Porter — Design Engineer

davidjoseph-co; New York (NY); On-site; USD 200,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

30 days PTO

30 days remote per year

Relocation covered

On-site work trial paid

Job summary

Porter is seeking a Design Engineer to own the craft and feel of the platform, integrating information architecture, core product flows, and micro-interactions with a full rebrand rollout. You design it, you implement it, you own it—working directly with the Co-Founder & Design Lead.

The role demands 5+ years of design or micro-interaction engineering experience, a strong portfolio, and the ability to translate designs into production code using AI-enabled tooling.

Qualifications

• 5+ years design or micro-interaction engineering experience with a portfolio demonstrating craft and curiosity.
• Comfortable implementing designs in code, not just Figma — an independent force who polishes the product without needing frontend engineer bandwidth.
• Pre-AI technical frontend experience and an ability to push code with design intent.
• AI-native mindset, uses AI to move faster.
• Based in or relocating to New York City.
• Portfolio should match the ideal list curated by Porter and show unique design sensibility.

Responsibilities

• Own design and front-end implementation of core Porter product flows end-to-end.
• Lead the rebrand rollout across the Porter website and product.
• Define information architecture and design, create and monitor flows for the platform's main objects.
• Collaborate with Justin to align on design sense and drive ownership of projects.
• Integrate feedback from ongoing work streams and advocate for design-led improvements.
• Engage with customers directly to bring product intuition into what gets built.

Skills

Design

Frontend coding

AI tooling

Portfolio review

Tools

Figma

Job description

Porter — Design Engineer

Type: Full-time | On-site (5 days/week) | New York City, NYCompensation: $200,000–$280,000 + competitive equityHiring count: 1Visa sponsorship: None AvailableReports to: Justin, Co-Founder & Design Lead

The Role

Porter is hiring a Design / Micro-Interaction Engineer to own the craft and feel of the Porter platform — information architecture, core product flows, micro-interactions, and a full rebrand rollout. This is not a handoff role: you design it, you implement it, you own it.

What You'll Be Doing

• Own design and front-end implementation of core Porter product flows end-to-end
• Lead the rebrand rollout across the Porter website and product
• Define information architecture and design, create and monitor flows for the platform's main objects
• Work directly with Justin to align on design sense, then go above and beyond it
• Loop into in-flight work streams, give design feedback, and progressively take on owned projects
• Talk to customers directly and bring product intuition to what gets built
• Work in two-week project cycles with full autonomy to propose and drive your own work

Tech stack: Figma + hands-on front-end implementation in code (specific framework/stack not stated on the role page).

Requirements

• 5+ years design or micro-interaction engineering experience with a portfolio demonstrating craft and curiosity
• Comfortable implementing designs in code, not just Figma — an independent force who polishes the product without needing frontend engineer bandwidth
• Pre-AI technical frontend experience who actually understands the code they're pushing
• AI-native mindset, uses AI to move faster
• Based in or relocating to New York City
• Before sourcing, review the ideal portfolio list curated by Porter's. Submitted candidates must have a portfolio on par with those in the list, portfolios should not look vibe-coded, must show unique design sensibility, and clean, intentional execution.

Green Flags

• Portfolio demonstrates genuine taste and craft, not just technical execution, this is the primary filter
• Background at Vercel, Linear, or a developer tooling company with strong design engineering culture
• Excited about implementing their own designs using AI tools without waiting on engineering
• Can name a collaborator who was better than them, signals low ego and team orientation
• Has shipped micro-interactions and polished product experiences to real users in production
• Genuine curiosity about dev tooling and cloud infrastructure, not just interested in the design problem

Red Flags

• No portfolio or weak portfolio, non-starter
• Expects to hand off Figma files without being involved in implementation
• Not excited about using AI to accelerate design output
• Cannot name a collaborator who impressed them, usually signals ego and poor teamwork
• Under 5 years of experience
• Team's current frontend engineer needs to review every single microinteraction PR they put together

Role Details

Salary$200,000–$280,000EquityCompetitive / meaningful equityOn-site policyFully in-person, 5 days/weekVisa sponsorshipNone AvailableEmployment typeFull-timeLocationNew York City, NY

Benefits & Perks: Meaningful equity · 30 days PTO · 30 days remote per year · Relocation covered · On-site work trial paid