Design Engineer

cursor; New York, San Francisco (NY, CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Cursor in New York, NY is seeking a design engineer to work at the crossroads of design and code. You'll collaborate with the founding team to create polished experiences that set Cursor apart.

The ideal candidate must be skilled in front-end engineering, comfortable with design tools, and capable of rapid prototyping. Join us to push the boundaries of product innovation and contribute to a dynamic team!

Qualifications

• Strong front-end engineering skills with modern JavaScript frameworks.
• Deep understanding of UI design and user experience principles.
• Ability to rapidly prototype concepts and features.

Responsibilities

• Build production-quality UI components and interactions that delight users.
• Rapidly prototype new concepts and features to validate ideas.
• Bridge the gap between design and engineering.

Skills

Front-end engineering skills (TypeScript, React, SolidJS, CSS, animations)

Design thinking and attention to detail

Prototyping skills

Job description

About the role

We're looking for a design engineer who lives at the intersection of design and code. You'll work directly with the founding team to prototype, build, and polish the experiences that make Cursor magical. This role is perfect for someone who thinks like a designer but builds like an engineer — or vice versa.

What you’ll do

• Build production-quality UI components and interactions that delight users
• Rapidly prototype new concepts and features to validate ideas before full implementation
• Bridge the gap between design and engineering – translating designs into code and pushing design through technical innovation
• Own the quality of UI implementation across the product, ensuring pixel-perfect execution and smooth interactions
• Collaborate with designers and engineers to define what's possible and push the boundaries of the product
• Contribute to design systems and component libraries that enable the team to ship faster

You might be a fit if

• You're equally comfortable in Figma and your code editor
• You have strong front-end engineering skills (TypeScript, React, SolidJS, CSS, animations)
• You have an eye for design details and care deeply about craft
• You've shipped polished products and know what it takes to get from 90% to 100%
• You can move fast – prototyping ideas in hours, not days
• You think in systems and can build reusable, maintainable UI components
• You're excited about AI and want to help define new interaction paradigms

Nice to have

• Experience building developer tools or technical products
• Background in design or formal design training
• Experience with Electron, native UI frameworks, or building cross-platform apps
• Understanding of code editors, IDEs, or programming environments