Principal Design Engineer (AI & Design Systems)

TEKsystems•Berwyn, IL

5d•$156,000 - $234,000•Remote

About The Position

One North is seeking an experienced AI practitioner who can build and consult at the intersection of design and engineering. At One North, the Principal Design Engineer is one of the most forward-leaning roles in our practice; a person who uses artificial intelligence as a primary creative and technical instrument, and who brings that capability to bear on the hardest problems in design systems and design-to-code work. This role will actively shape how One North and our clients work: defining AI-augmented pipelines, building agentic tooling, and demonstrating what's possible when someone with deep systems thinking and engineering skill treats AI as a first-class collaborator. The Principal Design Engineer (AI & Design Systems) will ideally be based in the Chicago area for a light hybrid onsite/remote work model, but we are open to remote locations across the U.S.

Requirements

Expert-level Figma mastery — variables, tokens, advanced component architecture, interactive prototyping, Dev Mode, and plugin/API integrations; you are the person others come to with hard Figma questions
Active, practiced use of AI tools in your daily workflow — code gen, documentation, design exploration, or system authoring (e.g. Cursor, Claude, Copilot, v0)
Demonstrated experience building AI-powered tooling, agentic workflows, or LLM-assisted pipelines — prompt engineering, MCP integrations, or automated documentation and component generation
Advanced proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — clean, semantic, accessible markup; CSS architecture at scale
Hands-on experience building and maintaining design systems or component libraries in production
Strong working knowledge of design tokens and tooling (Style Dictionary, Theo, or similar)
Experience with at least one modern JS framework (React, Vue, Svelte) in a component-driven context
A portfolio or examples of work that demonstrate both engineering quality and design sensibility
Strong communication skills — you can make technical concepts legible to designers and design concepts legible to engineers

Nice To Haves

Agency or consultancy experience — working across multiple clients and project contexts simultaneously
Familiarity with headless CMS architectures and how design systems integrate into CMS-driven builds
Exposure to design system tooling ecosystems (Storybook, Chromatic, Zeroheight, Supernova)
Experience with animation and motion tooling (GSAP, Framer Motion, CSS transitions at system scale)
Comfort in monorepos or multi-package architectures for distributed component libraries
Formal or informal background in product design or UX

Responsibilities

Partner with agency leadership on One North's exploration of AI in design-to-code pipelines: identifying, testing, and integrating tools that meaningfully accelerate or improve design system work
Build agentic workflows that automate high-friction parts of the design system lifecycle: component scaffolding, documentation generation, token logic, contract authoring, and QA
Develop and maintain prompt engineering practices for design system use cases, including structured prompting for component APIs, usage guidelines, and accessibility annotations
Integrate MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers and LLM-powered tooling into design and development workflows in ways that are practical, repeatable, and shareable
Contribute to internal AI capability-building: documenting what you learn, training teammates, and helping the agency develop a point of view on AI in our craft
Apply AI tools fluidly across your own daily work (code generation, design exploration, documentation, and system scaffolding) and push the boundaries of what those tools can do in a design systems context
Stay current with Figma's evolving platform, including AI features, Dev Mode capabilities, and third-party integrations, and bring that knowledge back to the team
Participate in Figma alpha and beta programs to evaluate new features before general release, forming clear recommendations on readiness and fit for client application
Monitor and assess Figma product developments (new releases, acquisitions, and platform expansions) and lead the internal process of evaluating, operationalizing, and establishing standards around relevant new capabilities
Architect and maintain Figma-based design systems with the same structural rigor as a production codebase, including variables, tokens, component properties, advanced auto layout, and the full token pipeline bridging Figma to code
Advise clients on Figma tools and workflows that extend the value of their platform investment, serving as a credible strategic resource on what the platform can do and where it is headed
Maintain active engagement with Figma's broader ecosystem, including community programs, partner channels, and product team relationship, to keep One North informed and well-positioned as the platform evolves
Act as one of One North's internal Figma SMEs: setting standards, advising on tool usage, and helping clients get more out of the platform