Principal, Design Technologist , Agentic AI, Velocity Labs

Amazon • Seattle, WA

13d • Onsite

About The Position

We are looking for a Principal Design Technologist to serve as a senior technical and design leader embedded within a cross-functional product innovation team. This role bridges the gap between design vision and engineering execution — you'll be hands-on in code and prototyping tools, shaping the future of AI-native experiences while raising the bar for design quality across the organization. This is an individual contributor role with broad organizational influence, not a people management position.

Requirements

• 10+ years in design technology, front-end engineering, or a related discipline
• Expert-level proficiency in HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and at least one modern front-end framework (React, Vue, Angular)
• Strong portfolio demonstrating end-on-end ownership of complex, interactive product experiences
• Experience working directly with design teams and fluency in tools like Figma, Sketch, or similar
• Proven ability to influence technical and design direction without direct authority
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Nice To Haves

• Experience building AI-powered or data-driven user interfaces
• Familiarity with design tokens, design system architecture, and accessibility standards (WCAG)
• Experience with rapid prototyping tools and creative coding environments
• Track record of leading from the middle — driving alignment across senior stakeholders, engineering, and design
• Experience in large-scale, ambiguous environments where you've defined the "what" as well as the "how"
• Contributions to open-source projects or published thought leadership in design technology

Responsibilities

• Build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes using modern front-end technologies (React, TypeScript, etc.) and design tools (Figma, Framer) to validate and communicate design concepts at speed.
• Partner with product, science, and engineering teams to design and build novel user experiences powered by machine learning, generative AI, and large language models.
• Identify and drive opportunities where design technology can unlock new product capabilities, reduce time-to-market, or improve customer outcomes — influencing roadmaps at the VP/Director level.
• Work closely with Principal Engineers, Applied Scientists, Product Managers, and UX Designers to ensure design intent is faithfully realized in production systems.
• Contribute to and evolve shared design systems, component libraries, and internal tooling that accelerate the work of designers and front-end engineers.
• Mentor and influence designers and engineers across the organization through code reviews, design critiques, tech talks, and documentation of best practices.
• Ground all work in deep understanding of customer needs, using data, research insights, and rapid experimentation to validate design decisions.

Benefits

• sign-on payments
• restricted stock units (RSUs)
• health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage)
• 401(k) matching
• paid time off
• parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed