Founding Android Software Engineer

Company Overview |

Frontier is on a mission to make hundreds of millions of critical frontline workers superhuman through a hardware and software “wearable”. The company is headquartered in Chicago and in stealth mode. Frontier has multimillion dollar contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (including Special Operations) and has raised funding from tier 1 investors, including the first investor in Oculus (AR/VR company sold to Meta). The company has more than 10 of the most critical U.S. companies as customers, including the largest U.S. steel company and two of the top five U.S. airlines, and has an extremely talented and ambitious team.

Job Description |

Frontier is looking for an extremely smart and hardworking Founding Senior Android Software Engineer who wants to do the most important work of their life. The selected individual will own a critical part of Frontier’s software stack, and their work will have extreme impact on the productivity, safety, and comfort of the critical frontline workers and warfighters powering and protecting the world. Being scrappy, resourceful, and flexible is critical to this role and it is 100% in-person in Chicago (Frontier will provide relocation assistance (along with significant equity and cash compensation)). This role is ideal for someone who wants to (1) be a cornerstone member of a rapidly growing team and (2) iterate quickly on the cutting edge while growing.

Responsibilities |

• Build and maintain our flagship Android application that runs continuous audio capture/playback, real-time communications, notifications, and device-level settings in a single always-on service.
• Integrate a custom speech-and-language SDK (native C/C++ + Kotlin) and manage secure, low-latency data exchange with cloud services.
• Design intuitive, field-friendly user flows using Jetpack libraries; ensure smooth performance on devices with limited screen real estate.
• Profile and optimize CPU, memory, network, and battery to keep the app responsive and within all-day power budgets.
• Implement enterprise device-management hooks (e.g., Device Owner policies, optional kiosk/launcher mode) to meet customer security requirements at scale.
• Instrument, log, and automate testing for performance, crashes, and regressions; own the MDM or Play-Store release pipeline.
• Collaborate closely with back-end, ML, and firmware engineers on protobuf/JSON schemas, error handling, and rollout plans; document architecture and release notes for future team members.
  
  

Qualifications |

• Required
• 2 + years of Android development in Kotlin (or Java) with at least one shipped app that runs background services or streams real-time audio.
• 1 + years of experience at AOSP level or with Android launchers/kiosks.
• Experience wrapping native C/C++ libraries via NDK/JNI (AAudio, Oboe, or similar).
• Familiar with Android’s audio stack, Bluetooth routing, and performance-profiling tools (Perfetto, Systrace).
• Solid grasp of runtime permissions, WorkManager/Foreground Services, and mobile security best practices.
• Comfortable with Git, pull-request workflows, and CI (GitHub Actions, Bitrise, or similar).
• Must have ability to be qualified to work in the U.S. in less than 3 months and have no restrictions for international travel.
• Ability to commute to Frontier’s Chicago office daily (relocation support in offer).
  
  

Preferred

• Extensive AOSP, HAL, and/or launcher/kiosk experience.
• Hands-on with Jetpack Compose, Material 3, and MotionLayout for rapid UI iteration.
• Exposure to WebSocket or gRPC streaming on mobile for low-latency voice or telemetry.
• Experience enrolling devices in an MDM/EMM solution or applying DevicePolicyManager kiosk policies.
• Familiarity with integrating sensors or custom peripherals via USB-C / BLE.
• Published apps, open-source contributions, or blog posts showcasing performance or UX wins.
  
  

Frontier evaluates qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristics.

• All inquiries should be directed to [email protected] via email WITH YOUR (1) PORTFOLIO, (2) RESUME, and (3) ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ON WELLFOUND.