Type
Onsite
Location
San Francisco, California, United States
Experience
Lead (8+ yrs)
Posted
Today
Tech Stack
Quick Take
Staff Design Engineer leadership role at GitHub in San Francisco. Directs design engineering standards, high-fidelity UI prototyping, and Primer design systems. Focuses on craft and frontend architecture across AI developer workflows for 180M+ developers worldwide.
Role Overview
🏢 About GitHub
GitHub is the world’s leading developer platform for AI-powered software creation and collaboration. Used by more than 180 million developers and over 90% of Fortune 100 enterprises, GitHub provides the core infrastructure where global software is conceived, built, and shipped.
🎯 The Role
As a Staff Design Engineer at GitHub, you will play a pivotal role in defining what design engineering leadership looks like across the company. You will operate at the intersection of product design and frontend software architecture, bridging creative exploration with rigorous production execution. Based in San Francisco, you will shape high-fidelity interfaces for complex developer workflows and lead the evolution of GitHub’s design systems.
🛠️ Tech Stack
- React, TypeScript, Modern JavaScript (ESNext)
- HTML5, Advanced CSS3, Design Tokens
- Primer Design System & Shared UI Architecture
- Figma, Storybook, Vite, Webpack
- Web Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA)
💼 What You'll Do
- Define technical and design craftsmanship standards across GitHub product surfaces.
- Architect and build high-leverage user interfaces for next-generation developer tooling and AI features.
- Drive the strategic evolution of the Primer design system, ensuring scalability and accessibility across teams.
- Prototype complex interaction models directly in production code to de-risk design decisions early.
- Partner with design and engineering directors to align product vision with technical execution.
- Mentor and develop design engineers across the organization, raising the bar for UI craft.
✅ What You'll Need
- 8+ years of experience in front-end development, UI architecture, or design engineering.
- Exceptional hands-on mastery of modern web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, and React.
- Proven track record of delivering polished, high-scale web products with remarkable attention to detail.
- Extensive experience architecting and maintaining shared design systems or component libraries.
- Strong strategic thinking and communication skills to influence technical roadmap decisions.
- Deep understanding of modern web accessibility standards and performance optimization.
🌟 Nice to Have
- Prior experience leading design engineering teams or initiatives at developer-first companies.
- Open-source contributions to component libraries, animation tooling, or design tokens.
- Experience designing interfaces for AI agents, developer workflows, or developer platforms.
Why This Role?
This is a curated frontend role from GitHub. Every listing on OnlyFrontendJobs is hand-picked for frontend relevance and quality. The tech stack leans on React, TypeScript, JavaScript and more. Tagged 💰 High Comp for above-market pay.
Staff Design Engineer at GitHub — FAQ
Quick answers about this role, the stack, and how to apply.