Design Technologist

Airtable • San Francisco, CA; New York, NY • 1m ago

Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs

Design Technologist roles are becoming a distinct lane in SaaS product organisations, especially where design systems are treated as shared infrastructure rather than a side project. This listing stands out because it sits deliberately between Figma and production code, and it frames AI-assisted UI development as part of the system’s evolution, not an isolated experiment. That combination reflects how modern SaaS teams are standardising UI while rethinking how software gets built.

For a SaaS career, the role offers leverage-heavy experience: shaping component libraries, tokens, and contribution standards that affect many product surfaces over time. Work like this builds fluency in the mechanics of scalable interfaces, documentation as an operational tool, and cross-functional alignment between design, engineering, and accessibility. The emphasis on tooling for AI collaboration also signals exposure to emerging workflows that are likely to spread across SaaS teams.

This position best fits an experienced individual contributor who prefers autonomy, enjoys owning ambiguous system-level problems, and can switch contexts between craft and implementation without treating either as secondary. It will appeal to practitioners motivated by setting patterns others follow, and to those who like influencing product quality through infrastructure, standards, and pragmatic experimentation.

The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.

Job Description

Airtable has a design system with real foundations and a community of designers and engineers who contribute to it. We’re looking for someone who can be dedicated to building out and evolving this system, as well as bring a sharp point of view on how AI changes the way UI gets built. You’ll sit in Design, but your work lives equally in Figma and production code. This is a high-autonomy IC role with broad cross-functional reach.

What you'll do

Collaborate on the existing system. Assess its state, establish direction with other contributors, and close the gap between design specs and implementation.
Build and ship components and tokens yourself, while evolving contribution standards with the broader community of designers and engineers who maintain the system alongside you.
Develop and evangelize a point of view on AI-assisted UI development. Experiment with tooling, workflows, and system structures that make AI a reliable collaborator for anyone writing UI code: engineers, designers, and PMs.
Build and maintain the AI tooling layer for UI: Claude skills, Cursor rules, LLM-consumable documentation, or whatever meaningfully improves the quality and velocity of coding UI.
Partner with designers, engineers, and accessibility to Improve the quality of user experience created by everyone working with the system—through advocacy, better documentation, clearer patterns, and tooling that makes the right thing the easy thing.

Who you are

Your design craft is strong. You produce work you’re proud of and can articulate why it’s good. You hold design systems to a high bar, both in their visual expression and their technical implementation.
You’re energized by both sides of the role. You move between design and code without treating one as a means to the other. You have a portfolio that shows both polished design work in application and production-quality libraries.
You are actively curious about AI-assisted development. You’ve already experimented with LLM-driven tooling, Claude skills, codegen, or similar workflows, and you have opinions about where it’s heading.
You are able to prioritize a path forward. You have strong instincts on sequencing and know what to fix now, what to document and defer, and what to let go.
You raise the bar around you. The best version of this role doesn’t just improve the system—it improves how everyone at Airtable builds UI. You’re motivated by that multiplier effect.

What we're looking for

8+ years at the intersection of design and engineering, with experience inheriting and evolving systems.
Deep fluency in design tokens, component architecture, theming, and accessibility standards (WCAG).
Ability to influence through craft, clarity, and relationships.

Airtable is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and strive to create a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any characteristic protected by applicable federal and state laws, regulations and ordinances. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.

VEVRAA-Federal Contractor

If you have a medical condition, disability, or religious belief/practice which inhibits your ability to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please complete our Accommodations Request Formand let us know how we may assist you. Airtable is committed to participating in the interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants.

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