Design Engineer

About the Role

Loci is seeking a Design Engineer to understand users, own the design of Loci’s apps and website, and write production code to bring experiences to life. Loci brings private AI to users' phones and computers, allowing conversations to run on the user's device and models to work offline. As the Design Engineer, you will own the process from understanding user needs to designing and shipping experiences. You will lead user research, shape the UX and visual design, and contribute hands-on engineering. Working directly with founders and engineers, you will transform complex capabilities into simple, polished products and continuously improve them post-launch.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead user research: Plan and conduct interviews and usability tests, identify user struggles, and translate learnings into clear product priorities.
• Own the UX, interaction design, and visual direction for Loci’s apps and website, covering discovery, onboarding, conversations, model selection, and settings.
• Translate sketches and Figma prototypes into working software, designing complete flows including loading, empty, error, and recovery states.
• Write, review, test, and ship production code for the website and app, building interfaces and interactions, connecting them to product behavior, and addressing engineering needs for reliability.
• Build and maintain a cohesive design system in Figma and code, featuring reusable components, responsive layouts, accessible controls, and thoughtful motion across mobile and desktop.
• Collaborate with founders and engineers to determine product scope, make practical tradeoffs, and manage projects from research through release, contributing to broader product engineering as Loci's needs evolve.
• Test shipped experiences on real devices, gather feedback, and use research and product evidence to enhance usability, quality, and performance.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• A portfolio showcasing digital products you have both designed and helped build, demonstrating strong visual craft, thoughtful UX, and your direct contribution to the final product.
• Hands-on user research experience: Ability to formulate insightful questions, conduct usability tests, synthesize findings, and articulate how evidence informed design decisions.
• Proficiency in independently building and shipping production interfaces, debugging behavior, working with APIs and application state, and writing maintainable, tested code.
• Fluency in Figma and strong foundational knowledge in layout, typography, interaction design, motion, responsive design, and accessibility.
• Comfort working within an existing codebase and adapting to new tools. Our shared app is built in Rust with Dioxus, and our website uses Astro and JavaScript. Willingness to work with both is required.
• Clear communication skills and sound product judgment: Ability to explain tradeoffs, constructively challenge unclear flows, prioritize essential tasks, and demonstrate ownership within a small team.

Experience That Helps

• Experience with Rust, Dioxus, Astro, or other component-based web and app frameworks.
• Experience building consumer products across mobile and desktop, particularly AI products or experiences that simplify complex technology.
• Experience with design systems, frontend performance optimization, native platform interactions, or establishing a cohesive visual identity across product and marketing.