Design Systems Engineer

Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Inc.; Sugar Land (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible remote options

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) with 5% company match

On-site amenities and campus benefits

Job summary

HCSS is seeking a Design Systems Engineer to bridge Product Design and Development, architecting scalable design systems and ensuring a 1:1 translation between design and front-end code. You will advance tokens, tooling, and AI-ready infrastructure across our product ecosystem.

You will collaborate with designers and developers to minimize UI debt, curate component libraries, and guide UX through validated patterns and scalable documentation.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years of experience bridging design assets and front-end code.
• Strong knowledge of design-to-code integrations and 1:1 parity between design libraries and codebase.
• Experience with AI-assisted coding tools and design token management.

Responsibilities

• Architect, scale, and govern design systems to achieve 1:1 translation between design assets and front-end code.
• Build systems enabling UX, product, and development to make design decisions.
• Own and evolve the visual component library with architectural parity across platforms.
• Review and approve custom UI requests to prevent system bloat and maintain consistency.
• Collaborate with development to map design tokens to code variables and improve DX.
• Produce design artifacts, specs, and redlines to reduce developer guesswork.
• Conduct usability testing to validate patterns and ensure intuitive use for end-users.

Job description

We are HCSS. For the last 40 years, we have been developing software to help construction companies streamline their operations. Based in Sugar Land, TX, our mission is helping customers achieve excellence through our proven customer-centric, end-to-end solutions and exceptionally helpful service, while providing a great life for our employees. With this mission at the core of everything we do, HCSS is a pioneer and leader in the construction software space and a consistently recognized employer. We have earned Best Companies to Work for in Texas honors for 18consecutive years and have been named a USA Today Top Workplace. HCSS has also been recognized by Built In as a Best Place to Work in Greater Houston and by Construction Executive for our technology innovation, reflecting our strong culture, industry leadership, and commitment to excellence.

WHO WE NEED:

You are the critical bridge between Product Design and Development. Architect, scale, and govern our design systems, treating them as living products that empower both designers and developers to build faster and more consistently. Your journey in this track begins with mastering component architecture, documentation, and baseline accessibility standards. As you advance into the development levels, your focus will expand to achieving 1:1 parity between our design libraries and codebase, integrating advanced tooling, and building AI‑ready design infrastructure. This progressive track requires a unique blend of systems thinking, technical curiosity, and visual execution to drive a unified user experience across our entire product ecosystem.

Qualifications:

• 3-5 Years of relevant work experience with a proven track record of bridging design assets and front-end code
• Strong working knowledge of development delivery automation and design-to-code integrations; actively reviews coded front-end components to ensure 1:1 visual parity with design assets
• Ability to operate with minimal oversight as a direct technical partner to Development, working alongside software developers to guide UI implementation instead of relying on traditional design deliverables.
• Advanced proficiency in modern design collaboration platforms and design-to-code automation integrations
• Proficiency in component-based front-end frameworks, UI component development environments, and agile project management tools
• Ability to look 1-2 quarters ahead to anticipate what coded UI components will need to be built, refactored, or safely adapted to prevent technical debt
• Experience conducting usability testing to ensure new patterns are intuitive for teams to implement
• Ability to use AI to accelerate development productivity by refining technical prompts, synthesizing complex UI logic, and integrating AI-assisted coding tools into workflows

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design, HCI, Computer Science, or equivalent experience (preferred but not required)
• Experience configuring design token management systems or automated data pipelines that push assets directly from design platforms to code repositories
• Background in optimizing the developer experience (DX) through the creation of interactive component sandboxes or developer playgrounds
• Experience managing complex system deprecation strategies (sunsetting old components across a live product ecosystem without breaking workflows)

Role Responsibilities:

• Architect, scale, and govern the design systems to ensure a clear, 1:1 translation between design assets and the front-end codebase, eliminating technical and UI debt.
• Build systems that empower everyone (e.g., UX, product management, and development) to make sound design decisions.
• Own and evolve the visual component library, ensuring strict architectural parity between design variants and development frameworks.
• Govern the creation of new patterns by actively reviewing and approving/rejecting custom UI requests to prevent system bloat.
• Manage and scale the centralized design system documentation so it serves as the primary authority for everyone. Structure this documentation to ensure adherence to design standards without always requiring intensive UI work.
• Collaborate directly with development to map design tokens to code variables, optimizing the developer experience.
• Act as the definitive bridge between Product and Development, translating validated product and UX strategies into polished, functionally robust interfaces ready for development.
• Manage the UX Enablement intake process, triaging component requests, and providing UI/IXD consultations to unblock technical implementation.
• Produce clean design artifacts, interaction specs, and redlines that significantly reduce guesswork for the development team, while prioritizing system improvements that enable cross-functional teams to build without needing continuous, intensive UI support.
• Conduct research and usability testing focused on validating system patterns, ensuring components are intuitive for end-users (e.g., field personnel) and internal developers.
• Leverage market trends in UI/UX architecture (e.g., emerging AI interfaces, WCAG accessibility standards) to proactively shape the direction of the design systems.
• Structure and maintain machine-readable design documentation to ensure our systems are prepared for AI-assisted development.

Travel Requirements:

• Initial Onboarding: During the first 3 months of employment, employees (in the Houston area) must work on-site at the Sugar Land office 3 days per week to ensure comprehensive training and integration.
• Hybrid Requirements
  • Following the initial onboarding phase, employees transition to a flexible hybrid work model.
  • If an on-site workspace is requested, employees are expected to work from the Sugar Land office up to 2 days per week, subject to team needs and manager discretion.
• Remote Requirements
  • Fully remote employees are expected to visit the Sugar Land office periodically up to once a Quarter
  • Employees will be expected to attend HCSS-sponsored events per the manager’s discretion (e.g., UGM).

BENEFITS & PERKS:

Part of our mission is to provide a great life for our employees. We believe that when our people are happy, they do their best work. Some of the benefits and perks we offer include:

• Flexibility to work Remotely
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage with company-paid and employee-paid options
• Paid holidays, sick days, and personal time off
• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that foster connection and inclusion
• On-site amenities including a covered basketball court, soccer field, track, pickleball/tennis courts, gym, etc.
• Dog-friendly campus and WiFi-accessible courtyards
• 401(k) with a 5% company match
• Coverage for employee professional development and wellness
• And more!