Founding Design Engineer

Job description

Shipd is our gamified data collection platform that transforms boring annotation into an addictive, competitive experience. With quests, bounties, and leaderboards, Shipd attracts the best contributors for complex data tasks -- and now we need a Founding Design Engineer to take our current platform and turn it into a polished, scalable system. WHAT YOU’LL DO - Build design systems: Create custom design systems and reusable UI components that support many data formats and workflows. - Own the Quest Builder: Engineer multi-step agent workflows and UI generation that make setup fast, consistent, and scalable. - Tackle complex UX challenges: Design for 6+ hour coding sessions, competitive programming culture, and real-time telemetry. - Ship gamification features: Build leaderboards, streaks, bounties, and community mechanics that drive engagement. - Engineer developer tooling interfaces: Extend VS Code forks, browser extensions, and trace viewers with performant, developer native-feeling UI/UX. - Ship without handoffs: Combine design + engineering to move fast, iterate, and polish. YOU’LL SUCCEED HERE IF YOU HAVE - Proven track record building 0→1 products and design systems from scratch. - Background in developer tools, gamification platforms, or complex marketplaces. - Ability to think like both a designer and an engineer—balancing aesthetics, interaction, and performance. - A founding mentality: scrappy, equity-motivated, excited to work hard to build something lasting. CHARACTERISTICS WE’RE LOOKING FOR - Hybrid thinker: part game designer, part engineer. - Obsession with functional complexity, not just pretty UI. - Curiosity about developer psychology and how to motivate at scale. - Thrives in ambiguity; ships fast without waiting for process. NICE TO HAVE - Experience with VS Code extensions, IDE plugins, or browser extensions. - Familiarity with marketplace/community dynamics. - Exposure to gamification design or engagement psychology.