Staff Design Engineer

GitHub, Inc.

3h•Remote

About The Position

As a Staff 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.

Requirements

10+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 8+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 6+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Doctorate in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 4+ years experience in front-end engineering or development 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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.