Senior JavaScript Engineer

Ghost

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Location: Europe
Job Type: full-time
Salary: $140,000 to $180,000 USD
Posted: March 11, 2026

Job Description

Hey there! We're looking for a new member to join the Ghost team, maybe that's you?

We're a non-profit organization on a mission to create modern, independent publishing technology to power the future of online journalism.

This is not a rocket-ship. You won't find any unicorn glitter or exponential curves around here, just a real company with a sustainable business which has been profitable from year 1 and has been growing healthily ever since. Currently our annual revenue is $9,500,000+.

Ghost is a full stack web application for running independent publications. It’s one of the most popular modern open source projects in the world, and is used in production by tens of thousands of websites and companies.

his role is open to candidates in time zones between UTC−1 and UTC+3.

For this position, we’re specifically looking for senior JavaScript engineers with a strong track record of shipping large-scale, production-ready projects and working effectively within teams.

You should be confident in taking a broad brief, defining technical solutions, navigating architectural tradeoffs and driving projects from inception to completion with a high level of autonomy. Beyond just writing great code, we expect senior engineers to provide technical leadership and help set best practices that enable the whole team to succeed.

Node and/or React experience are key to working on Ghost. Experience working with other parts of our stack is a bonus, particularly Knex, Express and Handlebars. You'll need a decent grasp on MySQL and a good understanding of modern CI/CD practices. Any other experience with startups, SaaS, open source, distributed applications or remote work is also very valuable.

We place a strong emphasis on collaboration, mentorship, and enabling others to do their best work. As part of our team, you’ll be expected to actively share knowledge, provide thoughtful code reviews, and help create an environment where everyone can grow. Whether it’s pairing with a teammate on a tough problem, improving documentation, or mentoring other engineers. A willingness to give and receive feedback, communicate openly, and contribute to a culture of continuous learning is essential to success in this role.

One of the major perks of engineering at Ghost is that almost every single thing you work on will be released as open source under the MIT license. So you’re not just writing code for us, you’re writing it for yourself and for everyone else - both now, and in the future. Instead of spending years doing work will eventually be locked away in a box labelled “intellectual property” — you'll get to write code which is open for anyone to use, including you in your own future projects!

People who are great at written communication and highly self-motivated tend to do best at Ghost. The majority of our team is made up of former founders, freelancers and self-starters who are confident and comfortable working independently and getting things done.

This role would be well suited to someone who is experienced at building/shipping products, looking for a big/interesting thing to work on with a great international team and a healthy work/life balance.

All Product Engineers at Ghost are part of on-call rotations as part of taking responsibility for our work.

We value diversity of all types at Ghost and our team is made up of a kind, thoughtful group of people with a wide range of backgrounds. We have as many people who speak German as we do English, some of us are single, others are married, while others are parents. We actively try to find people with different perspectives and experiences to the ones we already have. Women and minorities of any description are especially encouraged to apply!

What it's like to work here:

We work remotely from all over the world! Most of our communication happens on Slack and Notion, with meetings held via Google Meet

The biggest perk of working at Ghost is that we have a small, talented team with a very large audience. This means you have the ability to have a huge impact on the product and the company, whilst also having interesting and challenging problems to work on. We believe deeply in what we do, and we're all in this to build something lasting, sustainable and positive.

Salary & benefits

The starting salary range for this position is $140,000 to $180,000 USD. Most offers we make fall somewhere in the middle of the range. The exact offer will be determined by a combination of your experience, and our interview process.

On top of that, we offer a range of benefits...

💵 Competitive salary Based on role, skill, experience and location.

🌍 Work from anywhere Everything we do is online. As long as you have wifi, you're all set.

💻 Hardware A brand new Macbook Pro + a budget for office setup and the latest AI tools.

🏢 Co-working If you prefer to work from a co-working space, we'll help pay for it.

📚 Continue your personal development A budget for attending conferences, taking courses, and purchasing books.

✈️ Worldwide team trips The last few trips have taken us to the UK, Spain & Italy.

📅 4-day work weeks We close the office on Fridays. Enjoy!

🏝 Generous paid vacation If you don't take a minimum of a 2 week break yourself, we'll kick you out of the office in December.

👶 Paid parental leave When the time comes to welcome a new member of the family, we offer generous and fully paid parental leave.

📈 Pay reviews Everyone at Ghost receives an annual pay review in line with market rates, so you'll never be stuck on what you start on.

🐶 Dog friendly office ...just kidding we literally don't have an office. So, um. Feel free to work with your dog. Cats are cool, too.

🎯 Who is this job for?

This role is ideal for a Senior JavaScript / Full-Stack Engineer with strong experience in Node.js and React, plus solid knowledge of SQL (MySQL) and modern CI/CD practices. It suits someone who can independently design and ship large-scale features, make architectural decisions, and contribute to open-source production systems used by thousands of sites. You should be comfortable working remotely in a highly autonomous environment, mentoring teammates, performing thoughtful code reviews, and maintaining high-quality engineering standards.

💬 Potential Interview Questions

How would you architect and ship a large-scale JavaScript feature for a platform like Ghost used by thousands of publications?
I would start by defining the requirements and identifying the domain boundaries, then design a modular solution with clear interfaces. The implementation would prioritize maintainability, performance, and backward compatibility to ensure stability for existing users.
How do you approach making architectural decisions in a Node.js application when trade-offs are involved?
I evaluate performance, maintainability, developer experience, and long-term scalability before choosing an approach. Clear documentation of the reasoning helps the team understand and evolve the architecture later.
How do you ensure code quality in large collaborative JavaScript projects?
I rely on strong code reviews, consistent coding standards, automated tests, and CI pipelines. Clear documentation and well-structured modules make it easier for the team to maintain and extend the codebase.
Describe your experience working with Node.js frameworks like Express.
I structure backend services using layered architecture, separating routing, business logic, and data access layers. This makes the system easier to test, maintain, and scale.
How do you optimize database interactions when working with MySQL in a production environment?
I focus on efficient schema design, indexing, and analyzing query execution plans. Avoiding unnecessary queries and batching operations helps maintain performance at scale.
How do you approach building frontend features with React in a complex application?
I design reusable components with predictable state management and strong typing where possible. Clear separation between presentation and business logic improves maintainability.
What is your approach to contributing to and maintaining open source projects?
I focus on writing clear, well-documented code and maintaining a consistent style across contributions. I also prioritize communication with maintainers and the community to ensure changes align with project goals.
How do you work effectively in a fully remote and asynchronous team environment?
I prioritize clear written communication, thorough documentation, and proactive updates. This ensures that team members across different time zones remain aligned and productive.
How do you mentor engineers and share knowledge within a team?
I provide thoughtful code reviews, pair programming sessions, and encourage knowledge sharing through documentation and internal discussions. Mentorship helps strengthen both individual developers and the team as a whole.
How do you balance shipping features quickly with maintaining long-term product quality?
I focus on delivering incremental improvements while maintaining strong architectural boundaries and test coverage. This approach allows teams to move quickly without accumulating excessive technical debt.

📋 Job Summary

Ghost is a profitable non-profit building one of the world’s most popular open-source publishing platforms, powering tens of thousands of independent publications. We’re hiring a Senior Product Engineer to design, build, and ship large-scale features across the stack using JavaScript, Node.js, and React, contributing directly to the open-source Ghost platform. You’ll take ownership of projects from architecture to release, collaborate with a small global team, and help shape engineering standards in a highly autonomous environment. This fully remote role (UTC-1 to UTC+3) offers a $140K–$180K salary, a 4-day work week, generous benefits, and the chance to build technology that supports the future of independent journalism.