Principal Design Engineer (AI & Design Systems)

TEKsystems•Berwyn, IL

1d•$156,000 - $234,000•Remote

About The Position

One North is seeking an experienced AI practitioner to build and consult at the intersection of design and engineering. This forward-leaning role uses artificial intelligence as a primary creative and technical instrument to address complex problems in design systems and design-to-code work. The Principal Design Engineer will shape how One North and its clients operate by defining AI-augmented pipelines, building agentic tooling, and demonstrating the possibilities of AI as a collaborator. The role requires deep systems thinking and engineering skill, with a focus on treating AI as a first-class partner. The position is ideally based in Chicago for a light hybrid onsite/remote model, but remote locations across the U.S. are also considered.

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 learnings, 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 relationships, 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.