We’re seeking a Full Stack Engineer (Front-End Focus) to build and improve user-facing features across iNaturalist.org. You’ll work closely with designers, product managers, and the engineering team to create intuitive, accessible, performant interfaces that serve everyone from casual users to expert naturalists.

You’ll primarily work with React and Ruby on Rails, with opportunities to contribute to APIs and platform search capabilities using Node.js and Elasticsearch.

About iNaturalist

iNaturalist is one of the world’s largest biodiversity platforms—powered by millions of community scientists and supported by expert naturalists, researchers, and conservation organizations. With over hundreds of millions of observations and 400,000+ active monthly contributors, iNaturalist data informs conservation decisions, accelerates biodiversity research, and inspires people everywhere to connect with nature.

Founded in 2008 and operating as a nonprofit committed to open data, iNaturalist blends crowdsourcing, machine learning, and community science to help people understand, document, and protect biodiversity. Our vision: a world where everyone can discover, understand, and help sustain life on Earth.

We’re growing—and we’re looking for an engineer energized by purpose-driven work to help scale the platform and experience for millions around the world.

Front-End Development & User Experience

• Build, maintain, and refine user-facing features using React and Ruby on Rails

• Ensure accessibility, responsiveness, maintainability, and excellent performance across devices

• Work closely with design and product teams to deliver polished user experiences

API & Platform Integration

• Contribute to the development of platform APIs using Node.js and Elasticsearch

• Improve API reliability, performance, and developer experience

• Collaborate with backend and mobile teams to support cross-platform feature development

Collaboration & Engineering Practices

• Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical planning

• Contribute to documentation and help evolve engineering processes as we scale

Required Experience

• Professional experience building applications using React and Ruby on Rails

• Experience using or extending APIs built with Node.js and Elasticsearch

• Understanding of relational databases (PostgreSQL/PostGIS preferred)

• Strong communication skills and comfort collaborating in a distributed, mission-driven environment

Nice to Have

• Experience with GIS or geospatial systems

• Experience with accessibility best practices and user research workflows

• Knowledge of open-source community platforms or community-driven products

• Personal or professional interest in biodiversity, ecology, conservation, or citizen science

Why Join Us?

• Impact: Play a pivotal role in a mission-driven organization dedicated to biodiversity conservation and community engagement.

• Innovation: Working with a team of developers building cutting-edge technology that empowers millions of people to make a positive impact on nature.

• Growth: Be part of a growing organization with opportunities for personal and professional development.

If you are passionate about biodiversity, technology, and working with other talented engineers to achieve meaningful impact, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity.

Compensation and Benefits

Why it’s Great to Work at iNaturalist 

 A mission that matters. 

With species going extinct daily, the need to protect and document biodiversity has never been more essential. iNaturalist has become the go-to data source to measure biodiversity conservation and protection. 

A great team.

Smart, hard-working nature lovers make up our small team. We live in countries all over the world but come together each day to further our mission. For this position, to facilitate collaboration across time zones, we require that you be a resident of and eligible to work in the lower 48 states (i.e., not Alaska or Hawaii). 

Flexible work. 

We are a virtual team, and most of this position’s work can be performed from home or wherever you are comfortable. You’ll even get some funds to set up your office and a monthly stipend to defray some of the costs. Some travel to meetings and events will  be required. 

Competitive pay.

The salary for this full-time position is $154,257.44 per year, non-negotiable. 

Great benefits.

We offer a pretty awesome benefits package, including medical, dental, vision and life insurance, plus an employer-funded health reimbursement account and employee-funded flexible spending accounts. There is a 401k plan with a 5% match. This position is eligible for unlimited personal time off, and unlike some tech companies, we really mean it – everyone is expected to take a minimum of three weeks a year off. Eligible new parents get up to 12 weeks of paid leave and an additional 18 of unpaid. 

Instead of a traditional cover letter, you’ll answer a short set of questions designed to assess your experience and problem-solving approach. Responses are initially reviewed (by real people, not AI) without names and independently in order to reduce bias. Demographic information (optional) is used only in aggregate reporting.

The application will close on January 1. However, we may close it after receiving 175 applications. In this case, we will notify anyone who has started the application that they have 48 hours to complete it.

• Initial Application Review: December

• Written Follow-Up: January

• Interviews: January

• Offer: January–February

• Ideal Start Date: February

If you're excited to build software that helps millions of people engage with nature, we’d love to hear from you.