Desktop Systems Engineer (MacOS, Windows)

We’re hiring a Desktop Systems Engineer to build a high-performance, deeply integrated desktop product across macOS and Windows.

Othello is building at the frontier of real-time generative AI, helping sales teams make better high-stakes decisions in the moments that matter most, while a customer conversation is still happening. Our platform is used by leading sales organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, to deliver live intelligence before, during, and after meetings. We’re an early-stage startup that moves extremely fast, gives people real ownership, and is built for people who want to solve hard technical problems at the edge of what’s possible.

This is not a standard frontend role. We are looking for someone who understands desktop operating systems at a real systems level and knows how to build software that feels native, responsive, and production-grade. The core of the role is owning the desktop layer itself: windowing, process architecture, system behavior, permissions, performance, OS integrations, and native modules.

Experience with React and Electron is a strong advantage, but the priority is deep desktop and OS-level engineering strength. Bonus points if you also have strong UI taste and can help craft polished product experiences on top of the systems work.

What you’ll do

• Build and improve a high-performance desktop application across macOS and Windows

• Own OS-level behavior including window management, lifecycle, background processes, system events, permissions, notifications, installers, updates, and device or app integrations

• Design and implement native modules and system-level integrations where needed

• Work across Electron, native code, and desktop architecture to push the product far beyond a typical web app in a shell

• Help define how the application is structured across processes, IPC boundaries, native capabilities, and the frontend layer

• Drive performance, responsiveness, stability, and correctness across the desktop stack

• Contribute to product experience and interaction quality, especially where desktop behavior directly shapes UX



What we’re looking for

• Strong experience building desktop software on macOS and/or Windows

• Deep understanding of operating system behavior and desktop application architecture

• Experience with native development in Swift, Objective-C, C++, Rust, C#, or similar

• Strong grasp of system-level concerns such as process architecture, memory and CPU usage, IPC, permissions, windowing, file system access, auto-updates, and OS integrations

• Ability to reason about low-level implementation details while keeping product quality high

• Strong engineering judgment and deep problem-solving ability

• High ownership and strong execution standards

• React and Electron experience is a strong plus

• Strong UI taste and frontend sensibility is a plus

You should be the kind of person who

• Thinks in terms of desktop systems, not just screens and components

• Understands that desktop quality comes from behavior, performance, and integration, not just visuals

• Can move comfortably between native code, system architecture, and product experience

• Knows how to make software feel truly native on macOS and Windows

• Cares deeply about responsiveness, smoothness, and correctness

• Takes on hard engineering problems and solves them properly