Engineering Manager, Design Systems

Hinge Health•San Francisco, CA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Every product surface at Hinge Health — from the exercise therapy app that helps 20+ million people access MSK care, to the clinician tools our care teams rely on daily — is built on a shared design language. This role puts you at the center of that leverage. As the Engineering Manager for Design Systems, you'll lead the team that owns the foundational component library, design token infrastructure, and accessibility standards powering every screen we ship. Your work will be a force multiplier for every engineer and designer in the company, directly accelerating our ability to deliver consistent, high-quality experiences to members who are counting on us to help them move beyond pain.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
8+ years of non-internship, full-time professional experience in the technology industry, with a focus on SaaS products and large-scale, complex systems
2+ years of experience managing an engineering team of 4+ direct reports, including hiring, coaching, and performance management
2+ years of experience mentoring and leading team members, collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams (especially design), and contributing to project planning and decision-making
2+ years of experience resolving interpersonal conflicts and finding creative resourcing solutions where others would see zero-sum tradeoffs

Nice To Haves

Frontend experience with technologies such as React & React Native
Expertise in TypeScript and modern CSS architecture
Hands-on experience building or scaling a design system or component library used across multiple product teams
Hands-on experience with AI tooling (e.g., Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code) and architectures
Deep understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA/AAA) and how to operationalize them at the component level
Experience with design tooling and handoff workflows, particularly Figma plugins, tokens, and design-dev alignment practices
Familiarity with tooling such as Storybook, Style Dictionary, Chromatic, Changesets, or similar

Responsibilities

Audit the current design system architecture, component library coverage, and adoption metrics across consuming teams.
Build high-trust relationships with design leadership, product partners, and key frontend engineers across the org.
Assess team health, onboarding, and individual growth trajectories for your pod of 4–8 engineers; establish coaching rhythms and a feedback cadence.
Launch a contribution model and governance framework that makes it easy for product engineers to extend the design system correctly — driving measurable adoption gains across teams.
Deliver improvements to the design token pipeline, Storybook documentation, and component APIs that meaningfully reduce friction for consuming engineers.
Stand up the metrics and feedback loops (adoption rate, breaking-change velocity, developer satisfaction) that empower your team's continuous improvement.
Own and execute a forward-looking roadmap for the component library, theming infrastructure, and accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA) — collaboratively defined with your team, design, and product stakeholders.
Scale the team with a strong focus on frontend craftsmanship, systems thinking, and AI integration (e.g., Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code).
Lead migration tooling and semantic versioning discipline that allows the design system to evolve without destabilizing consuming teams — making doing the right thing the easy thing.
Set a clear technical vision for the design system and stay hands-on — spending ~15% of your time in the code, reviewing PRs, and dogfooding the developer experience.
Communicate effectively across engineering, design, and product to align on shared goals and resolve cross-team dependencies with empathy and clarity.
Stay at the forefront of frontend tooling, AI-assisted development, and design system best practices.
Act in the company's best interest, meet your commitments, and coach your team to do the same — creating a culture where blameless retros convert insights into action.