Company Description

Sunstone Systems is a small US-based software studio. We build custom operational platforms that replace the fragmented stack most businesses run on: the tangle of disconnected apps, brittle Zapier-style automations, and constant copy-pasting between systems that breaks as a company grows.

Our clients get one coherent environment where their data, automation, and workflows live together, on infrastructure they actually own. We build it with Next.js, TypeScript, and PostgreSQL, and we hold a high bar for how that software gets built: type-safe, secure, and consistent every time.

Role Description

We're hiring one junior developer to work directly with the founder. This is not a role where you'll be handed vague tickets and left alone.

You own the front end. That starts before the backend exists: we build interactive mockups of client applications using Claude Code, so clients can click through something real and react to it. You take a rough direction, turn it into working screens, and iterate as feedback comes back. Once the design settles, you build the production front end on top of it, working closely with me and our senior developer as the database and backend come together underneath.

We also want you interested in what's happening on the other side of the API. You don't need backend depth on day one, but you should want it. Understanding how the data is structured is what separates a front end that works from one that holds up.

If you're early in your career but you read the whole spec, understand the code you ship, and speak up when something looks wrong, this is a strong fit. We're looking for someone who wants to grow into more over time, not someone looking for a short stop.

To be direct about how we measure this: the hours are about overlap, not attendance. We don't track your time. What we look at is what you ship. We expect steady, real output week over week, and we'd rather you tell us something is taking longer than it should than go quiet and hand in a surprise.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the front end of client applications end to end, from first mockup through production
• Build interactive mockups in React and Next.js from written direction, and iterate quickly as feedback comes back
• Make sound design decisions on layout, spacing, hierarchy, and states, so what you build looks finished and not like a wireframe
• Work closely with the founder and our senior developer as the database and backend are designed, and speak up when the front end needs something different from what's planned
• Write and reason about queries against a PostgreSQL backend
• Use AI coding tools as part of your daily workflow, and verify their output rather than trust it
• Follow our coding standards and conventions consistently, without redesigning them
• Test your own work and show that it does what was asked before calling it done

Qualifications

• Solid TypeScript fundamentals, not just JavaScript
• Working knowledge of React and Next.js, ideally the App Router and Server Components. Strong React with a willingness to learn Next.js is fine
• An eye for interface design. You don't need to be a designer, but you should be able to take a rough direction and produce a clean, usable, finished-looking screen without someone handing you a Figma file
• Comfort with SQL and PostgreSQL basics, enough to write queries and understand how data is structured and secured
• Genuine interest in the backend. You want to understand how the data is modeled and secured, not just consume an API someone else built
• Comfortable in Git and on the command line
• You already use AI coding assistants daily, and you treat their output skeptically, checking it before you ship it
• You can take a written brief, work independently, and come back with something that matches what was asked. This matters more to us than any single framework on your resume
• You get things done. We're not counting hours, we're looking at what lands. That means finishing what you start, moving at a steady pace, and using AI tooling to produce more than you could alone without letting quality slip
• Excellent spoken and written English, plus clear and direct communication. We work closely and communicate constantly. You need to say what you mean, ask sharp questions, and be easy to understand. This is non-negotiable
• Resourceful and self-directed. When you hit a problem you don't know the answer to, you dig in, learn it, and come back with the best solution you can find. You're also not afraid to raise your hand and ask for help when you need it. Knowing which of the two a moment calls for is exactly the judgment we're after

Nice to Have

• Experience with Claude Code specifically, or another agentic coding tool you've used on real projects
• Exposure to multi-tenant apps, authentication, or row-level security
• Experience working in or with operations-heavy businesses
• Comfort reading and working inside SOPs, standards, and documented processes. A lot of how we work is written down, and we expect people to follow it
• Familiarity with automation tools like n8n

Location and Hours

Fully remote. We don't care where you're based. What we do care about is overlap: your working day needs to line up with roughly 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM US Central Time. There's some flexibility on the exact window, but we work closely and synchronously, so real overlap is a firm requirement, not a preference. Within that window, you'll have real flexibility in how you structure your day.

How to Apply

If you apply anywhere we can receive a message, start it with the word "Sunstone" and tell us in one sentence what your typical working hours are in your local time zone. It's how we know you read the whole posting. If you're applying through LinkedIn, the screening questions cover this instead. Either way, include a link to code or projects you're proud of, and if you have work where you made the design decisions and not just the code, show us that.

We read every application that follows those instructions.