About the Role
Autodesk is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help design and build a reusable Electron and Chromium-based desktop platform for Autodesk web applications. In this hands-on individual contributor role, you will own complex areas of the desktop runtime, contribute to technical design decisions, guide implementation across Electron, Chromium, Node.js, and Windows, and help establish the engineering practices required to operate the platform reliably. You will solve challenging problems at the boundary between web applications and native desktop software while mentoring other engineers and collaborating across Autodesk teams.
We are building a new desktop platform that enables Autodesk's web-based products to deliver richer, higher-performance experiences on Windows. Forma is the first product adopting the platform, with the longer-term goal of creating reusable desktop capabilities for additional Autodesk products. You will join a new cross-functional platform team working across Electron, Chromium, Windows desktop integration, software delivery, security, and enterprise deployment.
Responsibilities
- Electron and desktop platform engineering: Design, implement, and own significant areas of the Electron application, including process architecture, native integrations, web-to-desktop interfaces, and application lifecycle.
- Chromium runtime engineering: Own the configuration and integration of the Chromium runtime, including supported build settings, runtime flags, Electron and Chromium upgrades, feature enablement, compatibility analysis, and technical investigations.
- Windows and native systems integration: Design and implement integrations with Windows APIs and system capabilities such as hardware discovery, process management, application protocols, GPU preference, system configuration, and enterprise desktop behavior.
- Architecture, reliability, and technical leadership: Contribute to architecture decisions, security design, troubleshooting strategy, engineering standards, and the long-term maintainability of the platform.
- Own moderately complex and complex features from initial investigation through technical design, implementation, validation, and delivery.
- Break ambiguous technical work into actionable tasks, identify dependencies and risks, and coordinate with other engineers and partner teams when necessary.
- Design secure boundaries between hosted web applications and privileged desktop functionality, including process isolation, API exposure, navigation controls, and inter-process communication.
- Work with the technical lead and application-security partners to apply Electron and Chromium security best practices and address findings.
- Define and maintain stable interfaces that allow Autodesk web applications to consume shared native desktop capabilities without creating product-specific forks.
- Lead evaluation and adoption of new Electron and Chromium releases, investigate compatibility and performance implications, and recommend upgrade approaches.
- Diagnose complex runtime, memory, startup, security, operating-system, and application-integration issues using Chromium tooling, native debuggers, profiling tools, crash diagnostics, and system telemetry.
- Collaborate with the build and release engineer to ensure runtime dependencies and desktop components can be built, packaged, tested, and released reliably.
- Work with product and specialist engineering teams to expose platform capabilities while keeping product-specific implementation outside the shared desktop layer.
- Contribute to architecture decision records, technical documentation, coding standards, and operational runbooks.
- Review code and designs from other engineers and provide constructive technical guidance.
- Mentor less-experienced engineers and help them develop expertise in Electron, Chromium, desktop engineering, debugging, and secure application design.
- Proactively identify technical debt, platform risks, and opportunities to simplify or improve the system.
About Autodesk
Welcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies. We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made. We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do. Our culture guides the way we work and treat each other, informs how we connect with customers and partners, and defines how we show up in the world. When you’re an Autodesker, you can do meaningful work that helps build a better world designed and made for all.
Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package. This is a hybrid working position based out of Autodesk's Sheffield office. We take pride in cultivating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Learn more here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/global-belonging
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Strong software development experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and Node.js
- Experience developing Electron applications, Chromium-based applications, native desktop software, or comparable systems-level application platforms
- Strong understanding of application architecture, asynchronous programming, process boundaries, security, and software lifecycle management
- Experience independently delivering complex software features from design through production
- Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across multiple components or technology layers
- Experience with automated testing, source control, code review, and modern continuous integration practices
- Ability to communicate technical trade-offs and work effectively with engineers across multiple teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Deep experience with Electron architecture, including main, renderer, preload, context isolation, inter-process communication, and security configuration
- Understanding of Chromium architecture, runtime configuration, feature flags, release cycles, or build systems
- Experience with C++, native Node.js modules, or bindings between JavaScript and native platform APIs
- Experience with Windows systems programming or Windows desktop APIs
- Experience diagnosing memory, process, performance, or crash problems in Chromium-based applications
- Familiarity with Chromium or Electron build tooling such as GN and Ninja
- Experience with Windows installers, application signing, enterprise software deployment, or application updating
- Experience designing APIs or shared platform components consumed by multiple applications or teams
- Experience with software security threat modeling or secure desktop application design
- Experience mentoring engineers or providing technical leadership within a development team
