Design Engineer

About the company

Clera is a talent-matching platform that replaces traditional job applications by connecting candidates and hiring teams through curated introductions.

About this role

ABOUT THE ROLE This role sits at the intersection of design and engineering at a small, fast-moving B2B SaaS company building an AI-powered pricing optimization platform. As the Design Engineer, you will own the visual and interaction quality of the frontend, raise the bar on polish, accessibility, and consistency across product surfaces — and enable AI-driven development workflows that keep the codebase clean and scalable. You'll work closely with founders and engineers to turn design intent into robust, reusable code and automated guardrails. This is an on-site role in San Francisco, CA, and the ideal candidate is comfortable being the sole bar-raiser for UX, interface craft, and frontend standards across a small, in-person team. Visa sponsorship is not available. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Partner with founders and cross-functional teammates to ship crafted, consistent product features. - Own the design system end-to-end: design tokens, a shadcn/ui-based component library, and Tailwind CSS conventions. - Define and enforce patterns for React Query, React Hook Form, and Zod to ensure consistency across both human- and agent-authored code. - Codify and enforce WCAG contrast and accessibility rules across core product flows. - Implement and maintain frontend tooling and quality measures including Biome configuration, Playwright E2E coverage, and performance optimizations. - In your first 30–60 days: audit existing tokens, Tailwind conventions, and components, then execute high-impact cleanups. - By 90 days: establish pattern enforcement so agent-written pull requests land without styling or pattern corrections. - Define component and visual guidelines for conversational agents and bots on platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. - Keep the frontend a thin, replaceable, and highly polished layer over a versioned API. - Integrate AI coding tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code) into frontend workflows and write custom rules to guide component generation and styling. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR Must-haves (dealbreakers): - 5+ years building product interfaces with a portfolio of shipped features demonstrating high polish. - Proven primary ownership of a design system or component library in production (public repo, portfolio, or documented proprietary work). - Deep expertise in React, strict TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, and component primitives (shadcn/ui, Radix UI) — with the ability to keep a typed codebase honest, flexible, and scalable. - Authorized to work in the United States (no visa sponsorship available). Required skills & experience: - Experience owning design tokens, a shadcn/ui component library, and Tailwind conventions across a product suite. - Experience defining and enforcing patterns with React Query, React Hook Form, and Zod; and encoding these patterns in tooling such as Biome or custom lint rules to ensure consistency in agent-written pull requests. - Experience implementing accessibility requirements (WCAG) and encoding contrast rules into code and brand guidelines. - Experience establishing frontend tooling and quality: Biome configuration, Playwright E2E coverage, and frontend performance optimizations. - Strong skills in animation and UI state transitions (e.g., Framer Motion, Radix transitions) and micro-interaction craft. - Experience integrating AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor) into frontend workflows and writing custom rules to guide component generation and styling. - Comfortable being the sole design and frontend craft standard-bearer on a small, in-person team. Nice to have: - Experience designing and shipping conversational interfaces or chatbots for B2B end-users, including familiarity with Slack Block Kit or Microsoft Teams Adaptive Cards. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS - Salary: $180,000 – $220,000 USD annually - Early-stage equity opportunity - Small, high-trust team with close founder collaboration LOCATION This is a full-time, on-site position based in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be local or willing to relocate. Remote arrangements are not available for this role.