The Role

We are looking for a Product Design Engineer (UI) to join our central design team, with a dedicated focus on Optimism and its ecosystem of brands and products.

This role sits at the intersection of design and development-combining exceptional UI craft with the technical ability to bring experiences to life. You are someone who can move seamlessly from concept to implementation: designing elegant interfaces, building them, launching them, testing performance, and continuously refining them.

The role is deeply rooted in interface design, systems thinking, and user experience across digital surfaces-including email, web, and emerging internal tools within the O Platform, our technical layer.

UI is a critical layer of how Optimism builds trust. Every interaction-every email, landing page, product surface, and digital touchpoint-is an opportunity to create clarity, guide behavior, and deepen connection.

This role will help define how our platform feels at scale-bringing together design, data, and human experience into something cohesive, intentional, and enduring.

What You'll Do

You will play a key role in shaping how users experience Optimism across every interaction-translating strategy, data, editorial, and product thinking into clear, elegant, high-performing interfaces. You hold a strong point of view on aesthetics, paired with a deep respect for clarity, usability, and function.

• Design high-quality UI across email, web, and product surfaces, ensuring clarity, usability, and visual consistency
• Translate user journeys into intuitive and thoughtful interfaces
• Move designs into production, partnering closely with engineering teams or independently implementing front-end experiences where appropriate
• Build and launch digital experiences directly, including landing pages, web experiences, email modules, subscription flows, quizzes, and lightweight product interfaces
• Partner with product, engineering, editorial, and growth teams to bring data-informed design decisions to life
• Contribute to and evolve our design systems, ensuring scalability across brands and platforms
• Design and optimize conversion flows (landing pages, quizzes, subscription paths, onboarding journeys, etc.)
• Create UI patterns that support personalization and dynamic content experiences
• Prototype rapidly and test ideas in-market, using experimentation to refine UX, performance, engagement, and conversion outcomes
• Own the full iteration cycle-designing, implementing, launching, measuring, revising, and optimizing experiences based on user behavior and performance data
• Help bridge design systems and front-end implementation to ensure thoughtful, scalable execution
• Ensure design output reflects Optimism's core principles and human-centered thinking

What You Will Bring

You're curious, collaborative, and systems-oriented-comfortable in fast-moving environments where ideas evolve quickly. You enjoy building, not just designing, and care deeply about how thoughtful interfaces shape human behavior and trust.

You take ownership with high attention to detail and accountability. You translate ideas fluidly across design, product, engineering, editorial, and growth teams. You thrive in rapid iteration cycles and maintain high standards of craft, detail, and intentionality. You work across multiple surfaces (marketing, editorial, product, growth) and excel at data-driven decision-making using experimentation, A/B testing, and performance insights.

You're AI-forward, leveraging tools to accelerate design exploration, workflows, prototyping, and ideation. You bring experience from media platforms, content products, subscription businesses, or newsletter ecosystems. You understand data-driven personalization, lifecycle journeys, growth loops, and conversion optimization. Motion, interaction design, and experience designing editorial or content management interfaces are in your wheelhouse.

Requirements

• Minimum 4 years of experience in UI, product design, digital design, front-end experience design, or related fields
• Experience translating designs into live digital experiences, with comfort moving between design and implementation
• A strong portfolio demonstrating exceptional UI craft across web, email, product, or interactive experiences
• Familiarity with modern front-end tools and workflows (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, Framer, Webflow, or similar)
• Strong understanding of front-end constraints and component-based thinking
• Strong understanding of layout, typography, hierarchy, interaction design, and conversion-focused UX
• Experience designing within scalable systems and frameworks (design systems, component libraries, modular systems)
• Experience with email design systems and ESP constraints (responsive templates, modular builds, dynamic content, etc.)
• Proficiency with Figma, Webflow, WordPress, and ESPs

Benefits

This position is hybrid, typically Monday through Friday. Preference given to candidates based in Orange County or Los Angeles who are able to work from our Newport Beach office a minimum of 3 days per week.

Optimism offers a comprehensive compensation and benefits package, including low-cost medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k)-retirement plan with employer match, and company-paid short-term disability.

Base salary range $110,00 to $140,000.