Senior Software Engineer I, Design Systems & Accessibility (Remote)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Software Engineer I, Design Systems & Accessibility (Remote)

Company: Optro

Location: United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Engineering / Software Development

Date Posted: March 03, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Remote Solely

🚀 Role Summary

• This Senior Software Engineer role focuses on the critical intersection of Design Systems and Accessibility, building foundational components that power a large-scale SaaS platform.

• The position involves significant contributions to an internal design system (Luna) and driving the company's accessibility (A11Y) program, impacting all product development.

• The engineer will act as a technical evangelist, guiding product teams on system adoption and best practices, while also architecting and refining reusable components.

• This role requires a deep understanding of modern web technologies, a commitment to inclusive design principles, and the ability to troubleshoot complex, platform-level issues.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the original title is "Senior Software Engineer I, Design Systems & Accessibility," the responsibilities and required experience (5+ years) strongly suggest a mid-to-senior level within the engineering hierarchy, with a focus on platform engineering and cross-functional impact. The "I" in the title likely denotes a specific internal leveling system at Optro.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design System Development & Expansion: Architect, build, and maintain high-quality, reusable UI components for the internal Luna design system, ensuring scalability, performance, and consistency across the platform.

• Accessibility Program Leadership: Drive the department-wide A11Y program by refining accessibility standards, conducting audits, implementing high-impact remediations, and ensuring compliance with WCAG 2.2 guidelines.

• Technical Evangelism & Consultation: Serve as a subject matter expert for the Luna design system and accessibility best practices, consulting and advising internal product teams on adoption, implementation, and best practices.

• Platform Documentation: Create and maintain clear, comprehensive, and well-defined platform documentation, including system guides, API references, and usage guidelines to empower self-service support for other engineers.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner effectively with embedded designers, product managers, and other engineering teams to understand diverse use cases, gather context, and resolve technical blockers with empathy.

• Complex Debugging & Troubleshooting: Diagnose, debug, and resolve intricate software bugs and performance issues, often requiring deep dives into unfamiliar product areas and platform-level hurdles.

• AI-Augmented Development: Leverage AI-driven tools and workflows to enhance the efficiency and quality of code development, documentation writing, and problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a blend of foundational platform engineering (design systems) and proactive program management (accessibility), requiring strong technical skills combined with excellent communication and collaboration. The focus on "platform-level hurdles" indicates a need for systems thinking and the ability to see the broader impact of changes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience developing robust web-based applications.

Required Skills:

• Enterprise-Scale Platform Experience: Demonstrated ability to work effectively within massive, architecturally dense codebases, maintaining stability and understanding the implications of system-level changes.

• A11Y Proficiency: Strong working knowledge of WCAG 2.2 standards, with the ability to identify accessibility gaps and implement compliant solutions for keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and color contrast.

• Modern JavaScript Framework Proficiency: Deep experience with at least one modern JS framework such as React, Angular, or Vue.js. (Ember.js experience is a significant plus).

• CSS Mastery: Advanced skills in modern CSS best practices, including responsive design, theming, and crafting accessible UI patterns.

• TypeScript & Node.js Proficiency: Experience building and consuming REST/JSON APIs effectively using TypeScript and Node.js.

• Software Testing: Proven experience writing maintainable software tests, including Unit, Integration, and End-to-End (E2E) tests, to ensure platform stability.

• AI-Augmented Development: Proficiency with AI coding assistants and tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude, Gemini) to enhance productivity and code quality.

Preferred Skills:

• Ember.js Experience: Familiarity with the Ember.js ecosystem and conventions is highly desirable given it's Optro's core SPA framework.

• Specialized Certifications: IAAP Certification (CPACC or WAS) or formal training in digital accessibility.

• Regulated Industry Experience: Experience working within compliance-driven environments such as FinTech, HealthTech, or other highly regulated sectors.

• Open Source Mindset: A history of contributing to open-source projects or maintaining internal libraries/tools.

• DevOps & Infrastructure Familiarity: Understanding of Docker and Kubernetes for deployment pipelines and local environment configurations.

• Database Knowledge: Experience with PostgreSQL or similar relational databases for troubleshooting data-centric platform issues.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "Enterprise-Scale Platform Experience" and "System-Minded Problem Solving" indicates a need for candidates who can think holistically about the software architecture and its long-term maintainability, rather than just feature development. The mention of AI tools suggests a forward-thinking approach to development workflows.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Studies: Showcase examples of contributions to design systems, such as component development, pattern definition, or system adoption initiatives, highlighting impact and scalability.

• Accessibility Improvement Projects: Present specific projects where accessibility was a core focus, detailing the challenges, solutions implemented (e.g., keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility), and measurable outcomes against WCAG standards.

• System-Wide Impact Demonstrations: Provide evidence of how your work has influenced broader engineering practices or product development at scale, such as through documentation, consultation, or by building foundational libraries.

• Code Quality & Testing Examples: Include examples of well-tested, maintainable code, demonstrating robust unit, integration, or E2E test suites for platform components or services.

Process Documentation:

• Component Development Workflow: Demonstrate understanding of a structured workflow for designing, building, testing, and documenting new components within a design system.

• Accessibility Remediation Process: Outline a systematic approach to identifying, prioritizing, and implementing accessibility fixes across a complex application.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Process: Illustrate how you engage with designers, PMs, and other engineers to gather requirements, resolve issues, and ensure alignment on platform-level initiatives.

• Documentation Creation & Maintenance: Showcase your ability to create clear, concise, and user-friendly technical documentation for complex systems and processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on design systems and accessibility, a portfolio should highlight tangible examples of reusable code (components), documented processes, and successful integrations. Candidates should be prepared to walk through their contributions and explain the "why" behind their technical decisions, especially concerning scalability and inclusive design.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $128,000 - $192,000 Annually (USD)

Benefits:

• Live Your Best Life (LYBL) Stipend: $200/month for personal enrichment.

• Comprehensive Employee Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision plans.

• Retirement Savings: 401K with company match (US) or Pension with match (UK).

• Competitive Compensation & Bonus Program: Performance-based bonuses and competitive base salary.

• Flexible Vacation Policy: Generous paid time off for US exempt employees and California employees. (25 days for UK employees).

• Special Paid Time Off: Time off for your birthday and for volunteering activities.

• Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): Support networks and communities within the company.

• Team & Company Get-Togethers: Opportunities for in-person and virtual team building.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours are expected, likely around 40 hours per week, with flexibility for remote work. The emphasis on autonomy suggests a focus on output rather than strict adherence to a 9-to-5 schedule.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a Senior Software Engineer role in the US, especially considering the remote nature and specialized technical focus. The "LYBL" stipend is a unique perk that highlights a focus on employee well-being. The distinction in vacation days for UK employees is noted.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software (SaaS), specializing in Audit, Risk, ESG, and InfoSec platforms.

Company Size: Optro has surpassed $300M ARR and is ranked among the 500 fastest-growing tech companies in North America for seven consecutive years, indicating significant growth and a dynamic environment. The company is likely in the mid-to-large enterprise stage.

Founded: While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, the company's significant growth and scale imply it has been established for several years, likely over a decade, to achieve its current market position.

Team Structure:

• The Design Systems & Accessibility (DSA) team is a small, high-seniority group of three engineers (Senior I+).

• This team operates at the intersection of product-thinking and platform engineering, working closely with embedded designers and a dedicated Product Manager.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Implied by the company's success in the Audit, Risk, and ESG space, suggesting a culture that values metrics and verifiable outcomes.

• Iterative Development & Optimization: The focus on design systems and accessibility points to a continuous improvement mindset, refining existing components and processes for better user experience and efficiency.

• Platform-First Approach: The role itself emphasizes building foundational elements that empower other teams, indicating a strategic focus on internal tooling and developer experience.

• AI-Augmented Workflows: Explicitly mentioned as a tool to drive higher-quality outcomes, suggesting integration of AI into development processes.

Company Website: https://optro.ai/

📝 Enhancement Note: Optro's emphasis on being a "leading audit, risk, ESG, and InfoSec platform" and its high growth rate suggest a company with a strong product-market fit and a culture that supports innovation and customer success. The "small and mighty" DSA team structure implies a need for self-starters who can influence and drive initiatives within a focused group.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a Senior Individual Contributor (IC) position within the engineering department, specifically focused on platform engineering disciplines – Design Systems and Accessibility. It's a "Senior I" level, indicating a defined career ladder within Optro, likely above a standard Senior Engineer and below a Staff or Principal Engineer. The scope involves significant cross-functional impact and technical leadership within its domain.

Reporting Structure:

• The Senior Software Engineer will report to the Team Lead of the Design Systems & Accessibility (DSA) team.

Operations Impact:

• The primary impact of this role is on developer productivity and efficiency across all product engineering teams by providing a robust, scalable, and accessible design system.

• It also directly impacts customer experience and product quality by ensuring the platform is inclusive and compliant with accessibility standards, which is increasingly a business and legal imperative.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in design systems, front-end architecture, and accessibility standards, potentially leading to Staff or Principal Engineer roles within platform engineering.

• Leadership within Domain: Grow into a technical leadership position within the DSA team, mentoring junior engineers and driving architectural decisions for the design system and accessibility initiatives.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Expand influence across product teams, becoming a go-to expert for UI best practices, system adoption, and inclusive design principles.

• Broader Platform Engineering: Transition to other platform engineering teams (e.g., core infrastructure, developer tooling) leveraging foundational engineering skills.

• Accessibility Advocacy: Potentially lead broader company-wide accessibility initiatives or become a recognized expert in the field.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a clear path for technical growth, emphasizing deep specialization in a high-impact area of software development. The "Senior I" designation suggests a structured career progression within Optro, with opportunities to influence engineering practices at a significant scale.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is a fully remote position, advertised as "Remote Solely" and "#LI-Remote". This indicates a distributed workforce arrangement.

Office Location(s):

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Remote Environment: The team utilizes remote collaboration tools to maintain strong communication and teamwork despite physical distance. The emphasis on "Collaboration Initiative" and "Resilient Collaboration" highlights the importance of proactive communication and empathy in a remote setting.

• Digital Tooling: Access to a modern technology stack and AI-augmented development tools will be available to facilitate efficient work.

• Autonomy & Trust: The role requires a high degree of independence and self-motivation, with the understanding that team members will proactively seek support when needed.

Work Schedule:

• Full-time employment with a focus on productivity and outcomes rather than strict hours. Remote work often allows for flexible scheduling, provided collaboration needs are met. The expectation is likely around 40 hours per week.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote nature of this position is a significant aspect, requiring candidates to be comfortable with asynchronous communication, self-management, and leveraging digital tools for all aspects of collaboration. The company's success with remote work (implied by growth and perks) suggests a mature remote-first or hybrid culture.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio for alignment with required skills and experience.

• Technical Interview(s): Likely includes coding challenges focused on JavaScript, CSS, accessibility principles, and potentially system design questions related to component architecture or platform scalability. Expect discussions around your experience with WCAG, modern frameworks, and testing.

• System Design / Architectural Discussion: A deeper dive into your approach to building and maintaining large-scale systems, design patterns, and how you've tackled complex platform challenges.

• Behavioral / Cross-Functional Interview: Assesses your collaboration skills, problem-solving approach, communication style, and how you handle ambiguity and technical friction, particularly in a remote, distributed team setting.

• Team Lead / Hiring Manager Discussion: Final conversation to assess cultural fit, growth potential, and alignment with team dynamics.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the problem you solved, your specific contribution, the technologies used, and the measurable impact (e.g., reduction in accessibility issues, faster development cycles, adoption rates).

• Design System Examples: Include detailed examples of components you've built or significantly improved. Highlight their reusability, accessibility features, and documentation.

• Accessibility Case Studies: Present specific instances where you identified and remediated accessibility issues. Detail your methodology, the standards you followed (WCAG), and the positive outcomes.

• Code Samples: Provide links to well-documented code repositories (e.g., GitHub) demonstrating clean, maintainable, and well-tested code. Focus on examples relevant to front-end development, component libraries, or accessibility tools.

• Documentation Samples: Include examples of technical documentation you've created, such as READMEs, API docs, or design system guides.

Challenge Preparation:

• Accessibility Auditing: Be prepared to discuss how you would audit a given component or page for accessibility compliance and what tools you would use.

• Component Design: Practice designing a reusable UI component from scratch, considering accessibility, responsiveness, and extensibility.

• Debugging Scenarios: Expect questions about how you would debug complex front-end issues that might span multiple services or components.

• System Thinking: Prepare to discuss how you would approach building a new feature within an existing design system or how you would scale a component library.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the role's focus on design systems and accessibility, candidates should be ready to demonstrate practical application of these skills. A strong portfolio with clear explanations of impact and methodology will be crucial. The emphasis on collaboration suggests interviewers will probe for how candidates work with others to achieve technical goals.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Frontend Framework: Ember.js (primary), but strong experience with React, Angular, or Vue.js is valued.

• Languages: JavaScript, TypeScript.

• Styling: Modern CSS, potentially CSS-in-JS or CSS Modules.

• Build Tools: Likely Webpack, Vite, or similar.

• Version Control: Git.

• AI Coding Assistants: GitHub Copilot, Claude, Gemini (or similar).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Testing Frameworks: Jest, Mocha, Cypress, Playwright (for Unit, Integration, E2E testing).

• Accessibility Testing Tools: axe-core, Lighthouse, WAVE, screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver).

CRM & Automation:

• Design System Management: Storybook, or internal tooling for component showcasing and documentation.

• Project Management: Tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for task tracking and workflow management.

• CI/CD: Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions) is a plus for understanding deployment.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in modern front-end development tools and frameworks is essential. The explicit mention of AI coding tools signifies a modern development environment. Strong familiarity with accessibility testing tools and methodologies is a core requirement.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer Obsession: A fundamental principle guiding all actions, ensuring that work directly contributes to customer value. This means prioritizing features and fixes that enhance user experience and product utility.

• Gritty Resilience: The expectation to "make it happen" and "find a way." This value encourages perseverance through challenges, maintaining a positive attitude, and demonstrating a proactive "do what it takes" mindset.

• Win, Together: Emphasizes teamwork, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose. Silos and egos are discouraged, promoting a supportive environment where collective success is paramount.

• Growth Mindset: A commitment to continuous learning, seeking feedback, and aiming for significant improvements ("10x, not 10%") rather than incremental ones. This fosters innovation and personal development.

Collaboration Style:

• Proactive & Empathetic: The team values engineers who proactively reach out, gather context, and resolve blockers with empathy, especially when navigating technical frustrations or system constraints.

• Cross-Functional Integration: Works closely with designers and PMs, implying a collaborative approach that bridges the gap between product vision and platform engineering.

• Knowledge Sharing: The "Win, Together" value suggests an environment where team members share knowledge, best practices, and support each other's learning and development.

• Autonomy with Alignment: While engineers are expected to work independently, there's a clear need to seek alignment with the Team Lead and stakeholders for critical decisions, ensuring consistency and strategic direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: Optro's company values are strongly aligned with a high-performing, collaborative, and growth-oriented engineering culture. The emphasis on "Gritty Resilience" and "Win, Together" is particularly relevant for a small, high-impact team like DSA, where individuals need to be both self-sufficient and excellent team players.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling a Design System: Evolving the Luna design system to meet the demands of a rapidly growing product suite and diverse engineering teams, while maintaining performance and consistency.

• Driving Accessibility Adoption: Overcoming potential inertia or resistance to accessibility best practices across various product teams, requiring strong advocacy and clear communication.

• Navigating Complex Codebases: Debugging and implementing changes in a large, enterprise-scale platform where interdependencies can be intricate and impact widespread.

• Balancing Specialization and Breadth: Deepening expertise in design systems and accessibility while also needing to understand and contribute to broader platform challenges and unfamiliar product areas.

• Remote Collaboration Dynamics: Ensuring effective communication, alignment, and team cohesion within a fully remote, small, high-seniority team.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Accessibility Expertise: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in digital accessibility, potentially leading to industry recognition or specialized training.

• Design System Architecture: Deepen skills in architecting scalable, maintainable, and performant design systems.

• Ember.js Mastery (or other frameworks): If not already an expert, the role provides a prime opportunity to master Optro's core front-end technology.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Develop skills in influencing product strategy and engineering practices across multiple teams.

• Technical Leadership: Grow into a lead or principal engineer role within platform engineering, mentoring others and driving technical vision.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical of roles focused on foundational platform elements in growing tech companies. They offer significant opportunities for professional development and skill expansion, particularly for those interested in long-term careers in front-end architecture, design systems, or accessibility.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Design System Strategy: "How would you approach introducing a new, complex component into an established design system like Luna? What are the key considerations for adoption, documentation, and backward compatibility?"

• Accessibility Framework: "Describe your process for developing and implementing a department-wide accessibility strategy. How would you prioritize remediation efforts across a large platform like Optro's?"

• System-Minded Problem Solving: "Imagine a critical bug is reported in a core UI component that impacts multiple product teams. How would you diagnose the root cause, communicate the issue, and implement a fix while minimizing disruption?"

• Collaboration & Influence: "How do you effectively collaborate with designers and product managers to ensure design system components meet both aesthetic and functional requirements? How do you advocate for accessibility best practices with engineers who may not prioritize it?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Optro (e.g., its focus on audit, risk, ESG), what do you see as the key accessibility challenges for your customer base, and how would you address them through the platform?"

• "Our team values 'Gritty Resilience' and 'Win, Together.' Can you provide an example from your experience where you demonstrated these values in a challenging project or team situation?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Focus on Impact Metrics: For each project, clearly state the "before" and "after" with quantifiable results (e.g., "Reduced accessibility violations by X%", "Increased component adoption by Y%", "Shortened feature development time by Z hours").

• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies with a clear narrative: problem, your solution, your role, the challenges faced, and the outcome. Emphasize your technical decision-making process.

• Demonstrate Code Quality: Be prepared to walk through a well-tested code sample, explaining your approach to maintainability, reusability, and how you embedded accessibility features.

• Highlight Collaboration: If possible, showcase projects where you effectively collaborated with designers, PMs, or other engineers to achieve a common goal.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating not just technical proficiency but also strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and the ability to collaborate effectively in a remote environment. Quantifiable results in a portfolio will be key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Software Engineer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Tailor your Resume: Ensure your resume highlights experience with enterprise-scale platforms, design systems, accessibility (WCAG), modern JavaScript frameworks (Ember, React, Angular, Vue), TypeScript, Node.js, and software testing. Use keywords from the job description.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Prepare case studies that clearly demonstrate your impact on design systems and accessibility initiatives. Quantify your achievements with metrics and showcase well-documented, tested code samples. Be ready to present these during interviews.

• Prepare for Technical & Behavioral Interviews: Practice coding exercises, system design discussions related to component architecture, and behavioral questions that assess your collaboration, problem-solving, and alignment with Optro's company values.

• Research Optro: Understand their product offerings (audit, risk, ESG, InfoSec) and their market position. Think about how design systems and accessibility contribute to their success in these domains.

⚠️ 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.

---