product managers, and backend developers to deliver seamless, integrated product features.

• Optimize web application performance using techniques like lazy loading, memoization, and modular architecture.

• Contribute to and maintain CI/CD pipelines for front-end testing and deployment.

• Troubleshoot and resolve front-end bugs and cross-browser issues.

• Write clean, maintainable code and help build a library of reusable components.

What You Bring

• 4–7 years of experience in front-end development roles.

• Strong hands-on experience with React and Next.js in production environments.

• Comfortable working with REST APIs and collaborating across full-stack teams.

• Familiarity with AWS, testing tools (Jest, React Testing Library), and version control.

• Experience with performance optimization and mobile responsiveness.

• Strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset.

• Appetite for growth and problem-solving in a fast-moving, early-stage environment.

Interested? Apply immediately, as we will be interviewing soon.

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