Design Engineer (Enterprise AI Startup)
ScrumAID
San Francisco, CA · Posted November 1, 2026
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Where San Francisco, CA ranks
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November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
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Rankings about data & analytics jobs
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Pay compared with the market
This listing does not state pay. Across 29 open design engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $110,000 to $215,000 and the median is $175,000.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
How AI is used in this kind of work
AI use among mechanical engineers is little observed so far. Measured exposure for mechanical engineers: 8% (little observed).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
A young startup selling AI products to big enterprises wants a design engineer to be its first and only design voice. The role covers both how the products look and how they get built, with direct access to founders and engineers.
What you’ll own
Create the interface for a new product aimed at non-technical users such as helpdesk and IT staff
Carry sketches and customer input from wireframe all the way to polished, shippable UI
Build and maintain a library of reusable components and patterns that raise the visual standard
Now and then ship backend-to-frontend features and internal utilities that make development smoother for colleagues
Set design direction on your own, since nobody senior to you leads design
Background
One to four years as a design engineer, or as a front-end engineer who owned design
A software engineering foundation, beyond pure UI/UX design
Comfort in TypeScript, React, HTML and CSS
Experience with enterprise-grade or data-heavy interfaces
Sound product-design judgment and ideally a portfolio of products you designed, built and shipped
High-ownership time at an early-stage startup
On-site in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visa transfers and new sponsorship are both possible.