Design engineer (US)

Writer
New York +4 more
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Candidates with systems-level front-end experience and AI product intuition will find this hybrid design engineering role in enterprise generative AI.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 4–8+ years of end-to-end frontend ownership and a focus on design systems
    β€” β€œ4–8+ years building production frontends with TypeScript and React, with a track record of owning a system, platform, or surface end-to-end”
  • Individuals with strong animation principles and technical fluency in Figma and web animation tools
    β€” β€œSolid instincts for animation principles including easing curves, choreography, anticipation, follow-through, interruptibility, and perceived performance”
  • Candidates who have shaped design-to-code workflows and driven adoption of shared platforms
    β€” β€œExperience driving adoption of a design system or shared platform across an engineering org”

Things to consider

  • The role requires a strong commitment to accessibility as a core design system principle
    β€” β€œUphold the bar for front-end craft across accessibility, motion feel, consistency, and quality”
  • This is a hybrid role with possible in-office expectations depending on location
    β€” β€œThis role will be reporting to the Director of product design”

How to stand out

  • Showcase systems-level work in your portfolio, not just feature contributions
    β€” β€œA demonstrable obsession with craft, backed by a portfolio, side projects, GitHub, or production work that includes systems-level work”
  • Highlight your ability to maintain and evolve a design system across multiple platforms
    β€” β€œworking closely with the designers, PMs, and engineers who rely on it every day”
  • Demonstrate experience with AI product surfaces and dynamic UI rendering
    β€” β€œExperience with AI product surfaces β€” tool-call UIs, streaming responses, agent state, and dynamic UI rendering”
Pace Β· SteadyCollaboration Β· HighAutonomy Β· MediumDecision Impact Β· Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • own the Writer Design System (WDS)
  • ship production-quality UI components
Typical background
4–8+ years building production frontends

Skills & requirements

Required

TypeScriptReactDesign System OwnershipProduction-quality UI ComponentsFront-end CraftAccessibilityMotion FeelConsistencyQuality

Preferred

AI Coding AgentsEnterprise-grade Llms

Stack & domain

TypeScriptReactUI ComponentsTeamworkProblem SolvingCommunicationDesignEngineering

About the role

Original posting from Writer via Ashby

πŸš€ About WRITER

WRITER is where the world's leading enterprises orchestrate AI-powered work. Our vision is to expand human capacity through superintelligence. And we're proving it's possible – through powerful, trustworthy AI that unites IT and business teams together to unlock enterprise-wide transformation. With WRITER's end-to-end platform, hundreds of companies like Mars, Marriott, Uber, and Vanguard are building and deploying AI agents that are grounded in their company's data and fueled by WRITER's enterprise-grade LLMs. Valued at $1.9B and backed by industry-leading investors including Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and ICONIQ Growth, WRITER is rapidly cementing its position as the leader in enterprise generative AI.

Founded in 2020 with office hubs in San Francisco, New York City, Austin, Chicago, Seattle, and London, our team thinks big and moves fast, and we're looking for smart, hardworking builders and scalers to join us on our journey to create a better future of work with AI.

πŸ“ About the role

Design engineers sit at the intersection of design and engineering. As a design engineer at WRITER, you'll own the Writer Design System (WDS) β€” how it's built, how it's maintained, and how both humans and AI agents use it to ship product.

This role matters more now than ever. AI coding agents write more of our production code, and they ship whatever they find. A design system that's incomplete or inconsistent doesn't just slow designers down; it gets compounded at scale by every agent that builds against it. You'll make sure WRITER's core UI library is complete and trustworthy enough to build on, working closely with the designers, PMs, and engineers who rely on it every day. You'll help shape the surfaces that define how our product feels to use, and help set the standard and process for how the EPD org ships product.

This is a hybrid role based out of our San Francisco, Chicago, Austin, New York City, Seattle, or London hubs. This role will be reporting to the Director of product design.

We are open to hiring for this role at multiple levels, with compensation ranges scaled to match your experience, expertise, and the scope of the role.

πŸ¦ΈπŸ»β€β™€οΈ What you'll do

  • Own the Writer Design System (WDS) as your primary domain β€” agentify and maintain it, ensuring it's optimized for both humans and AI agents building with it
  • Design and build production-quality UI components and features, owning surfaces from sketch to ship
  • Ship design-led work that wouldn't survive an engineering backlog β€” polish passes, micro-interactions, and brand moments that make the product feel alive
  • Architect new primitives and extend the system's core components, shaping its technical direction while keeping documentation, examples, and libraries in sync across Figma, .md skills, and Storybook
  • Uphold the bar for front-end craft across accessibility, motion feel, consistency, and quality, ensuring accessibility is baked into every design system component
  • Help shape the design-to-code workflow, researching the latest tools and practices to unlock org-wide productivity and democratize workflows across the EPD organization
  • Partner with designers, PMs, and engineering leads to measure WDS adoption, close gaps, and make sure shipped features meet design system standards

⭐️ What you need

  • 4–8+ years building production frontends with TypeScript and React, with a track record of owning a system, platform, or surface end-to-end rather than individual features
  • Solid instincts for animation principles including easing curves, choreography, anticipation, follow-through, interruptibility, and perceived performance
  • Fluency in Figma at expert level β€” auto-layout, variants, variables, and code connect β€” and proficiency with design engineering technologies like framer-motion, gsap, and lottie for web-based animation
  • A demonstrable obsession with craft, backed by a portfolio, side projects, GitHub, or production work that includes systems-level work and not just feature work
  • Experience driving adoption of a design system or shared platform across an engineering org, with a track record of influencing technical or design direction beyond your immediate team
  • Experience with AI product surfaces β€” tool-call UIs, streaming responses, agent state, and dynamic UI rendering β€” and comfort navigating ambiguous, cross-team problems with good judgment about when to loop others in
  • A genuine commitment to WRITER's values of Connect, Challenge, and Own

🍩 Benefits & perks (US Full-time employees)

  • Generous PTO, plus company holidays
  • Medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family
  • Paid parental leave for all parents (16 weeks)
  • Fertility and family planning support
  • Early-detection cancer testing through Galleri https://www.galleri.com/partner/writer
  • Flexible spending account and dependent FSA options
  • Health savings account for eligible plans with company contribution
  • Annual work-life stipends for:
  • Wellness stipend for gym, massage/chiropractor, personal training, etc.
  • Learning and development stipend
  • Company-wide off-sites and team off-sites
  • Competitive compensation, company stock options and 401k

WRITER is an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to diversity. We don't make hiring or employment decisions based on race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law. Under the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

By submitting your application on the application page, you acknowledge and agree to WRITER's Global Candidate Privacy Notice https://writer.com/legal/candidate-privacy-notice/.

Source: Writer careers (Ashby)

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