Job Search Hub
This notebook is a living hub for an active, focused job search across two companies — Stargate AI and Northwind — at meaningfully different stages of the pipeline. The search is tracked end to end: from initial company research and role details, through interview scheduling and recruiter contacts, to cross-cutting preparation notes and immediate next steps. Every piece of information lives in a linked page so that nothing falls through the cracks between conversations, prep sessions, or follow-up emails. The Job Search Overview provides the at-a-glance pipeline view, while this article synthesizes the whole picture into one readable narrative. Job Search Notes.md
The Two Active Opportunities
At the center of the search are two distinct roles that represent genuinely different bets on what the next job should look like.
Stargate AI is a Series A startup building AI infrastructure for small and medium-sized businesses, founded by engineers who came out of Stripe. The team is small — roughly 20 people — which means the Senior Product Engineer role on offer is a high-ownership, full-stack position: React on the frontend, Python on the backend, and an expectation that engineers ship features end to end and talk directly to users. The company sits at the interviewing stage, with an onsite already scheduled for Thursday, covering a system design round and a product sense round. Key contacts are Dana (recruiter) and Lee (the hiring manager). Job Search Notes.md
Northwind is a more established company of roughly 300 employees, profitable and known for a measured, sustainable pace and good work-life balance. The Frontend Engineer role there is specialized: the work centers on design systems, Figma-to-code translation, and deep CSS architecture — a technically rich but narrower scope than the full-stack product ownership on offer at Stargate AI. The application was submitted via a referral from Sam and is currently awaiting a reply. The primary near-term action is to follow up with Sam if no response arrives within a week. Job Search Notes.md
These two opportunities represent a real decision axis: product breadth and ownership (Stargate AI) versus frontend depth and craft (Northwind). Both align with the background in meaningful ways, but they pull in different directions — a contrast worth holding in mind as the process unfolds.
Pipeline Status at a Glance
The pipeline is lean by design: two well-researched targets rather than a wide spray of applications. Stargate AI is the most time-sensitive, with a concrete onsite on the calendar. Northwind is in a holding pattern pending a first response. The Job Search Overview page keeps this kanban and the key contacts table always current, and is the right place to land when checking in on status between sessions. Job Search Notes.md
Interview Preparation Strategy
Because the two roles call for different emphases, preparation splits into a company-specific layer and a cross-cutting layer.
For Stargate AI, the onsite format is known: system design and product sense. Preparation priorities are to review the company's public API docs before Thursday's session, and to craft a sharp story about owning a feature from discovery all the way through to shipping and user feedback. The Stargate AI culture specifically prizes engineers who work end to end and stay close to users, so the story arc needs to demonstrate judgment across the full product lifecycle — not just code. Job Search Notes.md
For Northwind, the interview format is not yet defined — the application has not yet received a response. When the process begins, preparation will need to shift toward design-systems fluency, Figma-to-code workflow, and examples of strong CSS architecture or component library work. There is also a subtle framing challenge: Northwind may probe for deep frontend craft while the fit concern is around product ownership, so thinking in advance about how to address that tension honestly will matter. Job Search Notes.md
The Interview Prep page is the single place where cross-cutting preparation lives — story frameworks, the end-to-end feature ownership narrative arc, and a checklist of prep tasks that span both companies. The end-to-end story framework in particular is useful for both roles: Stargate AI will ask for it directly, and it can be adapted into a "how I build things" narrative for Northwind as well.
This story arc — from problem identification through shipping and iteration — is the backbone of Interview Prep and the lens through which prep for Stargate AI in particular should be organized. Job Search Notes.md
Contacts and Relationship Management
A job search lives or dies on timely follow-through with the right people. The current contact map is small but important:
- Dana (recruiter, Stargate AI): The initial recruiter call is done. After Thursday's onsite, Dana needs to receive availability for the following week promptly. Job Search Notes.md
- Lee (hiring manager, Stargate AI): The onsite is scheduled with Lee. The system design and product sense rounds are likely to be the primary evaluation surface. Job Search Notes.md
- Sam (referral contact, Northwind): Sam facilitated the application. If there is no word from Northwind within a week, a follow-up to Sam is the appropriate next move — not a cold reach to the company. Job Search Notes.md
Immediate Next Steps
Job Search Notes.md
How This Notebook Is Organized
Every part of the search has a dedicated page. The raw personal notes that seed the whole notebook are captured in Job Search Notes.md, which covers both roles, all contacts, and the original next-steps list. From there, the notebook branches into:
- Job Search Overview — the at-a-glance hub with the pipeline kanban, company table, and immediate next steps; the right landing page for a quick status check.
- Stargate AI — deep-dive on the role, company research, fit reasoning, interview process flowchart, prep notes, and contacts.
- Northwind — deep-dive on the Frontend Engineer role, company profile, fit assessment (including the product-ownership concern), contacts, and next steps.
- Interview Prep — cross-cutting preparation: story frameworks, the end-to-end ownership narrative, checklist of pre-onsite tasks, and question strategies keyed to each company's format.
The Job Search Notes.md source is the foundation everything else is built on; all facts about roles, contacts, stages, and next steps trace back to it. As the search progresses — new interviews scheduled, offers received, new companies added — each page can be updated independently while the hub remains the coherent whole. Job Search Notes.md