Principal Design Engineer

GitHub, Inc.

5h•Remote

About The Position

As a Principal Design Engineer at GitHub, you’ll play a key role in shaping the future of GitHub’s product experience and in defining what design engineering leadership looks like across the company. You won’t just prototype ideas: you’ll help drive them into production systems that ship, scale, and delight users. You’ll work at the intersection of design, engineering, and product strategy, and you’ll be accountable for outcomes — from early concepts through shipping production-ready features. In this role, you’ll lead by example as an individual contributor, mentor design engineers, influence cross-team technical and design decisions, and partner closely with product, platform, and design leadership on long-term strategy. This is a leadership role without direct people-management responsibility, focused on technical impact, delivery excellence, and design leadership across GitHub.

Requirements

12+ years experience in product or service design
OR Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, or related field AND 10+ years experience in product or service design
OR Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, or related field AND 8+ years experience in product or service Design
OR Doctorate in Industrial Design, Product Design, Human Computer Interaction, or related field AND 6+ years experience in product or service Design
OR equivalent experience
Experience shipping production-ready experiences.
Hands-on experience with modern front-end technologies (e.g., React, CSS, HTML, JavaScript/TypeScript) and design systems.
Experience in design engineering, front-end engineering, product design, or a related technical discipline.

Nice To Haves

Experience building AI and agentic experiences.
Experience influencing technical and design choices across teams.
Experience leading design systems initiatives or platform-level UI engineering.
Background in mentoring and developing engineering and design talent.
Experience advancing accessibility and performance best practices in shipped products.
Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Product Vision & Strategy
Define and communicate long-term technical and design vision for core experiences at GitHub.
Partner with product and design leaders to set product strategy and roadmap priorities.
Anticipate and influence needs across teams by identifying opportunities where design engineering can elevate the product and developer experience.
Execution & Delivery
Own high-impact initiatives from concept through production delivery.
Ship production-ready code that reflects strong design thinking, solid engineering, and attention to user needs.
Lead technical design discussions, make architectural decisions, and guide cross-team implementation efforts.
Design Systems & Standards
Advance GitHub’s design system by setting standards, creating reusable components, and driving consistency across products.
Champion performance, accessibility (WCAG), and maintainability in UI engineering.
Ensure design engineering work scales with GitHub’s growing suite of products.
Influence & Mentorship
Mentor design engineers and cross-disciplinary partners on technical craft, execution practices, and user-centered thinking.
Establish best practices for collaboration, code quality, review feedback, and shared ownership.
Advocate clearly and effectively for design engineering priorities at the executive level.
Cross-Organization Collaboration
Engage with teams across design, product, platform engineering, and research to align on goals and solutions.
Shape cross-team processes that improve planning, predictability, and delivery outcomes.
Represent design engineering in architectural and strategic discussions.