AI Design Engineer - Momentum

About the role

The design system is the leverage point for a unified experience across the entire product surface at Virtuous, and this role owns that system as a real product in code with real users. You are responsible for the end to end lifecycle of tokens, primitives, components, patterns, and documentation, ensuring the system remains coherent and usable by engineers. You build production interface work directly in the codebase every week, pairing deep system thinking with hands on surface execution to validate assumptions. You act as the AI guardrail, designing the system so that generated interfaces stay on brand and remain legible to models as well as people. You treat adoption as a product problem, measuring coverage and driving usage so that building on the system is faster than working around it. You close the gap between design and production by translating validated patterns into defaults that ship reliably. The ideal candidate combines rigorous craft with pragmatic process, balancing aesthetics, performance, and accessibility while moving quickly without fragmentation.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Own the end to end design system as a product in code, including tokens, primitives, components, patterns, and documentation that engineers consume directly.
• Define and operate the system distribution model, deciding how teams can ship new patterns without fragmenting the core experience.
• Instrument adoption metrics, watch for drift, and drive system usage so that building on the system is the fastest path for engineers.
• Build production interface work in the codebase every week, learning from real surfaces to keep the system accurate and relevant.
• Design the system as an AI guardrail, making the right thing the easy thing for agents and engineers while keeping outputs on brand.
• Implement accessibility directly into primitives and patterns so shipped interfaces meet robust accessibility standards.
• Partner with product designers to translate validated patterns into system defaults and reduce the gap between design and production.
• Create documentation that is obvious and easy to adopt, avoiding the need for engineers to reverse engineer how the system works.
• Define and influence metrics such as component coverage, adoption rate, efficiency, and throughput to prove the system's impact.
• Use AI as a default part of the build process, forming opinions on what agents should handle and what humans should own based on shipped experience.
• Think as a systems thinker with a product mindset, distinguishing components from special cases and knowing when the system is overreaching.
• Exercise influence over authority by delivering fast and reliable primitives that earn trust without requiring enforcement.
• Practice pragmatic governance, right sizing process to provide guardrails without slowing down shipping teams.
• Combine taste and rigor, ensuring the system looks great, holds up under load, and remains sustainable over time.
• Show human centered design in every decision, using AI to strengthen fundraising relationships instead of replacing the human connection.
• Take ownership over territory, seeing gaps and driving them forward with a bias toward starting and delivering tangible results.

Requirements

• You must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this role.
• You must be able to commit to full time hours for the duration of this role.
• You must be able to perform the duties of this role remotely from within the United States.
• You must be comfortable working in a fast moving, high growth startup environment.
• You must be able to collaborate effectively with distributed teams across time zones.
• You must have a strong understanding of modern frontend architectures and component driven development.
• You must have shipped design systems or platform products that other teams depend on.
• You must bring a strong portfolio that demonstrates your craft, system thinking, and ability to connect design to production.

Nice to have

Experience building and scaling design systems in product organizations.

Deep experience with tokens, primitives, and component libraries in code.

Familiarity with AI tooling for interface generation and an understanding of model legibility.

A background in accessibility focused engineering and testing.

Experience working with nonprofit mission driven teams and philanthropic technology.

Practical notes

This role is full time and remote based within the United States.

No visa sponsorship is available for this position at this time.

There are no travel requirements associated with this role.

No application deadline is listed for this position.