Senior Software Engineer - Desktop Application Developer (C++)

We are looking for a Senior Desktop Application Developer to be part of the team designing, architecting, and implementing our AI-powered IT self-service chat agent - a native desktop application distributed to 20+ million endpoints worldwide. This client is the face of Nexthink s AI platform, giving employees a seamless, responsive experience directly on their Windows and macOS devices.

As a Desktop Engineer, you will go beyond implementation: you will set technical direction for the client layer, influence cross-team design decisions, and serve as a trusted advisor to both engineering leadership and product. You ll tackle problems of performance, reliability, and native OS integration while partnering with backend, infra, and security teams to ship a production-grade application at global scale.

This is a high-impact, high-ownership role where you ll make foundational architectural decisions about the client platform and help shape the desktop engineering practice at Nexthink.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical vision and architectural strategy for the desktop client application.

• Lead design of a high-performance, native desktop application running on Windows and macOS at 20M+ endpoints.

• Partner with product, backend, and AI/ML teams to align the client experience with the broader AI platform.

• Provide technical leadership on client architecture, coding standards, and best practices for native desktop development.

• Architect and deliver a reliable, secure application covering the full distribution lifecycle: signing, packaging, installation, updates, and uninstallation.

• Champion observability, crash reporting, performance monitoring, and diagnostics across the client stack.

• Act as a mentor and multiplier, raising the technical bar and helping engineers grow.

• Lead technical deep dives, design reviews, and roadmap alignment discussions with leadership.

• Ensure security, compliance, and OS-level integration best practices are embedded in design from day one. Qualifications

• 7+ years of desktop application engineering experience, shipping native applications on Windows and macOS.

• Proven success designing and shipping client applications to large user bases, with a deep understanding of platform-specific constraints and behaviours.

• Strong proficiency in C++, with solid experience building cross-platform desktop applications.

• Deep knowledge of Windows and macOS OS APIs.

• Hands-on experience with the full application distribution lifecycle: code signing, packaging, auto-update mechanisms, and deployment at scale.

• Strong understanding of desktop application performance profiling, memory management, and crash diagnostics.

• Exceptional communication skills - able to influence cross-functional teams and leadership with clear technical direction.

• Track record of mentoring and elevating engineering teams.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with Rust and the Tauri framework.

• Familiarity with React and TypeScript UI development.

• Experience integrating desktop clients with cloud backends via REST, WebSockets, or gRPC.

• Background in system-level programming: OS hooks, accessibility APIs, inter-process communication.

• Prior work on applications with silent background processes, system tray agents, or notification-driven UX.

• Experience with endpoint telemetry, observability SDKs, or APM integration on the client side.

• Experience with enterprise software distribution and managing application update strategies at scale.