Founding Design Engineer

Clera

$180K — $220K *
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of experience building product interfaces with a strong portfolio.
  • Proven primary ownership of a design system or component library in production.
  • Deep expertise in React, strict TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and component primitives.
  • Strong knowledge of WCAG accessibility standards and brand integration into code.
  • Hands-on experience with frontend quality tooling: Biome, Playwright E2E, and performance optimization.
  • Practical experience using AI coding tools like Claude Code and Cursor in production workflows.
  • Ability to act as the sole senior voice for frontend UX standards across the company.

Responsibilities

  • Own the design system end-to-end, ensuring unified product experience.
  • Define and enforce frontend coding standards including accessibility and performance.
  • Build and maintain production-grade UI components using specified technologies.
  • Shape AI-driven interface patterns for B2B end-users.
  • Integrate AI coding tools into frontend workflows to maintain quality.
  • Collaborate with founders and product/engineering to create high-performance interfaces.
  • Audit and enhance frontend tooling, performance, and accessibility.

Benefits

  • Founding team equity.
  • Access to team hubs in San Francisco and Amsterdam.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding-level, high-ownership role at a fast-growing Seed-stage startup building an AI-native platform for pricing strategy and deal intelligence. The team ships UI fast - a small, tight-knit group augmented by AI coding agents writing production pull requests. Speed is not the problem. Coherence is. This role owns it: design tokens, the component library, and the frontend and conversational interface patterns that make everything the team ships - human-written or agent-written - feel like one cohesive product.

You'll be the sole bar-raiser for frontend UX across the company, setting and enforcing standards as the team scales 2-3× in the next 12 months. If founding-level ownership and entrepreneurship energize rather than intimidate you, this role is for you.
What You'll Do
  • Own the design system end-to-end: design tokens, component library, and documentation - ensuring every shipped surface feels intentional and unified.
  • Define and enforce frontend standards across the codebase, including accessibility (WCAG), brand guidelines, and code quality tooling (Biome configuration, Playwright E2E coverage, frontend performance).
  • Build and maintain reusable, production-grade UI components using React, strict TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and component primitives (shadcn/ui, Radix UI).
  • Shape conversational and AI-driven interface patterns, including streaming responses and generative views, for B2B end-users.
  • Integrate AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) into frontend workflows and help the team maintain quality as agent-generated code scales.
  • Partner directly with founders and product/engineering teammates to translate pricing intelligence workflows into polished, high-performance interfaces.
  • Audit and continuously improve frontend tooling, performance, and accessibility across the product.
What We're Looking For

Required
  • 5+ years building product interfaces, with a portfolio demonstrating a consistent bar for polish and shipped features.
  • Proven primary ownership of a design system or component library in production (public repo, portfolio, or detailed walkthrough acceptable).
  • Deep expertise in React, strict TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and component primitives (shadcn/ui, Radix UI).
  • Strong command of WCAG accessibility standards and experience integrating brand guidelines into a codebase.
  • Hands-on experience with frontend quality tooling: Biome, Playwright E2E, and frontend performance optimization.
  • Practical experience using AI coding tools in production (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) and integrating them into frontend workflows.
  • Comfort acting as the sole senior voice for frontend UX standards across an entire company.
  • Must be authorized to work in the US - visa sponsorship is not available at this time.

Nice to Have
  • Experience building non-standard AI interfaces (streaming responses, generative views).
  • Experience designing and shipping conversational interfaces or chatbots for B2B end-users.
  • Familiarity with constrained UI spaces: Slack Block Kit, Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards, or CLI design patterns.
  • Experience with animation and UI state transitions (e.g., Framer Motion, Radix) to enhance perceived speed and polish.
Compensation & Benefits
  • Salary: $180,000 - $220,000 USD annually
  • Founding team equity
  • Team hubs in San Francisco and Amsterdam, serving North American and European markets
Location

This is an on-site role based in San Francisco, CA. The team operates out of the San Francisco hub. Remote-only arrangements are not available for this position.

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