Founding Design Engineer

Job description

### About the Role This is a founding-level, high-ownership position sitting at the intersection of design and engineering. You'll be the sole bar-raiser for frontend UX across a fast-moving, early-stage B2B SaaS company building an AI-powered pricing optimization platform. Your work will ensure that human-authored and agent-written UIs feel like one coherent, polished product — covering everything from the design system and component library to conversational surfaces on platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with the founders and a small, tight-knit engineering team, with enormous scope and direct influence over the product's quality and direction from day one. ### What You'll Do - **Own the design system end-to-end:** design tokens, a `shadcn/ui`-based component library, and Tailwind CSS conventions applied consistently across the product suite. - **Define and enforce frontend patterns** using React Query, React Hook Form, and Zod — ensuring agent-written PRs land consistent and polished by default. - **Shape conversational agent interfaces** for constrained platforms (Slack Block Kit, Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards), bringing the same visual and interaction quality as the core product. - **Codify accessibility standards** — implement WCAG contrast rules and guardrails directly into brand guidelines and the codebase. - **Maintain and improve frontend tooling and quality**: Biome configuration, Playwright E2E test coverage, and frontend performance optimization. - **Translate design intent into code**: reusable component abstractions, motion (e.g., Framer Motion, Radix transitions), and tactile micro-interactions. - **Partner cross-functionally** with founders and engineers to keep the frontend a thin, polished layer over the API. - **Integrate AI coding tools** (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) and custom lint/agent rules into the frontend workflow. ### What We're Looking For **Must-haves (dealbreakers):** - 5+ years building product interfaces, with a portfolio of shipped features demonstrating high polish. - Primary ownership of a production design system or component library (public repo, portfolio, or detailed walkthrough required). - Deep expertise in React, strict TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and component primitives (shadcn/ui, Radix UI). - Authorized to work in the US — **visa sponsorship is not available.** **Required skills & experience:** - Strong systems thinking: ability to translate visual decisions into tokens, component abstractions, and lint rules. - Experience enforcing WCAG accessibility standards and integrating them into a living codebase. - Hands-on experience with AI coding tools in production workflows (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor). - Comfort acting as the sole frontend UX standard-setter across a company — you raise the bar, you own it. **Nice to have:** - Experience building non-standard AI interfaces: streaming responses, generative canvases, human-in-the-loop views. - Experience designing and shipping conversational interfaces or chatbots for B2B end-users. - Familiarity with Slack Block Kit, Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards, or CLI design patterns for constrained UI spaces. - Experience with animation and UI state transition tooling (Framer Motion, Radix) to enhance perceived speed and polish. ### Compensation & Benefits - **Salary:** $180,000 – $220,000 USD annually - Founding team equity commensurate with early-stage, high-ownership role - Direct impact on product direction and technical culture from day one ### Location This role is **on-site in San Francisco, CA**. The team works together in person; remote-only candidates are not a fit for this position.