Postman is the world’s leading API platform, used by more than 45 million+ developers and 500,000 organizations, including 98% of the Fortune 500. Postman is helping developers and professionals across the globe build the API-first world by simplifying each step of the API lifecycle and streamlining collaboration—enabling users to create better APIs, faster.
The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Boston, New York, Austin, Tokyo, London, and Bangalore - where Postman was founded. Postman is privately held, with funding from Battery Ventures, BOND, Coatue, CRV, Insight Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners. Learn more at postman.com or connect with Postman on X via @getpostman.
P.S: We highly recommend reading The "API-First World" graphic novel to understand the bigger picture and our vision at Postman.
The Opportunity
As Staff Engineer, Desktop Platform, you’ll join the Postman Client Platform team and lead the technical direction of our Electron-based desktop application, used by over 40 million developers worldwide. You will shape its architecture, performance, and security for years to come.
This is an IC-first role. You’ll design and build every day while also serving as the technical anchor for our Desktop Platform. You will define its architecture, implement critical features, and mentor engineers, guiding how Postman evolves across desktop operating systems.
About the Team
The Client Platform organization provides the “paved path” for building, testing, and releasing Postman’s web and desktop applications. We own the frameworks, SDKs, build tooling, shared libraries, and infrastructure that product engineers rely on every day. Our platform is the foundation that hundreds of Postman engineers use to deliver features and improvements to over 40 million customers.
Within this group, the Desktop Platform team is responsible for Postman’s Electron integration and OS-level infrastructure. The team ensures Postman is installable, updatable, performant, and secure across Windows, macOS, and Linux, working closely with the Client SDK and Build/Release teams to provide a consistent and reliable experience.
What You’ll Do
- Own the architecture for Postman’s Electron-based desktop application.
- Design and implement core desktop features, including installers, auto-updates, and OS integrations.
- Improve performance across desktop platforms, from startup time to memory and CPU usage.
- Collaborate across engineering to ensure Postman delivers a consistent, performant, and secure desktop experience.
- Drive security best practices for Electron apps, including sandboxing and safe updates.
- Keep Postman current with Electron releases.
- Partner with Client SDK and Build/Release teams to align architecture and delivery.
- Shape technical direction across engineering by collaborating with other platform teams and aligning them on desktop needs.
Traits That Will Make You Successful
- Hands-on leadership: You lead by building and guide others through influence and mentorship.
- Systems thinker: You understand how desktop platforms fit together, from OS APIs to Electron internals to shared client frameworks, and design solutions with the whole system in mind.
- Influential partner: You work effectively across engineering teams, building alignment and trust to drive the right technical outcomes.
- Bias for clarity: You make technical direction and trade-offs easy for others to understand.
- Pragmatic problem solver: You balance performance, security, and user experience with delivery speed.
- High standards: You care deeply about quality and take pride in raising the bar for others.
Your Experience
- Proven track record as a Staff, Principal, or Lead engineer building cross-platform desktop applications.
- Deep expertise with Electron, Node.js, and modern web technologies (JavaScript, TypeScript, React).
- Strong understanding of cross-platform packaging, auto-update systems, and OS-level integration (Windows, macOS, Linux).
- Experience improving performance and security in large-scale desktop applications.
- Proficiency in C++ for writing native modules or integrations.
- Familiarity with Win32 APIs and macOS APIs for native integration and platform-specific optimizations.
- Demonstrated ability to set technical direction, mentor engineers, and influence peers across teams.
- Comfortable acting as the technical anchor for a lean team, with the ability to shape its future growth.
In addition to Postman's pay-on-performance philosophy, and a flexible schedule working with a fun, collaborative team, Postman offers a comprehensive set of benefits, including full medical coverage, flexible PTO, wellness reimbursement, and a monthly lunch stipend. Along with that, our wellness programs will help you stay in the best of your physical and mental health. Our frequent and fascinating team-building events will keep you connected, while our donation-matching program can support the causes you care about. We’re building a long-term company with an inclusive culture where everyone can be the best version of themselves.
At Postman, we embrace a hybrid work model. For all roles based out of San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Austin, Tokyo, Bangalore, Hyderabad, London, and New York, employees are expected to come into the office 3-days a week. We were thoughtful in our approach which is based on balancing flexibility and collaboration and grounded in feedback from our workforce, leadership team, and peers. The benefits of our hybrid office model will be shared knowledge, brainstorming sessions, communication, and building trust in-person that cannot be replicated via zoom.
Our ValuesAt Postman, we create with the same curiosity that we see in our users. We value transparency and honest communication about not only successes, but also failures. In our work, we focus on specific goals that add up to a larger vision. Our inclusive work culture ensures that everyone is valued equally as important pieces of our final product. We are dedicated to delivering the best products we can.
Equal opportunityPostman is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, or disability status. Headhunters and recruitment agencies may not submit resumes/CVs through this website or directly to managers. Postman does not accept unsolicited headhunter and agency resumes. Postman will not pay fees to any third-party agency or company that does not have a signed agreement with Postman.
Top Skills
Postman San Francisco, California, USA Office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Similar Jobs at Postman
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
