Design Engineer

About O'Reilly Media

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About the Team

The Product Design team at O'Reilly is part of our larger Product organization, which supports the strategic execution of our business goals. We design experiences that fulfill our mission to "change the world by sharing the knowledge of innovators." The Product Design team is evolving our approach and raising our standards for visual quality and interaction design. We're building interfaces that not only work well but also engage and inspire our users. You'll join a team that values thoughtful work, technical excellence, and the satisfaction of creating products that make a meaningful difference.

About the Role

As a Design Engineer reporting to the Director of Product Design, you'll play a key role at the intersection of visual design and front-end development. You'll be responsible for bringing innovative UI concepts to life through animation, micro-interactions, and real data integration-helping us shape the future of our product interfaces. This role is vital in bridging the gap between design vision and technical execution, working closely with both design and engineering teams to elevate our user experience.

You combine strong design fundamentals with hands-on technical expertise, using tools like Figma and React to prototype, test, and refine interfaces. You're equally comfortable navigating abstract design ideas and implementing solutions grounded in code. You thrive in a collaborative environment, communicate design intentions clearly, and focus on creating intuitive, effective experiences that help users achieve their goals.

Salary Range: $120,000 - $140,000

What You'll Do

• Innovation in Interface Design:
  
  • Push our UI forward by exploring and implementing cutting-edge approaches to animation, transitions, micro-interactions, and other dynamic elements that enhance user experience
    
• Real-Data Prototyping:
  
  • Build high-fidelity, interactive prototypes in React that incorporate actual O'Reilly data, providing stakeholders with realistic representations of how designs will function in production
    
• Exploratory UI Development:
  
  • Create experimental interfaces that explore future possibilities for our product, helping the team envision and evaluate new approaches
    
• Technical Design Partnership:
  
  • Work alongside other designers as a peer, providing technical perspective throughout the design process rather than just at handoff
    
• Design System Foundation:
  
  • Help establish the foundation for our design system by creating reusable components and documenting implementation standards
    
• Cross-Functional Communication:
  
  • Translate design intentions to engineering teams, ensuring that innovative interactions and dynamic elements are understood and preserved
    
• Code-Informed Design:
  
  • Apply understanding of React and front-end development to inform design decisions, exploring direct code prototyping when it serves the design process, while maintaining focus on innovation and user experience

What You'll Have

Required:

• 3+ years of experience in UI design, front-end development, or a similar hybrid role
  
• Strong portfolio demonstrating innovative interface design with examples of animation, micro-interactions, or experimental UI approaches
  
• Proficiency with design tools (Figma, Adobe Creative Suite) and React
  
• Experience connecting prototypes to real data sources and APIs
  
• Understanding of component-based design and experience building design system elements
  
• Familiarity with our tech stack (React frontend, Python/Node.js backend) is a plus
  
• Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly and effectively collaborate across design and engineering teams, while avoiding unnecessary jargon.
  
• Commitment to validating forward-looking design decisions with real-world data implementation
  
• Comfortable working in dynamic, evolving design environments
  
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and solve complex, open-ended design problems
  
• Strong critical thinking skills with a balance of skepticism and optimism
  
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to bridge design and engineering perspectives
  
• Views design as a strategic tool for driving business impact
  
• Open to feedback and other viewpoints, while bringing a clear design perspective
  
• Skilled at translating abstract ideas into actionable, tangible solutions

Include the following with your application:

• A link to your online portfolio or equivalent presentation of work samples

Additional Information:At this time, O'Reilly Media Inc. is not able to provide visa sponsorship or provide any immigration support (i.e. H-1B, STEM, OPT, CPT, EAD and Permanent Residency process)