Founding Design Engineer - Hybrid Frontend & UX Lead (SF)

Lightsage; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Lightsage is seeking a Founding Design Engineer in San Francisco to shape how the product looks and works. You will own both user experience and frontend implementation, moving ideas from concept to production in a hybrid design/engineering role.

You’ll design interfaces for agent analytics, dashboards, and recommendations, build reusable components, and establish Lightsage's design system while collaborating with founders and customers to deliver delightful, data-intensive B2B experiences.

Qualifications

• 2–3+ years of experience in frontend engineering, design engineering, or a similar role, ideally at an early-stage or high-growth software company.
• Strong proficiency in React, TypeScript, HTML, CSS, and modern frontend development frameworks such as Next.js.
• Exceptional visual design and interaction design skills, with a strong eye for typography, spacing, layout, motion, and attention to detail.
• Experience designing and implementing polished, responsive, and performant user interfaces from concept through production.
• Ability to translate Figma designs into high-quality code and independently design interfaces when no mockups exist.
• Experience building reusable components, design systems, and scalable frontend architectures.
• Familiarity with data visualization, dashboards, developer tools, or complex technical workflows.
• Strong understanding of frontend performance, accessibility, responsive design, and cross-browser compatibility.
• Ability to prototype rapidly, iterate based on customer feedback, and balance design quality with engineering constraints.
• High ownership, dependable execution, and comfort operating in an early-stage startup with minimal structure.

Responsibilities

• Designing and building product interfaces and interactive prototypes.
• Developing reusable components and establishing a scalable design system.
• Translating complex data into clear, actionable visual experiences for dashboards and analytics.
• Shaping frontend architecture and performance practices as Lightsage scales.
• Collaborating closely with founders, engineers, and customers to ship high-quality frontend features.

Skills

Frontend engineering

UI/UX design

React

TypeScript

Next.js

Responsive design

Data visualization

Accessibility

Prototyping

Ownership

Tools

Figma

Design systems

Frontend architecture

Job description

Lightsage is seeking a Founding Design Engineer in San Francisco to shape how the product looks and works. You will own both user experience and frontend implementation, moving ideas from concept to production in a hybrid design/engineering role.

You’ll design interfaces for agent analytics, dashboards, and recommendations, build reusable components, and establish Lightsage's design system while collaborating with founders and customers to deliver delightful, data-intensive B2B experiences.