Design Engineer, UX Product

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Design Engineer, UX Product

Company: Roku

Location: San Jose, California, United States

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: UX Engineering / Product Operations

Date Posted: 2026-09-10

Experience Level: Mid-Senior (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Serve as the technical owner and architect for AI-assisted design workflows, integrating cutting-edge technologies to enhance the UX team's productivity and output.

• Bridge the gap between UX design and engineering by developing and maintaining the technical foundation that powers innovative design processes and tools.

• Drive efficiency and quality improvements by building and managing integrations between AI tooling, design systems, and existing product data infrastructure.

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of designer-built prototypes and micro-apps, including hosting, deployment, and security compliance, to enable rapid iteration and stakeholder review.

• Collaborate cross-functionally to establish secure, compliant patterns for tools and prototypes that interact with sensitive product data, ensuring adherence to privacy and security standards.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a critical intersection of UX design and software engineering, focusing on building the operational infrastructure that enables a large UX team to leverage AI and custom tools. The emphasis is on creating scalable, secure, and efficient workflows, positioning it closer to a "Product Operations" or "UX Infrastructure Engineering" function within a GTM or Product organization.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Act as the technical lead and primary point of contact for the platform underpinning AI-assisted design workflows, facilitating collaboration between UX workflow leads and core engineering teams.

• Develop, implement, and maintain robust integrations that seamlessly connect AI tooling, design platforms (like Figma), and internal systems designers utilize daily.

• Establish and uphold rigorous practices for AI-assisted work, including version control, output evaluation, and quality regression testing to ensure reliability and consistency.

• Partner closely with UX leadership to architect and implement an integrated, AI-enhanced design process that demonstrably elevates both the quality of design output and overall team efficiency.

• Map, document, and maintain the flow of work across different stages of the design process, ensuring critical context is preserved and each stage's output is optimized for the next.

• Structure and standardize outputs from AI tools and designer workflows to facilitate accurate measurement, performance analysis, and continuous process improvement.

• Define, implement, and maintain secure and compliant architectural patterns for designer-created tools and prototypes that access or utilize real product data, collaborating with Security and Privacy teams.

• Build and manage the necessary infrastructure to enable designers to safely prototype against real user data and live content, minimizing development friction.

• Provide technical support and troubleshooting for designers working with AI-assisted prototypes, resolving authentication issues, integration failures, and environment-specific problems.

• Oversee the hosting, deployment, and maintenance of infrastructure for designer-built prototypes, micro-apps, and internal tools, ensuring accessibility and stability.

• Curate and maintain a shared library of AI tools, reusable assistants, automations, and commands to empower designers and standardize AI utilization across the team.

• Support designers in developing and maintaining a unified UI component library specifically for prototyping purposes, ensuring consistency and efficiency.

• Serve as the primary technical liaison between the UX team and broader engineering departments, ensuring alignment on infrastructure standards and consistency with Roku's overarching technical architecture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a strong emphasis on building and scaling infrastructure for design operations, with a significant focus on AI integration, security, and cross-functional collaboration. This role requires not just engineering prowess but also a deep understanding of the design lifecycle and the unique needs of UX professionals.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Design Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience:

• Minimum of 5-10 years of experience in a hybrid design engineering or technical product role, demonstrating the ability to bridge both design and engineering disciplines.

• Proven experience building or operating AI application tooling, including but not limited to MCP server integrations, custom agent development, evaluation harnesses, or comparable infrastructure for LLM-based products.

• Demonstrated systems thinking capability, with a track record of designing how separate tools compose into a coherent and efficient workflow.

• Experience with hosting, deployment, and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab Pages, AWS, Jenkins).

• Familiarity with API integration and experience working with real data in prototypes or tools, including secure credential handling and data management.

• Experience building or maintaining shared tooling, component libraries, or developer/designer toolchains.

• Working knowledge of security and compliance requirements relevant to web applications, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) handling and secure data access protocols. Required Skills:

• Proficiency in modern web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and at least one modern framework such as React, Vue, or Next.js.

• Deep understanding of AI-assisted development tools and platforms (e.g., Cursor, Figma's AI features, Claude, v0, custom agent frameworks).

• Strong systems thinking and architectural design skills for composing complex toolchains and workflows.

• Experience with cloud hosting and deployment environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and CI/CD practices.

• Ability to integrate with various APIs and manage data flows securely.

• Familiarity with design tools and processes, including fluency in reading Figma files and understanding design critique dynamics.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to effectively liaunt between design and engineering teams. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with specific AI orchestration frameworks or LLM operationalization tools.

• Familiarity with user experience research methodologies and post-launch measurement techniques.

• Knowledge of security best practices and compliance frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CCPA).

• Experience in contributing to or managing design systems.

• A strong design sensibility and the ability to provide constructive feedback in design critiques.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "equivalent practical experience" clause is crucial, indicating that strong portfolios and demonstrable skills can substitute for a formal degree. The emphasis on AI tooling and systems thinking underscores the advanced nature of this role, requiring a blend of software engineering expertise and an understanding of design operations.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase examples of building and integrating complex technical workflows, particularly those involving AI or automation.

• Demonstrate experience in developing reusable components, libraries, or toolchains that improved efficiency for a team (designers or engineers).

• Include case studies of projects where you managed the infrastructure, deployment, or hosting of web applications, prototypes, or tools.

• Provide evidence of contributions to secure development practices, especially concerning data handling or PII.

• Highlight projects where you acted as a technical liaison between different functional teams (e.g., UX and Engineering). Process Documentation:

• Evidence of designing and documenting end-to-end processes for toolchain adoption and integration.

• Examples of creating standardized workflows for AI-assisted tasks, including versioning and evaluation protocols.

• Documentation related to the setup and maintenance of hosting and deployment infrastructure for web-based tools or prototypes.

• Records of collaborating with security and privacy teams to establish compliant data handling patterns for user-facing tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this hybrid role, the portfolio should clearly articulate the candidate's ability to engineer solutions that directly support design workflows. This means showcasing not just coding ability but also how that ability translates into tangible improvements in process efficiency, scalability, and security within a design context.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• The estimated annual base salary for this position in California is between $200,000 - $220,000. Benefits:

• Comprehensive health insurance (medical, dental, and vision).

• Equity awards, offering potential for long-term financial growth.

• Life insurance and disability benefits for comprehensive protection.

• Generous parental leave to support new families.

• Wellness benefits, including global access to mental health and financial wellness support resources.

• Paid time off, in accordance with local leave policies.

• Retirement options, such as 401(k)/pension plans.

• Commuter benefits. Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours, typically 40 hours per week, with flexibility often available.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is specific to California and reflects a senior-level engineering role. The benefits package is extensive, covering health, financial well-being, and work-life balance, which is attractive for specialized technical roles.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology (Streaming Platform, Consumer Electronics, Software)

Company Size: Large (Roku is a publicly traded company with thousands of employees globally.)

Founded: 2002, with a history of pioneering the streaming TV market.

Team Structure:

• The UX team is likely structured with specialized leads for different aspects of the design process (research, concept, prototyping, measurement).

• This Design Engineer role sits within or closely supports the UX team, acting as a central technical resource and liaison with broader engineering.

• Collaboration is expected to be cross-functional, involving UX designers, researchers, product managers, and software engineers. Methodology:

• Roku emphasizes a pragmatic, action-oriented approach to innovation, focusing on delivering solutions to customers.

• The team utilizes AI and automation to enhance workflows, but human judgment, direction, and accountability are paramount.

• Data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement are key, particularly in measuring the impact of design and processes.

Company Website: https://www.weareroku.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Roku's culture is characterized by a focus on problem-solving, speed, and impact. The emphasis on "fewer number of very talented folks" suggests a high-performance environment where individual contributions are significant. The hybrid work model indicates a blend of in-office collaboration and remote flexibility.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor within the UX infrastructure domain. It represents a specialized path for engineers who want to deeply impact product development by building the tools and platforms that enable design teams. It's not a traditional "operations" role focused on sales or marketing ops but rather on the operational backbone of product design.

Reporting Structure:

• The Design Engineer likely reports to a Director or Senior Manager within the UX organization or potentially a broader Product Engineering group.

• They will work closely with UX leads, senior designers, and engineering managers across product development teams. Operations Impact:

• The primary impact of this role is enabling the UX team to deliver higher quality designs faster, directly influencing the user experience of Roku's products.

• By building robust, AI-assisted workflows, this role contributes to the efficiency and scalability of Roku's product development lifecycle, indirectly impacting time-to-market and user satisfaction. Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI infrastructure, workflow automation, and platform engineering for design teams.

• Leadership: Transition into a technical lead or management role within UX Engineering or a similar platform-focused team.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Leverage deep understanding of product development to move into broader product engineering or architecture roles.

• AI/ML Focus: Grow expertise in applying AI/ML specifically to design and creative processes, becoming a subject matter expert.

📝 Enhancement Note: While not a typical "revenue operations" role, this position is crucial for "Product Operations" or "Design Operations" within a GTM strategy, ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the product design function. Growth opportunities are geared towards deepening technical expertise or moving into leadership within this specialized domain.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Roku generally fosters a collaborative in-office environment, with teams typically working together Monday through Thursday. Fridays offer flexibility for remote work for most employees.

Office Location(s): San Jose, California. This location is a key hub for Roku, providing access to a strong tech talent pool and industry connections.

Workspace Context:

• The workspace is designed to facilitate collaboration, with teams generally co-located on office days.

• Access to modern tools and technology, including AI-assisted development platforms and robust engineering infrastructure, is expected.

• Opportunities for direct interaction with UX designers, researchers, and engineering peers will be frequent, fostering a dynamic and communicative atmosphere.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is full-time (approximately 40 hours per week). Hybrid work arrangements are standard, with a requirement for in-office presence on most weekdays, balancing collaborative needs with individual flexibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model with a strong emphasis on in-office collaboration on specific days suggests a preference for synchronous communication and team cohesion, which is beneficial for complex, cross-functional engineering projects.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review applications and resumes, focusing on keywords related to web technologies, AI tooling, and systems thinking.

• Technical Interview(s): Expect deep dives into JavaScript/TypeScript, React/Vue/Next.js, AI toolchain experience, CI/CD, and system design principles. Coding challenges and architectural discussions are likely.

• Design Critique / UX Collaboration Interview: This will assess your ability to understand design files (Figma), participate in design critiques, and communicate effectively with designers about technical constraints and solutions.

• Systems Thinking / Workflow Design Challenge: You may be presented with a scenario to design or improve a workflow, demonstrating your ability to map processes, identify bottlenecks, and propose technical solutions.

• Hiring Manager / Team Fit Interview: Focus on cultural alignment, problem-solving approach, and how you've used AI or automation to scale impact.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio to clearly showcase projects related to building tools, automating processes, managing infrastructure, and integrating AI.

• Narrative: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role and contributions, the technical solutions implemented, and the measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements, time saved).

• Technical Depth: Be prepared to discuss the technical architecture, trade-offs made, and challenges overcome in your projects.

• AI/Automation Focus: Explicitly highlight any projects where you leveraged AI or automation tools to solve design or engineering problems.

• Design Sensibility: Include examples that demonstrate an understanding of UX principles, even if the project was primarily engineering-focused.

Challenge Preparation:

• Systems Design: Practice designing scalable systems, considering trade-offs in performance, security, and maintainability.

• Workflow Optimization: Think about common design workflows (e.g., research synthesis, prototyping, design review) and how they could be technically enhanced with AI or automation.

• AI Tooling: Familiarize yourself with current AI development tools and frameworks, and be ready to discuss how they can be applied to practical design challenges.

• Communication: Prepare to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to assess a unique blend of skills. Candidates must not only be strong engineers but also possess a deep appreciation for the design process and the ability to translate UX needs into robust technical solutions. The portfolio is key to demonstrating this hybrid capability.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Web Technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript

• Frontend Frameworks: React, Vue, Next.js (proficiency in at least one)

• AI/ML Tooling: Claude, Cursor, v0, MCP server integrations, custom agent frameworks, LLM operationalization tools.

• Design Tools: Figma (fluency in reading and understanding design files)

• Version Control: Git (likely via GitLab)

Analytics & Reporting:

• CI/CD: GitLab Pages, AWS (e.g., CodePipeline, CodeDeploy), Jenkins, or similar.

• Cloud Platforms: AWS (Amazon Web Services) is heavily implied for hosting and deployment.

• API Integration Tools: Tools and libraries for connecting various services and data sources.

CRM & Automation:

• Prototyping Infrastructure: Custom-built or managed solutions for hosting interactive prototypes and micro-apps.

• Workflow Automation: Tools and custom scripts for automating repetitive design or engineering tasks.

• Collaboration Platforms: Tools like Slack, Jira, Confluence (standard enterprise tools).

📝 Enhancement Note: This role operates at the intersection of design tools, AI platforms, and robust cloud infrastructure. Proficiency in modern web development stacks, coupled with experience in AI tooling and cloud deployment, is critical.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Impact-Driven: Focus on delivering tangible value and measurable improvements through technical solutions that enhance design productivity and quality.

• Collaboration & Trust: Emphasize working effectively with diverse teams (UX, Engineering, Security, Privacy), fostering an environment of mutual respect and shared goals.

• Pragmatic Innovation: Embrace new technologies like AI, but with a focus on practical application, reliability, and clear customer benefit.

• Ownership & Accountability: Take full responsibility for the technical platform and infrastructure, ensuring its reliability, security, and scalability.

• Continuous Learning: Stay abreast of advancements in AI, web technologies, and design tooling to drive ongoing process improvements.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Actively engage with UX designers, product managers, and engineering teams to understand needs and co-create solutions.

• Open Communication: Maintain transparent communication regarding technical progress, challenges, and potential solutions.

• Proactive Problem-Solving: Identify potential issues or inefficiencies in design workflows and proactively develop technical solutions.

• Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: Share expertise in AI tooling and engineering best practices with the UX team.

📝 Enhancement Note: Roku's culture values individuals who are talented, collaborative, and have a pragmatic, results-oriented approach. For this role, it means being a proactive problem-solver who can translate technical expertise into design team success.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Bridging Disciplines: Effectively translating the needs and workflows of UX designers into robust, scalable engineering solutions requires deep empathy and understanding of both domains.

• AI Tooling Evolution: The rapid pace of AI development means continuously evaluating, integrating, and maintaining cutting-edge tools and frameworks.

• Security & Compliance: Ensuring that designer-built tools and prototypes interacting with real product data meet stringent security and privacy standards is a complex, ongoing task.

• Scalability: Building infrastructure that supports a large and growing UX team requires foresight and robust architectural design.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI/ML Specialization: Deepen expertise in applying AI and machine learning specifically to creative and design processes.

• Platform Engineering: Develop advanced skills in building and managing scalable technical platforms and infrastructure.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Gain experience leading technical initiatives that span multiple departments, influencing product development strategy.

• Industry Exposure: Engage with emerging trends in UX tooling, AI-assisted design, and the broader streaming technology landscape.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant opportunities for growth at the cutting edge of AI and design technology. The challenges are substantial but provide fertile ground for developing highly sought-after skills in a leading tech company.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you built a technical tool or platform that significantly improved efficiency for a non-technical team. What was the process, and how did you measure success?" (Focus on process, metrics, and cross-functional collaboration.)

• "How would you approach integrating a new AI code generation tool into a design team's existing workflow, considering security, usability, and adoption?" (Demonstrate systems thinking, risk assessment, and change management.)

• "Walk us through your experience with CI/CD pipelines and how you've used them to automate deployments for web applications or prototypes." (Highlight practical engineering skills and automation mindset.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "How have you used AI or automation to scale your impact in previous roles? Provide specific examples." (Align with Roku's AI focus and emphasis on impact.)

• "Describe your experience working in a hybrid design and engineering capacity. What are the key challenges and how do you overcome them?" (Showcase your understanding of bridging disciplines.)

• "How do you stay current with rapidly evolving technologies like AI and web frameworks?" (Demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Storytelling: For each portfolio piece, frame it as a problem/solution narrative. Clearly articulate the "why" behind your work.

• Metrics are Key: Quantify the impact of your projects whenever possible (e.g., "reduced prototype build time by X%", "increased designer output by Y%", "enabled Z new features").

• Technical Deep Dive: Be ready to discuss the technical architecture, key decisions, and trade-offs made.

• Design Context: Explain how your engineering solutions directly supported or enhanced the design process and user experience goals.

• AI/Automation Focus: Ensure your most relevant AI/automation projects are highlighted and be prepared to discuss your specific role and the outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating a unique blend of engineering expertise, understanding of design processes, and a proactive approach to leveraging AI and automation for operational efficiency. The portfolio is your primary tool for showcasing this unique skill set.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Design Engineer, UX Product position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Roku careers portal.

• Tailor your resume: Emphasize keywords related to web technologies (JavaScript, TypeScript, React), AI tooling, CI/CD, API integration, and systems thinking. Highlight specific projects where you built tools or automated processes.

• Prepare your portfolio: Curate a selection of projects that best demonstrate your hybrid design-engineering capabilities, focusing on workflow automation, AI integration, and infrastructure management. Be ready to present case studies with quantifiable results.

• Research Roku: Understand Roku's product suite, its position in the streaming market, and its company culture, particularly its emphasis on innovation, speed, and AI.

• Practice interview questions: Prepare to discuss your experience with AI-assisted development, systems design, and cross-functional collaboration, using the STAR method for behavioral questions.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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