Design Engineer

Maincode is an applied AI lab. We translate research into real-world tools: interfaces that support decision-making, surface insights, and express complex ideas with clarity. We believe AI’s next leap isn’t scale - it’s design. Our work bridges research and interface, helping people understand, navigate, and collaborate with intelligent systems. You’ll join the Design Engineering Group (DEG) - a small, embedded team working across brand, product, and early-stage prototypes. We care deeply about craft, clarity, and momentum. The Role We’re hiring a Design Engineer to help build demo-ready interfaces, support early AI prototypes, and expand our internal design systems and tools. This is a hybrid role: part engineering, part design. You’ll work closely with our Design Engineering Lead and collaborate with research and product teams. Some days you’ll refine a branded microsite; other days you’ll prototype a new interaction pattern for an Ollama-powered tool. Your work will balance polish with pragmatism: knowing when to push fidelity, and when to simplify. What You’ll Work On Core Work Build and maintain high-quality layouts and components across Maincode and partner surfaces Extend our design system with new UI primitives, motions, and reusable patterns Implement polished, demo-ready interfaces (states, flows, interaction details) Manage staging, QA, and feedback cycles for production-facing projects Exploratory Work Prototype interfaces for new AI interaction models (e.g. Ollama- or Docker-based tools) Use AI-augmented coding environments (Cursor, Claude Code, V0) to accelerate prototyping Balance speed and quality: quickly test ideas while delivering clean, maintainable code Translate experimental prototypes into usable microsite features or internal tools What We’re Looking For 1–3 years experience (or equivalent projects/internships) in design engineering or hybrid roles Strong visual instincts paired with systems thinking Demonstrated ability to deliver polished, demo-quality UI/UX (attention to states, flow, typography, usability) Comfortable with Figma and frontend frameworks (React, Tailwind, Shadcn/ui or similar) Familiarity with containerised environments (Docker) and API integrations Curiosity about interaction design for AI systems and willingness to work with inference backends like Ollama Clear communicator: able to explain decisions, document trade-offs, and work iteratively Tools & Practices You’ll work across: AI-assisted coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, V0) Figma for design and system exploration Frontend libraries like shadcn/ui and Tailwind Motion.dev /equiv. for animation and system motion GitHub, Docker, Notion, and lightweight documentation for collaboration What Growth Looks Like Within 6–12 months, you will: Expand our design system with net-new components and patterns Deliver demo-ready AI prototypes in collaboration with research Contribute to design direction through both interface craft and engineering decisions Show increasing independence in balancing speed, polish, and technical decisions What to Include We’re not just looking for final results. Show us how you think : 1–3 projects that demonstrate your design-engineering process (what you explored, how you executed, what you’d do differently) A short Loom (optional, max 5 min) walking through a project Any examples of demo-quality UI/UX you’ve shipped Why This Role Matters Interface is how Maincode’s ideas are experienced. Your work ensures our research shows up in the world with clarity and precision — whether through a microsite, a system component, or an AI-powered prototype. Hiring Process We move intentionally and communicate clearly at every step: Portfolio Review – We evaluate taste, process, and clarity Intro Chat – Casual conversation about fit and interest Take-Home Task – A focused, open-ended design–dev challenge (dockerised Ollama prototype + polished UI/UX) Final Chat – With our Design Engineering Lead and Maincode Founder #J-18808-Ljbffr