Staff Frontend Engineer - Mapping & Spatial Platform

Verkada

Salary: $185k - $265k
Experience: 5+ yrs
Location: San Mateo, California, United States
Job type: Full-time

Required skills

Deck.gl
MapLibre
Three.js
WebGL
WebGPU
JavaScript
React
React Query
Zustand
Yjs
Automerge

About the role

Who We Are

Verkada is transforming how organizations protect their people and places with an integrated, AI-powered platform. A leader in cloud physical security, Verkada helps organizations strengthen safety and efficiency through one connected software platform that includes solutions for video security, access control, air quality sensors, alarms, intercoms, and visitor management.

Over 30,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 100+ companies in the Fortune 500, trust Verkada as their physical security layer for easier management, intelligent control, and scalable deployments. Founded in 2016, Verkada has expanded rapidly with 15 offices and 2,200+ full-time employees.

About the Role

We are looking for a founding Staff Engineer to lead the technical architecture of our next-generation Spatial Platform. For the past decade, floor plans have been static images; we are rebuilding that foundation from the ground up as a high-performance, interactive, and collaborative 3D engine.

This is a greenfield role for a builder who wants to own a core pillar of Verkada’s infrastructure before we hit the public markets. You won't just build features—you will architect a platform that supports 8+ product lines, solving the "hard math" of geospatial projections and the "hard graphics" of rendering thousands of interactive assets at a buttery-smooth 60 FPS.

What You'll Do

Build the Rendering Platform: Design a high-performance rendering architecture that supports both an interactive viewer for high-density geospatial visualization and a precision editing surface for real-time vertex manipulation.
Set the UX Bar: Partner with Design to define the interaction model for spatial editing — easing curves, snapping behavior, cursor states, loading transitions — and hold the line on pixel-level polish across the platform.
Optimize for Latency: Solve the "500-element wall" with partial GPU buffer updates and custom shaders, ensuring sub-millisecond input latency during real-time vertex manipulation.
Spatial Intelligence: Develop power-user tools like real-time 3D line-of-sight analysis, signal strength heatmaps, and AI-driven hardware placement suggestions.
Build the Sync Engine: Own the client-side CRDT architecture (Yjs/Automerge-class) powering offline-first, multi-user editing — document model, local persistence, presence, and conflict resolution.

What You Bring

5+ years of experience building complex, customer-facing web applications or high-performance graphics engines.
Mastery of Web Technologies: JavaScript fundamentals (scoping, closures, contexts, prototypes, classes, etc.) and React expertise (common state and data libraries like React Query, Zustand, etc.)
CS Fundamentals: A degree in Computer Science or a related field, with strong intuition for data structures, memory management, and linear algebra.
Eye for Detail: Pixel-perfect execution — you notice the half-pixel misalignment, the 16ms jank, the easing curve that feels "off." You hold a high bar for visual polish and won't ship until interactions feel right.
Product Grit: Ability to bridge the gap between CAD-level precision and consumer-grade UX, partnering closely with Design to turn rough specs into delightful, production-grade experiences.
Mathematical Precision: Understanding of coordinate system conversions, geospatial projections, and 3D geometry.

Nice to Haves

Graphics Stack: Experience with Deck.gl, MapLibre, Three.js, or raw WebGL/WebGPU.
Collaborative Systems: Experience with real-time sync architectures (e.g., Yjs, Automerge, or Operational Transforms).
Low-Level Web: Proficiency in high-performance 2D/3D graphics (Canvas API, low-level buffer management, or custom shaders).
Geospatial Mastery: Familiarity with PostGIS, vector tiling (MVT), and GIS workflows.

US Employee Benefits

Verkada is committed to fostering a workplace environment that prioritizes the holistic health and wellbeing of our employees and their families by offering comprehensive wellness perks, benefits, and resources. Our benefits and perks programs include, but are not limited to:

Healthcare programs that can be tailored to meet the personal health and financial well-being needs - Premiums are 100% covered for the employee under at least one plan and 80% for family premiums under all plans
Nationwide medical, vision and dental coverage
Health Saving Account (HSA) with annual employer contributions and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) with tax saving options
Expanded mental health support
Paid parental leave policy & fertility benefits
Time off to relax and recharge through our paid holidays, firmwide extended holidays, flexible PTO and personal sick time
Professional development stipend
Fertility Stipend
Wellness/fitness benefits
Healthy lunches provided daily
Commuter benefits

Additional Information

We do sponsor and take over sponsorship of employment visas for this role. If we make you an offer, we will make every reasonable effort to get you a visa.

Annual Pay Range

At Verkada, we want to attract and retain the best employees, and compensate them in a way that appropriately and fairly values their individual contribution to the company. With that in mind, we carefully consider a number of factors to determine the appropriate starting pay for an employee, including their primary work location and an assessment of a candidate's skills and experience, as well as market demands and internal parity. A Verkada employee may be eligible for additional forms of compensation, depending on their role, including sales incentives, discretionary bonuses, and/or equity in the company in the form of restricted stock units (RSUs)

Below is the annual on-target earnings (OTE) range for full-time employees for this position, comprised of base compensation and commissions (if applicable).

Estimated Annual Pay Range

$185,000—$265,000 USD

Verkada Is An Equal Opportunity Employer

As an equal opportunity employer, Verkada is committed to providing employment opportunities to all individuals. All applicants for positions at Verkada will be treated without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

Your application will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.

About Verkada

Sells integrated AI-powered cloud physical security hardware and software.

This page is fully interactive when JavaScript is enabled. Please enable JavaScript to apply or browse related roles.