Prototype Design Engineer

Who we are

Kentik is the network intelligence platform for modern infrastructure teams. Unlike traditional monitoring and observability tools, we demystify complex network operations, enabling organizations to deliver applications and innovation at scale. Built by network experts to make critical insight accessible to every engineer, Kentik is the real-time source of truth that understands every network in context — from data center to cloud to the internet. This single platform unifies and correlates cloud, device, flow, and synthetic data to turn telemetry into action. Market leaders like Akamai, Booking.com, Dropbox, and Zoom rely on Kentik to run, manage, and optimize their networks.

The Prototype Design Engineer joins a small but growing Product Design team with a passion for usability and the ability to make complex systems easy to understand. You will work closely with Product Managers to drive the creation of compelling features and actionable insights across our platform, including our Cloud Observability product line. Your role is integral in creating intuitive and easily navigable experiences for our users.

• Gather and review requirements from Product Managers and customers, identifying pain points and designing solutions.
• Use prototypes as communication tools to align design, research, and engineering teams around shared understanding and direction.
• Take a holistic approach to improve Kentik's UX, contributing to its overall accessibility and usability.
• Effectively present and articulate design choices to various stakeholders, including Product Management, Engineering Management, customers, and executives.
• Collaborate with other Product Designers to drive strategic UX initiatives across the entire product and enhance the overall Kentik experience by making it more accessible to novice users.
• Produce UI artifacts using appropriate tools based on the design exercise, such as high-to-low-resolution mockups, and visual designs.

What you'll bring

Studies have shown that some candidates tend to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We encourage you to apply if you meet most of the criteria - even if you don’t match all of the qualifications, your skills and experience could be valuable in this role!

• Demonstrated curiosity and/or experience in observability/infrastructure analytics or monitoring, with a willingness to learn complex technical concepts and present them with simple UX.
• Strong prototyping skills, capable of quickly iterating and adjusting designs to achieve consensus.
• Analytical and structured mindset, capable of asking the right questions, digging into user data, talking to customers, and making design choices that benefit our user base.
• Passion for enterprise SaaS offerings, particularly data-heavy products with complex visualizations, and the ability to evaluate competitors in the market.
• Proven ability to work across design and engineering, comfortably navigating both conceptual and technical discussions
• Demonstrated experience with LLMs and prompt engineering (through work, research, or significant personal projects).
• 4+ years of software engineering experience with Python or similar languages.
• Background in human-computer interaction, UX, or instructional design
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and prioritize effectively.
• Experience with version control, CI/CD, and modern software development practices.

Nice to haves:

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, autonomous environment.
• Familiarity with networking as a field, and a willingness to learn.
• Experience with Claude or other frontier AI models in production settings.
• Experience with Data Analytics tools and platforms, including data visualization over large datasets.
• Understanding of transforming complex domain-specific workflows into intuitive UI/UX.
• Practical experience in Frontend Engineering, with proficiency in Node/React being highly advantageous.
• Familiarity with Public Cloud Analytics or infrastructure monitoring.

Our tech stack

• Our core data engine and platform are primarily written in Go
• We use Node.js + Express for application serving, and React as our primary UI framework
• We also use some JS and Python for tooling/scripting
• In addition to our own database, we use Postgres, Kafka, Mysql, and Redis
• Internal and public APIs expose both rest/json and gRPC endpoints
• Haproxy, Envoy for API traffic routing and balancing
• Github for source control, PRs, issues
• Jenkins for automated builds

What we offer

Kentik is a fully remote company that operates globally. We seek professionals that will help us thrive as an organization, and in turn, to broaden and enhance your career. We’re very thorough in the interview process to understand your skills and how they will relate to your successful growth here at Kentik. Our compensation philosophy encompasses a fair program for all in order to attract, engage and retain talented individuals who will drive our business and wow our customers.

The compensation range for this position is: $170,000 – $210,000. This range reflects the low and high end of the U.S. compensation range Kentik reasonably and generally expects to pay the hired candidate in this role. The actual compensation offered may be lower or higher than the stated range depending on various factors, including but not limited to:

• Experience with the skill sets required for success
• Demonstrated competencies and potential 
• A geographic market-based approach

In addition to a great career opportunity, Kentik offers stellar benefits for our employees, which include:

• 100% of premiums are paid by company for health, vision and dental coverage for you and your dependents
• Additionally, an annual Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) of $3,000 for an individual or $4,500 for a family
• Paid family & medical leave 
• Open PTO, a quarterly Wellness Day, and a minimum of 10 paid holidays
• 401(k) retirement account
• Home office reimbursement 
• Stock options

Note: Benefits are as listed for all US full-time employees. For compensation, international applicants will be treated equitably in relation to the laws applicable within the countries in which we operate.

Come work with us

The true meaning of Kentik is visibility. We’re committed to making sure everyone feels empowered to use their voice, has a sense of belonging, and is represented at Kentik. 

We don’t look for individuals who fit the culture, but those who will continue to add to the culture.
We encourage everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in the industry: people of color, LGBTQI+ community, women, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, and people of any age or family status. 

Kentik is committed to creating an inclusive interview process. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please reach out to recruiting@kentik.com.

Come as you are!
You will be working at a fast-growing, well-funded startup alongside industry thought leaders and network aficionados as we build the future of observability and set the high bar for how network operations and digital businesses should run. With a competitive salary and amazing benefits on top of the meaningful and challenging projects you’ll take on, we’re sure you’ll enjoy joining the Kentik team.

#li-remote