Frontend Software Engineer, Auth

About Nominal

Nominal is building the connected test and operations platform powering the world's most advanced hardware systems, from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation defense programs. Our platform gives hardware engineering teams a single place to ingest data, analyze performance, automate test execution, and collaborate across every phase of development, so they can move faster without sacrificing safety or precision. We're a fast-moving team that owns problems end-to-end, works across disciplines, and thrives at the intersection of hardware and software.

We serve top-tier commercial and defense customers, from autonomy leaders like Anduril and Shield AI to next-generation aerospace teams like Hermeus and REGENT, and performance engineering teams like Pratt Miller Motorsports, alongside mission partners within the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force on programs where failure isn't an option. We're backed by Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Lightspeed. Our team draws from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, and other leading companies, united by a common mission: giving hardware engineers the tools to build the future with speed, safety, and confidence.

Join Nominal as a Frontend Software Engineer, Auth

At Nominal, the frontend goes far beyond a visual layer on top of APIs. For the Auth team, it's where administrators decide who can see and change sensitive test data, and where every user learns what they're allowed to do and why. Our customers run programs where the wrong person seeing the wrong data is a serious problem, so access control has to be precise, and the interface has to make that precision clear.

We're looking for engineers who love reasoning about permission models as much as building intuitive interfaces. You'll work at the intersection of product, design, and engineering to turn a relationship-based authorization system into tools that let admins control access with confidence and let users understand exactly why they can or can't see something. Success in this role is measured by building products that make a precise, deny-by-default permission model legible without hiding its power.

You'll partner closely with backend engineers, designers, and product teams to define workflows, shape product direction, and make thoughtful technical tradeoffs in an environment where requirements are often ambiguous and the best solutions aren't immediately obvious. You'll own the auth frontend largely end to end, so your judgment will shape how access control feels across the whole product.

About the role

Design products around access control

Build the interfaces administrators use to assign roles, manage users and groups, create workspaces, issue and revoke API keys, and control which data sources each person can see. You'll help define the workflows and interaction patterns that make a relationship-based permission model understandable and hard to misconfigure.

Make permissions visible across the product

Bring the permission model into every part of the app so that what users see matches what they're allowed to do, from hiding actions they can't take to explaining why. You'll also build the sign-in experiences that connect Nominal to customers' enterprise identity providers.

Own ambiguous product problems

Partner closely with product, design, and engineering to turn loosely defined ideas into intuitive user experiences. You'll challenge assumptions, validate workflows directly with users, and make confident product decisions when requirements are incomplete.

Build systems, not just screens

Develop scalable frontend architecture using React, TypeScript, and modern web technologies. You'll work across application state, data fetching, rendering, and performance to support complex workflows and large datasets.

Make complexity feel simple

Design experiences that expose powerful capabilities without overwhelming users. You'll think deeply about information architecture, interaction design, and how technical users reason about their work.

Success in this role comes from combining strong frontend engineering with product judgment. You'll spend as much time thinking about how users reason about complex systems as you will writing React code.

We'd love to hear from you if you have

• 3 to 8 years experience building products for technical users where you’ve been involved in authentication, access control, or similar security domains.
• Strong experience with TypeScript, and modern frontend architecture, along with an understanding of how frontend systems interact with backend services.
• Experience building products involving industry-standard authentication flows or working with open source authorization systems such as AuthZed / SpiceDB.
• Strong product instincts. You naturally ask "Why are we building this?" before "How should I implement it?" and aren't afraid to challenge assumptions when you believe there's a better solution for users.
• A systems mindset. You enjoy reasoning about data models, user workflows, and how complex systems should behave before jumping into implementation.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain technical and product tradeoffs clearly across engineering, design, and product teams.

Skills that supercharge us

Authorization Systems

Experience with role-based or relationship-based access control, and familiarity with SpiceDB or other Zanzibar-style authorization engines.

Identity & Authentication

Comfort with sign-in flows, session management, and enterprise identity standards such as OIDC and SAML.

Security-Minded Design

Experience making permission models understandable to end users, or designing interfaces where correctness has real consequences.

Systems Thinking

Experience designing products around complex object models, relationships, and workflows rather than simple CRUD interfaces.

Product Thinking

Ability to understand user goals, simplify complicated workflows, and make thoughtful product decisions under ambiguity.

Frontend Architecture

Strong experience with React, TypeScript, modern state management, asynchronous data flows, and scalable application architecture.

Backend Collaboration

Comfort reasoning about APIs, data loading strategies, backend constraints, and making architectural tradeoffs across the full stack.

Performance Engineering

Experience optimizing rendering, managing large datasets, virtualized interfaces, streaming updates, caching strategies, and browser performance.

Benefits/Perks

• 100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited PTO and sick leave
• Free lunch, snacks, and coffee
• Professional Development Stipend
• Annual company retreat

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Compensation

The base pay range for this role is $175,000 - $275,000 per year.