About the role

Kernel continues to grow, with 100% year on year growth momentum over the past five years. That growth is driven by a clear purpose: making wealth more accessible for every Kiwi through simple, well designed investment products.

We are looking for an intermediate Frontend Engineer who enjoys learning, asks thoughtful questions, and wants to grow through real product work. In this role, you will help turn that mission into everyday experiences for customers, building interfaces that make investing clearer, more approachable, and easier to use. You will strengthen your frontend skills while working closely with experienced engineers who provide practical guidance and feedback.

You will join a small, supportive team that values clear communication, shared ownership, and steady improvement. Your work will directly shape how people interact with their money, influence key moments in their financial journeys, and contribute to how Kernel is redefining investing in New Zealand.

About Kernel

We're a 100% Kiwi owned and operated fintech on a mission to make wealth accessible for every Kiwi. Our investment platform takes the guesswork out of investing – offering KiwiSaver, Managed Funds, US shares & ETFs, and Smart Saver accounts, all in one place with some of the lowest fees in the market.

We're at an exciting stage. Scaling fast, expanding our team of globally experienced financial professionals, and building the foundations for what's next. Our culture is collaborative, hands-on and ambitious – built on trust, innovation and saying it like it is. We value diverse perspectives, empower individuality, and believe the best ideas come from thinking together.

Things move quickly here, and every person plays a key role in shaping our future.

What you’ll do

• Build and ship user-facing features using React, TypeScript, and Next.js.

• Turn in-house designs into high-quality, responsive, accessible, and performant interfaces.

• Work closely with engineers, product, and design to take ideas from concept to release.

• Improve and extend features across our customer dashboard and public marketing site.

• Use AI tools to support your workflow while maintaining a clear understanding of the code you write.

• Take part in code reviews and contribute to improving our development practices.

• Explore using AI tools to support your workflow while maintaining a strong understanding of the code you write.

• Participate in code reviews and contribute to our development processes.

You’ll be great if you bring

• Strong frontend capability: Hands-on experience building production frontend features, with particular strength in React and Next.js. You care about clean, maintainable code, understand state management and performance considerations, and can turn designs into polished, reliable interfaces.

• Collaborative approach: You work comfortably with product, design, QA, and other engineers. You share ideas clearly, give and receive constructive feedback, and balance technical opinions with broader team goals.

• Attention to detail: You notice the small things that shape quality. You care about visual consistency, accessibility, and design systems, and you address issues early so features feel considered when they reach customers.

• Comfort with ambiguity: You make progress even when requirements evolve. You break down complex problems, make sensible trade-offs, and seek clarity at the right moments.

• Engineering curiosity: You show genuine interest in frontend engineering through learning, experimentation, or side projects. An interest in finance or product thinking is a plus, especially where it connects user experience to real business outcomes.

Bonus things you could bring along to the role

• Creativity – An interest in animation, motion, or interaction design that lifts the overall experience. You enjoy exploring ideas beyond the brief and applying a design mindset to engineering challenges.

Why You’ll Love it at Kernel

• Shape investment products in a way no other fintech in New Zealand is approaching, connecting everyday financial goals with intuitive and customer-centric design.

• Contribute to a platform trusted by tens of thousands of Kiwis, helping them feel more confident and in control of their money.

• Join a team built on trust, collaboration, and flexibility, where feedback is constructive and everyone has a voice.

• Competitive compensation package

• Enjoy the best of both worlds with a flexible hybrid setup, connect in person while keeping the freedom to work from home up to couple of days each week (minimum 3 days/week in the office).

• Health insurance, parental leave top-up, and professional development support

• Extra staff holidays, office snacks, coffee, and a dog-friendly environment

Join our team

Not sure you meet every requirement? We encourage you to apply. We value growth, impact, and mindset just as much as specific experience. If this opportunity sounds like you, send us your cover letter explaining why you’re excited about the role and working at Kernel, along with your CV.

Visit our careers page for more on working at Kernel and follow us on LinkedIn & Instagram. to stay connected.