Principal Mobile App Engineer - App Squad (f/m/x) - remote at refurbed

Job Description

Founded in 2017, refurbed is Europe’s fastest-growing marketplace for refurbished products, active in 12 European countries and having surpassed €2Bn in GMV — all while being profitable. With beautiful headquarters in Vienna, we operate as a remote-first company, and our 250+ employees enjoy up to two months of workation per year. We’ve also been recognised as a Top DACH Employer by Kununu for three consecutive years.

Our mission is to make sustainable consumption the easy choice by enabling customers to buy products up to 40% cheaper while significantly reducing CO₂ emissions.

We believe flexibility works best when paired with ownership. While we offer a remote-first setup built on trust and autonomy, we look for people who are self-driven, proactive, and motivated to turn ideas into impact in a high-accountability environment.

This is a Staff-level Individual Contributor role (no people management). You’ll lead through architecture and delivery — and you’ll stay hands-on by shipping production code, reviewing critical changes, and unblocking releases.

WHO YOU ARE:

10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 4+ years in React Native / Expo
Deep expertise in TypeScript, React Native, and modern mobile architecture patterns (navigation, modularization, OTA updates)
Proven experience owning and evolving app architecture, influencing across teams, and driving adoption of standards
Proficiency in native iOS (Swift) and/or Android (Kotlin) bridging and advanced SDK integration
Track record of driving mobile performance initiatives (e.g., cold start optimization, crash-free stability >99.7%)
Strong understanding of mobile CI/CD, release management, observability, and scaling across markets
Clear communicator who can align stakeholders and influence technical direction without relying on hierarchy
Strong judgment in leveraging AI tools (ChatGPT, CursorAI, etc.) — knowing when they accelerate delivery, when to avoid them, and how to uphold quality while using them

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Own and evolve the technical architecture of refurbed’s mobile app built with React Native / Expo
Define and drive the modernization roadmap (navigation, modularization, OTA updates, build & release workflows)
Design and implement cross-cutting systems for performance, scalability, and reliability
Lead mobile performance and stability initiatives (e.g., cold start optimization, crash-free stability targets)
Guide the integration of AI-powered experiences (chat-based shopping, voice, image search) into the app
Own SDK and native integration strategies (e.g., Bloomreach, payments, analytics, experimentation)
Establish best practices, patterns, and libraries used across multiple squads (platform mindset)
Mentor engineers across teams through reviews, pairing, workshops, and pragmatic standards
Collaborate closely with platform and backend engineers to ensure seamless end-to-end performance
Represent the mobile domain in company-wide architecture reviews and technical roadmap discussions

This role is for you if…

You want to be a hands-on senior IC who leads through code and architecture
You enjoy turning ambiguous product goals into a technical strategy that teams can execute
You care about performance, reliability, developer experience, and shipping sustainably

This role is not for you if…

You’re primarily looking for an Engineering Manager role
You don’t want to stay hands-on in production code and release/debugging workflows
You prefer narrowly-scoped ticket delivery over platform-level ownership

WHY YOU WILL ENJOY WORKING WITH US:

Our Culture and Values:

Decisions should be made based on facts and not by hierarchy levels? We sure think so!
We embrace giving and receiving feedback, testing and welcoming new ideas, as well as sharing our knowledge across the company.
You fail sometimes? Well, so do we! We’re all just human, let’s learn from our mistakes to improve in the future!
No matter who you love, where you’re from, who you pray to, whether you pee sitting down or standing up – we are a bunch of talented people who enjoy spending our time making a difference!

Personal & Professional Development:

You'll have access to a dedicated learning budget within your department to support your growth, whether it's courses, conferences, or other learning opportunities that matter to you.
We partner with Likeminded, offering you private sessions with experts for your personal growth and mental health.
We frequently host internal workshops, allowing our teams to further develop their skills in different areas and enhancing collaboration across departments.

Flexibility:

We care about a healthy work/life balance. We not only function and support a fully remote setting but also offer the possibility to work from our beautiful office in the vibrant heart of Vienna – we love dogs, so feel free to bring your furry little buddy too 😊
We trust you to do the best job, so we don't care so much when you do it – you are able to self-organize.
You will also be invited to take part in our office weeks, happening three times a year, where you will have the chance to work side by side with your colleagues and enjoy the team-building events and on-site workshops

…and much more! See https://careers.refurbed.com/ for further insights!

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