Newsela

Senior Design Engineer (Remote, US)

Newsela$118K — $135K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 6+ years of experience in product/UX design and front-end engineering; expertise in Figma and production front-end code (React, TypeScript, HTML/CSS).
  • Experience with backend or full-stack development is a strong plus, with flexible role responsibilities based on skills.
  • Proven ability to transform designs from concept to shipped, accessible code while supporting other designers in the process.
  • Strong grasp of web and mobile technologies, with the ability to adapt design approaches based on project needs.
  • Hands-on experience in building and maintaining design systems coded in Storybook, incorporating accessibility standards.
  • Skilled in user research techniques to inform design decisions and documentation skills for clear specifications.
  • Collaborative mindset with experience giving and receiving actionable feedback across multiple departments.

Responsibilities

  • Engage frequently with users to identify pain points and propose design solutions that enhance the user experience.
  • Translate design visions into accessible, production-ready front-end code that aligns with the overall design intent.
  • Develop fluency in the engineering ecosystem to assist designers and bridge gaps between design and engineering.
  • Maintain a living design system, ensuring accuracy and up-to-date documentation in Storybook.
  • Create a shared repository of design principles to promote consistency and quality across the team and products.
  • Prototype complex interactions and states to validate concepts effectively and communicate intent clearly.
  • Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to define problems and devise feasible solutions.

Benefits

  • Incentive stock options available as part of the compensation package.
  • Opportunity to work in a flexible role that values both design and engineering skills.
  • Access to the latest AI tools to enhance design exploration and productivity.
Full Job Description
The role:

As a Senior Design Engineer, you will work at the intersection of design and engineering, splitting your time roughly 50/50 between UI/UX design and hands-on front-end implementation (flexible toward 60/40 engineering and beyond for the right person). You will own both the design experience and its technical realization for the products that empower our content creators to develop the content teachers and students use, with a focus on building a product that improves every day.

  • Understand and articulate user and business problems, engaging with users frequently to surface pain points and support day-to-day improvements, then propose thoughtful, feasible design solutions.
  • Translate design intent (your own and other designers') into high-quality, accessible, production-ready front-end code that faithfully matches the design vision.
  • Develop deep fluency in our engineering ecosystem (architecture, component libraries, APIs, build tooling, and constraints) and use it to unblock designers and bridge design and engineering.
  • Establish and maintain a design system as living code, keeping our design sources of truth accurate and up to date, and managing the component library and its documentation in Storybook.
  • Build and maintain a shared repository of design principles the team consistently follows, so quality and consistency scale across people and products.
  • Prototype complex interactions, states, and motion to validate ideas quickly and communicate intent precisely.
  • Reporting to the Product Design Manager, partner closely with Design, Engineering, UX Research, Data, Content, and Marketing to align on problems, define solutions, and ensure feasibility.

  • 6+ years spanning product/UX design and front-end engineering, with genuine depth in both rather than one: expert-level Figma, and proficiency writing production front-end code (e.g., React, TypeScript, modern HTML/CSS) within an existing codebase.
  • Backend or full-stack experience is welcome and a strong plus; the role can flex toward engineering for candidates who lean that way.
  • A proven track record of taking designs from concept through to shipped, pixel-accurate, accessible code, and of helping other designers get their work implemented faithfully.
  • Strong understanding of web and mobile-web platform technologies; you know when to use broad-stroke sketches, lean on the design system, or apply pixel-perfect attention to detail.
  • Hands-on experience building and maintaining design systems as code (including Storybook), and incorporating accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) into both specs and shipped code.
  • You leverage quantitative and qualitative research on user pain points and goals to inform your design direction and document decisions and specifications clearly.
  • You give and receive actionable feedback with a collaborative mindset, partnering cross-functionally (Product, Engineering, UX Research, Data, Content, Marketing) at all stages of the product life cycle.
  • You actively leverage AI tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, v0, and AI features within Figma) to expedite exploration, accelerate craft, and pressure-test ideas, as a force multiplier for design judgment rather than a replacement for it.
  • You bring a "try anything once" attitude, unintimidated by unfamiliar tools, techniques, or problem spaces and eager to experiment, learn quickly, and iterate.
  • While not required, knowledge of Motion Design or animation using Rive would be a plus.

All offers of employment are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check as part of our pre-employment process.

#LI-Remote

Final compensation will be determined based on the candidate's individual skills, qualifications, and experience. Total compensation for this role also includes incentive stock options and benefits.

Base Compensation Range

$118,000-$135,000 USD

About Newsela

Newsela is an education technology company that provides online news articles and other content to K-12 schools. The company was founded in 2012 by Matthew Gross and Dan Cogan-Drew and is headquartered in New York City. Newsela's platform allows teachers to assign articles at different reading levels, making it easier for students with different reading abilities to access the same content. The company has partnerships with major publishers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and National Geographic. Newsela has raised over $100 million in funding from investors such as TCV, Kleiner Perkins, and Owl Ventures.
Learn more about Newsela
Size
200 employees
Industry
Founded
2012

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