Design Engineer (remote)

At Appfire, we believe that great work happens when people get to choose how they work. After 20 years of creating software that empowers teams to break silos and collaborate seamlessly, we've learned that one size does not fit all. That’s why at Appfire, you choose. 

Choose to work where you thrive: Whether from home, in one of our offices, or while exploring the world, you decide where you’re most productive. From hardware and software to access to two decades of collective wisdom on working effectively in a remote-first company, we’ve got you covered.

Choose to balance your life without compromise: Plan your workday around your needs and what matters most to you. Enjoy flexible time off without the hassle of complicated approvals. From day one, we trust you to deliver quality work without sacrificing your personal life, hobbies, loved ones, and well-being.

Choose to grow on your terms: Take charge of your professional growth with access to online learning platforms, facilitated training, leadership programs, and internal hackathons. Collaborate with a global team to gain fresh perspectives. When you're ready for a new challenge, our internal mobility program is here to support your journey.

No one knows you better than you do. So join us and customize your experience. Choose how you want to work. Choose Appfire.

 

About the role

Appfire is looking for an experienced Design Engineer to join our Design Systems team. In this hybrid role, you'll bridge design and engineering to develop and maintain scalable design systems. Your work will involve creating reusable React components, managing Figma libraries, and ensuring cohesive user experiences across products.

You’ll prioritize customer experience by working closely with designers, engineers, and product managers to grow effective design and front-end workflows. You'll focus on developing accessible and inclusive front-end design patterns, translating design decisions into CSS, and helping communicate design concepts within developer communities. Strong collaboration between design and engineering is essential, and this role plays a key part in bridging the gap between the two.

You can work remotely from anywhere within the United States. This role requires frequent global collaboration, and EST availability is highly preferred. 

Your everyday tasks will include:

• Create a culture of excellence in design quality within the design teams and across the organization. Your work directly influences and evolves Appfire’s product UIs.Co-own and evolve our design system (Fuegokit) by:
• Create design components that are highly usable and flexible for designers, meet the needs of product teams, and are easy for engineers to use to create consistent user interfaces.
• Become an authority on our visual design language, extending upon our existing systems—such as our color systems, navigation components, and interaction patterns.
• Design experiences that work across multiple platforms and different product ecosystems, and text-based interfaces such as CLI.
• Seek regular input and propose new areas of work with compelling reasoning, and execute on them.
• Advocate for, and teach other designers and engineers how to use our design systems.
• Seek and provide design feedback and direction with your coworkers.
• Seek out opportunities for connecting with people and teams working on related projects.
• Build meaningful relationships across the product, engineering, and other cross-functional partners you're working with.
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive React component library using TypeScript and CSS-in-JS methodologies.
• Manage and evolve Figma component libraries and design tokens to ensure consistency and scalability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate design systems seamlessly into product development workflows.
• Implement and advocate for accessibility standards (WCAG) in both design and code.
• Conduct code reviews and provide mentorship to team members on best practices in design system implementation.

Skills and experience you'll need to succeed:

• 5+ years of experience in front-end development, with a strong emphasis on building and maintaining scalable design systems.
• 2+ years of experience leading high-impact design system initiatives across multiple products or platforms.
• Proficiency in React, TypeScript, and modern CSS-in-JS methodologies (e.g., styled-components, Emotion).
• Hands-on experience with Figma, including managing component libraries, design tokens, and ensuring consistency across design and code.
• A solid understanding of accessibility standards and a track record of implementing inclusive design practices.
• Experience balancing the immediate needs of feature development with the long-term vision and scalability of design systems.
• Strong organizational skills, capable of leading or contributing to multiple projects simultaneously.
• Proficiency in Git and version control workflows, with experience in collaborative codebases.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate design and technical decisions to diverse stakeholders, including executive-level audiences.

Preferred Skills

• Proven experience contributing to or maintaining an established design system utilized across multiple teams or products.
• Familiarity with design system documentation tools such as Storybook or similar.
• Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and experience with automated testing frameworks for UI components.
• Background in user-centered design principles and practices.
• Experience with cross-platform design considerations, including mobile and desktop applications.
• Technical background or experience working on developer tools.
• Multidisciplinary design experience, such as in illustration, animation, or programming.

Beyond the resume skills that match our culture and this role:

• You are dedicated to elevating client and co-worker experiences, knowing that exceptional work centers on serving others.
• You adapt swiftly to new business demands, understanding that change fuels collective and individual growth.
• You excel in communication, effectively connecting in remote/hybrid environments using tools like Slack, Zoom, and G Suite and through occasional in-person events.
• You have exceptional coaching, mentoring, and people development skills.

We offer:

Financial benefits

• Every Appfire employee is eligible for company equity
• Mobile phone and Internet stipend
• 401(k) Matching Component

Skills development benefits

• Access to the Appfire University learning platform, a hub of knowledge, interactive resources, and engaging instructor-led courses designed to fuel your learning journey with unparalleled depth and accessibility

PTO, health & well-being

• 10 paid holidays + Flexible PTO – no set number of days that you must take in a year
• 100% company-paid health insurance
• 50/50 split dental and vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Accounts

Volunteering

• 3 fully paid days each year to participate in Appfire Town, Appfire’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program

#LI-Remote

About Appfire

A people-first approach to business

Since its inception, Appfire has been a remote-first company. With 850+ employees (who we call fireflies) across 28 countries, we foster an environment where everyone is respected. We invest in team members by ensuring they grow professionally and personally.

Making an impact

At Appfire, corporate social responsibility is driven by team members, family, friends, customers, and partners through Appfire Town. This program brings people together to generate a strong social impact in our local and global communities.

In 2015, Appfire joined the Pledge 1% network of organizations committed to philanthropy. Appfire has since grown our Pledge 1% program to include all four pledge types — product, profit, equity, and employee time. We were among the first to do this, and we’re proud that Pledge 1% is part of our evolution.

Our business

Appfire mission to equip and connect every team so they can plan and deliver their best work. We are committed to building a durable, multi-generational business, and to evolving, innovating, and scaling in a way that ensures stability and opportunity for years to come

What’s our secret sauce?

1. We follow teams. We do our research and build software that solves real-life collaboration challenges while being easy to implement and a joy to use. We’re proud to support over 20,000 customers and growing, including 55% of the Fortune 500. From the entertainment delivered by Netflix to the devices crafted by Samsung, and Dell Technologies and the financial transactions handled by Visa, Edward Jones, and US Bank, Appfire’s technology is indispensable. Our products also play a pivotal role in streamlining operations and fostering innovation at companies like Tesla and significant institutions such as NASA, Boeing, and many more. 
2. We enhance. Our software is designed to give developers, knowledge workers, and teams the ability to extend and get greater value from the platforms they’ve invested in and enjoy. So far, our solutions extend and enhance the capabilities offered by Atlassian, Microsoft, monday.com, and Salesforce. 
3. We build bridges and invest in our partners. Appfire's success is underscored by its channel program as its primary path to market. Today, Appfire has a dedicated Channel team supporting 800+ channel partners.
4. We make security and privacy a priority, but we also keep it simple for our customers. We’ve achieved International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001 and ISO 27017 and System and Organization Controls (SOC) SOC 2, Type I and SOC 2, Type II certifications. Our award-winning Appfire Trust Center, offers our customers, partners, and prospects the latest security, privacy, and compliance information, including pre-completed questionnaires (CAIQ, SIG, and VSA) with an accelerated NDA process and just one EULA to cover it all.

Market recognition

Appfire has been consistently recognized for company growth, culture, corporate social responsibility, and product excellence and has been included among the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Inc. Best Workplaces, BuiltIn Best Places to Work, and Inc. 5000. Learn more about our accomplishments, which would not be possible without our team members, partners, and customers: https://appfire.com/awards.

Equal Employer Opportunity (EEO)  

Appfire is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic as defined by applicable law. Our commitment extends to all employment practices, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, and termination.