Senior Design Engineer

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• In the role of Senior Design Engineer, you will engage at the crossroads of design and engineering, dedicating approximately half of your time to UI/UX design and the other half to hands-on front-end execution.

• You will be responsible for both the design experience and its technical implementation for products that enable our content creators to produce materials for teachers and students, with a commitment to daily product enhancements.

• Analyze and articulate user and business challenges, frequently engaging with users to identify pain points and facilitate ongoing improvements, while proposing thoughtful and viable design solutions.

• Convert design intentions (both your own and those of other designers) into high-quality, accessible, production-ready front-end code that accurately reflects the design vision.

• Cultivate a deep understanding of our engineering ecosystem (including architecture, component libraries, APIs, build tools, and constraints) to assist designers and connect design with engineering.

• Create and sustain a living design system as code, ensuring that our design sources of truth remain precise and current, and managing the component library and its documentation in Storybook.

• Develop and uphold a shared repository of design principles that the team adheres to consistently, ensuring quality and uniformity across people and products.

• Prototype intricate interactions, states, and animations to swiftly validate ideas and communicate intentions accurately.

• Reporting to the Product Design Manager, collaborate closely with Design, Engineering, UX Research, Data, Content, and Marketing teams to align on challenges, define solutions, and ensure feasibility.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 6 years of experience in product/UX design and front-end engineering, with substantial expertise in both areas: expert-level proficiency in Figma and the ability to write production front-end code (e.g., React, TypeScript, modern HTML/CSS) within an existing codebase.

• Experience in backend or full-stack development is advantageous; the role can adapt toward engineering for candidates with a stronger inclination in that direction.

• A demonstrated history of transforming designs from concept to delivered, pixel-perfect, accessible code, as well as aiding other designers in accurately implementing their work.

• A solid grasp of web and mobile web platform technologies; you understand when to utilize broad sketches, rely on the design system, or employ pixel-perfect detail.

• Practical experience in building and maintaining design systems as code (including Storybook) and integrating accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) into both specifications and deployed code.

• You utilize quantitative and qualitative research regarding user challenges and objectives to guide your design approach and transparently document decisions and specifications.

• You are skilled in giving and receiving constructive feedback with a collaborative spirit, working cross-functionally (Product, Engineering, UX Research, Data, Content, Marketing) throughout all phases of the product lifecycle.

• You actively employ AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, v0, and AI functionalities within Figma) to streamline exploration, enhance craftsmanship, and rigorously test ideas, serving as a force multiplier for design judgment rather than a substitute.

• You possess a “try anything once” mindset, undeterred by unfamiliar tools, techniques, or challenges and eager to experiment, learn swiftly, and iterate.

• While not mandatory, familiarity with Motion Design or animation using Rive would be an advantage.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive medical coverage with employer contributions to premiums and HSA accounts.

• Additional perks such as gym reimbursement, pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, Rocket Lawyer, and more to promote your overall well-being: mind, body, and spirit.

• We operate as a fully remote company, providing a monthly technology stipend to support your work-from-home requirements!

• Inclusive benefits designed to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility assistance, adoption support, and more!

• Plan for your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes employer matching to help you build long-term financial stability.

• Flexible paid time off, paid sick leave, company holidays, plus a winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st).

• Newsela provides an annual learning and development budget for employees to engage in external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials that foster professional growth in their current roles and career aspirations at Newsela.

• Regardless of your position or department, the work you do each day contributes to shaping the future of education and enhances the lives of both students and teachers.