Staff/Senior Desktop Application Engineer

We are looking for a Staff or Senior Desktop Application Engineer to be part of the team designing, architecting, and implementing our AI-powered IT self-service chat agent - a native desktop application distributed to 20+ million endpoints worldwide. This client is the face of Nexthink's AI platform, giving employees a seamless, responsive experience directly on their Windows and macOS devices.

As a Senior Desktop Engineer, you will go beyond implementation: you will set technical direction for the client layer, influence cross-team design decisions, and serve as a trusted advisor to both engineering leadership and product. You'll tackle problems of performance, reliability, and native OS integration while partnering with backend, infra, and security teams to ship a production-grade application at global scale.

This is a high-impact, high-ownership role where you'll make foundational architectural decisions about the client platform and help shape the desktop engineering practice at Nexthink.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical vision and architectural strategy for the desktop client application.

• Lead design of a high-performance, native desktop application running on Windows and macOS at 20M+ endpoints.

• Partner with product, backend, and AI/ML teams to align the client experience with the broader AI platform.

• Provide technical leadership on client architecture, coding standards, and best practices for native desktop development.

• Architect and deliver a reliable, secure application covering the full distribution lifecycle: signing, packaging, installation, updates, and uninstallation.

• Champion observability, crash reporting, performance monitoring, and diagnostics across the client stack.

• Act as a mentor and multiplier, raising the technical bar and helping engineers grow.

• Lead technical deep dives, design reviews, and roadmap alignment discussions with leadership.

• Ensure security, compliance, and OS-level integration best practices are embedded in design from day one.

• 7+ years of desktop application engineering experience, shipping native applications on Windows and macOS.

• Proven success designing and shipping client applications to large user bases, with a deep understanding of platform-specific constraints and behaviours.

• Strong proficiency in Rust and/or C++, with solid experience building cross-platform desktop applications; experience with Tauri is a strong plus.

• Deep knowledge of Windows and macOS OS APIs.

• Hands-on experience with the full application distribution lifecycle: code signing, packaging, auto-update mechanisms, and deployment at scale.

• Strong understanding of desktop application performance profiling, memory management, and crash diagnostics.

• Exceptional communication skills - able to influence cross-functional teams and leadership with clear technical direction.

• Track record of mentoring and elevating engineering teams.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with the Tauri framework.

• Familiarity with React and TypeScript UI development.

• Experience integrating desktop clients with cloud backends via REST, WebSockets, or gRPC.

• Background in system-level programming: OS hooks, accessibility APIs, inter-process communication.

• Prior work on applications with silent background processes, system tray agents, or notification-driven UX.

• Experience with endpoint telemetry, observability SDKs, or APM integration on the client side.

• Experience with enterprise software distribution and managing application update strategies at scale.

If you are looking for a change and like a nice atmosphere, lots of challenges, and having fun while working, this is a great opportunity for you! Check what we offer:

• Permanent Contract and a competitive compensation package.

• Beautiful office with a view of Lake Geneva, conveniently located next to the Prilly-Malley train station

• Hybrid work model balancing office and remote work, with a structured approach for new hires to foster connections and onboarding.

• ️ Flexible Hours and unlimited vacation (employees have unlimited paid time off on top of the 25 days of holidays we offer) plus 3 company-paid volunteer days.

• Free access to a fitness centre inside the building.

• Reimbursement of the half-fare travel card for public transport.

• Reimbursement up to 50% of the cost of French classes.

• Fresh fruit, cookies, and soft drinks as well.

• Regular company and team events like Voluntary Days, Pizza talks, Team Building activities, hosting Meetups at the office and more!

• Bonuses for referring successful hires after three months of continuous employment.

• We offer a relocation package to people who are coming from another country.

Nexthink is the global leader in digital employee experience management. Our products allow enterprises to create highly productive digital workplaces for their employees by delivering optimal end-user experiences. Through a unique combination of real-time analytics, automation and employee feedback, Nexthink gives IT teams the insight they need to empower and even delight people at work.

Headquartered in Switzerland with US headquarters in Boston, Nexthink also has offices in France, UK, Germany, Spain and UAE.