Senior Design Engineer II - Design System
Kit is an email-first operating system for creators who mean business. We help creators grow and monetize their audience with ease. For coaches, YouTubers, authors, podcasters, and other creatives, there isn't a better marketing hub to rely on to grow audiences, automate email marketing, and sell digital products — all within one platform.
More importantly, there isn't a team more committed to helping creators earn a living. We're on a mission to help creators earn $1 billion using our creator marketing platform. We have always been 100% independent and 100% remote.
We are proud to have built a product that our customers love, and we look for people who have enthusiasm and belief in our mission, vision, and values to join our team. We're also embracing AI thoughtfully — both in how we build and how we hire to ensure our team is adaptable, innovative, and ready for what's next.
The role
Kit’s product surfaces have grown faster than the systems that keep them consistent. We need someone to close that gap. We’re looking for a Senior Design Engineer with strong hands-on experience in both product design and React to build and evolve our design system, raise UI quality across the app, and serve as the design-system decision maker at the intersection of design and front-end engineering.
This is not a traditional frontend engineering role. You will be expected to make independent visual and interaction design decisions, not just implement specifications. The right candidate will be equally comfortable building in Figma as they are in React.
This role is about building durable systems that raise product-wide quality, reduce rework for every feature squad, decreases time-to-ship, improves our customer journeys, and helps designers experiment with shipping to production. You'll work closely with our front-end engineering team to help lead the development and maintenance of shared foundations such as Storybook, React components, design tokens, and the design-to-code workflow.
This is a full-time senior IC role ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of design and code, enjoys systems thinking, and is excited to create the foundations that feature teams rely on to ship high-quality UI faster. The work you do will directly shape the experience creators have every time they use Kit
Your support system
You'll sit within the Product Design team and collaborate closely with Engineering, Product, and feature squads across Kit. You'll report to Dan Winer, our Director of Product Design, and partner directly with front-end engineers, product designers, and the feature project leaders who'll rely on the system you build. You'll also work alongside product managers when new features require new or evolved components.
What you'll do
First Week: Immerse yourself in Kit's product surfaces and current component landscape. Attend Get-To-Know-You (GTKY) meetings with Product Design and Engineering. Get access to Figma, our codebase, and understand the current state of UI consistency challenges.
First Month: Audit the current UI for patterns, tokens, and inconsistencies. Present your observations, help establish the token architecture mapped between Figma and code, and start implementing some missing components in React.
First Six Months: Establish tokens and primitives mapped between Figma and code in partnership with the front-end engineering team. Lead the development of 5-8 core components at production quality with full documentation (including the navigation component suite with performance targets). Work with designers to define pattern standards and begin providing React hand-offs for new feature work. Measurably improve layout consistency across key surfaces. Help the product design team use AI to experiment with shipping their designs to production — for example, using AI-assisted code generation to turn Figma work into functional components faster
First Year: Create a stable, predictable design-to-code workflow that feature squads rely on. Drive high adoption of system components in new feature work with visible consistency improvements across surfaces that previously diverged. Lead the evolution of our component library in Storybook to become the canonical reference for UI behaviour and states. Establish guardrails that prevent UI drift before it starts, so feature squads ship faster with higher-quality UI without needing to check in with you on every decision.
What will S.E.T. you up for success
Skills
Strong visual design craft with the confidence to make independent visual and interaction design decisions in a live product environment.
Strong React/Typescript fundamentals and component architecture
Design token architecture and Figma-to-code mapping
Building and maintaining Storybook for component development
Deep understanding of interaction design, states, and edge cases
The ability to spot and resolve visual and interaction inconsistencies across a product surface — not just in isolation, but in context
Performance and accessibility standards
Systems thinking and building for scale
Clear documentation and pattern guidance
Ability to validate technical feasibility early in the design process
Experiences
6+ years of relevant experience with meaningful design system work as a significant part of that — building, scaling, and maintaining a design system in production
Proven track record retrofitting and modernizing legacy UI systems, migrating inconsistent patterns into cohesive design systems
Prior experience working as a designer
Portfolio demonstrating effective use of UI design fundamentals
Deep experience with composition and presentational component architecture in React
Proven track record maintaining Storybook as a canonical UI reference
Built and managed design token systems with Figma integration
Evidence of successfully bridging design and code in a live product
Experience collaborating with product designers and engineering teams
Hands-on experience implementing AI tooling to accelerate design-to-code workflows and automate design system consistency checks
Traits
Takes initiative and demonstrates leadership in ambiguous, cross-functional environments - you can identify what needs to happen next and rally people around a direction without formal authority
Systems thinker who builds foundations, not just features
Opinionated about design quality with a point of view on what good design looks like
Detail-oriented with exceptional craft sensibility for visual and interaction quality
Low ego, strong collaborator who bridges design and engineering
Comfortable receiving feedback on your work and adjusting direction when the team or constraints call for it — you care more about the system getting better than being right
Pragmatic approach to balancing perfection with progress
Clear communicator who can articulate tradeoffs and standards,
Focused on enabling others and reducing friction for feature teams
You document decisions and share what you learn so others can build on your work
What won't set you up for success
Seeking highly structured environments with predetermined solutions
Preferring feature work over foundational system building
Discomfort with maintaining existing code and iterating on established patterns
Difficulty balancing design intent with technical constraints
Needing extensive direction to identify quality and consistency gaps
Prioritizing speed over quality and durability of system components
Difficulty working across multiple stakeholders without direct authority
Working hours and location
We're 100% remote with team members across the globe. We work mostly on East Coast time—so if you're based on the West Cost of the United States, Europe, or Asia, you might have a few early mornings or late evenings. We do our best to keep things reasonable, but a little time zone juggling comes with the territory.
Compensation + perks + benefits
Kit has standardized salaries based on position, no matter where you live. For this role, we’re hiring at our level 4 ($186,000). Level is determined based on experience and our interview process.
Perks + benefits include:
Kit equity
401k with a 5% match
We cover up to $2,100 per month toward medical premiums, with dental and vision premiums fully covered. We offer Health Insurance plans through Aetna
$2,000 equipment allowance for your first two years, $1,000 budget every following two years. Company-provided laptops are issued to every Kit team member and are not included in the equipment budget
Individual learning + development budget ($3,500/year)
Gender affirming benefits
Childcare benefit up to $3,000 annually
Twenty (20) days of paid time off during each year of employment
Paid paid vacation: An after-tax bonus of $1,000 for taking five consecutive days of vacation where you’re fully unplugged from work
Ten (10) paid holidays a year
Two weeks of paid sick time each year, including mental health + well being days
Twelve (12) weeks paid parental leave and flexible scheduling in your child’s first year
Up to six weeks of paid bereavement leave, medical leave, and disaster after six months of employment, two weeks of each paid leave in your first six months
Winter Break Closure: Kit closes for a week at the end of December, giving everyone a collective break to enjoy the holiday season. Essential support services remain available, with teams coordinating to ensure coverage during this period
Four-week, paid sabbatical after five years with the team
Fantastic in-person or virtual retreats with the team twice a year
How to apply
We usually receive a large number of applications, and our goal is to follow up with you within two weeks. You’ll hear from us either way. Here’s what you can expect from the rest of our hiring process:
A phone screen with our recruiter
Hiring manager interview
Take-home assignment
Two part take-home interview
Design
Code
We’ll keep you informed through every step. To get started, complete this application, including a cover letter and answers to the questions on the next page. We read every single application, and your cover letter and responses help put your experience into context.
Kit is an equal opportunity employer
We value diversity in all of its forms. Research tells us that applicants who are female or non-binary, as well as applicants who are people of color, are less likely to apply for roles they do not feel 100% qualified for. If you think you meet more than 50% of our requirements but fewer than 100% of them, please apply.
We’re imperfect communicators, so think of our job postings as the starting point for discussion rather than proof that you shouldn’t apply.
Kit does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.