Software Engineer

We are hiring an early-career software engineer to join our in-house engineering team. You will work directly with the CTO and alongside our existing engineers, contributing across our production applications and taking increasing ownership as you grow.

You do not need to be a full-stack engineer on your first day. You do need to want to become one.

This role is best suited to someone who is willing to work across the entire application stack. You may spend one day building a React interface, another debugging a Node.js service, and the next writing SQL, adjusting CSS, reviewing logs, or deploying an application.

Engineers who want to work exclusively on the frontend or backend are unlikely to enjoy this role.

What You Will Do

• Maintain, troubleshoot, and build features for production Node.js and Next.js applications
• Move between projects as priorities change and become productive quickly in unfamiliar codebases
• Write and troubleshoot SQL directly against MySQL, rather than relying entirely on an ORM
• Deploy, monitor, debug, and support the software you build
• Investigate production issues and help resolve them when they arise
• Work directly with engineers, business leaders, and the CTO to turn practical needs into working software
• Take increasing ownership of applications and technical decisions as your experience grows

There is no formal on-call rotation, but we expect engineers to be responsive and engaged when an important production issue occurs.

You do not need professional experience with AI-assisted development. You do need:

• Genuine curiosity about AI tools and how they can improve engineering work
• Some history of using AI, even informally, to learn, build, troubleshoot, or explore technical ideas
• The judgment to test and verify AI-generated code before relying on it
• The ability to recognize when an AI-generated answer is incomplete, unsafe, or simply wrong
• A willingness to make AI-assisted development a normal part of your workflow

AI tools do not replace engineering fundamentals, judgment, or accountability. You will remain responsible for understanding and supporting the software you ship.

Someone fundamentally opposed to AI-assisted development is unlikely to be comfortable in this role., * Working knowledge of Node.js, React or Next.js, MySQL, HTML, and CSS

• Comfort working from a Linux-style command line, including Ubuntu, WSL, or the macOS terminal
• Experience using a modern development environment such as VS Code, Cursor, or a JetBrains IDE
• A practical Git workflow, including branches, commits, pull requests, and resolving basic merge conflicts
• A GitHub profile, portfolio, personal project, contribution, or other work you can discuss with us
• Strong written communication and the ability to communicate directly with engineers and company leadership
• Between zero and three years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated ability through personal projects, open-source contributions, coursework, a bootcamp, or a career-transition portfolio

Helpful, but Not Required

• Hands-on experience using Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT, or similar tools on a real project
• Exposure to nginx, AWS, or another cloud platform
• Experience deploying or supporting a web application
• A personal project, open-source contribution, or technical accomplishment you are proud of

About Our Team

There is no single background required to succeed here.

One of our engineers joined with a computer science degree and years of self-directed programming experience beginning in high school. Another transitioned from fashion and retail, taught themselves to code, completed a bootcamp, and was independently working on production applications within four months. A year later, that engineer owns several web applications from end to end.

Both paths work here.

What our successful engineers share is curiosity, engagement, ownership, sound judgment, and a willingness to figure things out. That is what we are looking for again.

Pulled from the full job description

• 401(k), Compensation and Logistics
• Full benefits package, including 401(k)
• Hybrid schedule with Tuesdays required in our Irvine office, plus one additional in-office day of your choice

FFR is building its next generation of technology around AI-augmented engineering. We use tools such as Claude Code and Codex every day, and we expect our engineers to use AI thoughtfully to learn faster, investigate problems, understand unfamiliar systems, and deliver quality software more efficiently.