Design Engineer, UX Product
Roku · San Jose, United States · 16d ago
Teamwork makes the stream work.
Roku is changing how the world watches TV
Roku is the #1 TV streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and we've set our sights on powering every television in the world. Roku pioneered streaming to the TV. Our mission is to be the TV streaming platform that connects the entire TV ecosystem. We connect consumers to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers unique capabilities to engage consumers.
From your first day at Roku, you'll make a valuable - and valued - contribution. We're a fast-growing public company where no one is a bystander. We offer you the opportunity to delight millions of TV streamers around the world while gaining meaningful experience across a variety of disciplines.
What does the team work on?
Roku's UX team is changing how design work gets done - building AI-assisted workflows that run across the whole design process, from early research and discovery through concept exploration, design review, prototyping, and measurement after launch.
What is the role?
Roku is seeking a Design Engineer to build and own the technical foundation that powers AI-assisted design workflows across the UX team, from early research and discovery through concept exploration, design review, prototyping, and post-launch measurement. This role serves as the platform owner underneath all workflow leads, ensuring the pieces fit together into one cohesive process rather than a set of disconnected tools.
The Design Engineer will act as the UX team's primary liaison with engineering, representing UX infrastructure needs where architectural decisions are made. This person will establish secure, compliant patterns for designer-built tools and prototypes that touch real product data, in partnership with security and privacy teams. The role also involves owning the hosting and deployment infrastructure for designer-built prototypes, micro-apps, and tools so the team can share and present work without requiring engineering support.
In addition, the Design Engineer will help designers develop and maintain a shared library of AI tools, workflows, reusable assistants, and UI components for prototyping. While primarily an engineering role, the ideal candidate should hold their own in a design critique, read a Figma file fluently, and recognize when a prototype needs more than a technical fix.
For California Only - The estimated annual base salary for this position is between $200,000- $220,000 annually. Compensation packages are based on factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, certifications, and specific geographical location. This role is eligible for health insurance, equity awards, life insurance, disability benefits, parental leave, wellness benefits, and paid time off.
How will I use AI at Roku?
At Roku, we don't just use AI, we work with it. AI agents and smart tools help power drafts, analysis, and repetitive workflows, while our people bring direction, judgment, and accountability. We're looking for curious, adaptable builders who can show how they've used AI or automation to move faster, raise the bar, and scale their impact.
We value your AI skills if you have built fluency across the agentic engineering toolchain — coding harnesses like Claude Code or Cursor, MCP servers, custom skills, or agent frameworks. And you can describe projects where you shipped real work with these tools. You know how to drive an agent, verify its output, and ramp on an unfamiliar codebase with an agent helping you.
What are the responsibilities of the role?
- Serve as the technical owner of the platform AI-assisted design workflows are built on, acting as the primary point of contact for workflow leads and engineering
- Build and maintain integrations that connect AI tooling to the systems designers already work in
- Maintain practices that keep AI-assisted work reliable, including versioning, evaluation, and quality regression checks
- Partner with leads across UX to establish an integrated, AI-assisted design process that raises both quality and efficiency
- Map and maintain how work moves between stages, ensuring the right context travels with it and each stage produces what the next one needs
- Make outputs structured and legible so the team can measure and improve the parts of the process that matter most
- Establish and maintain secure, compliant patterns for designer-built tools and prototypes that touch real product data, in partnership with security and privacy teams
- Build infrastructure that lets designers prototype against real data and live content safely
- Serve as the technical support resource for designers building AI-assisted prototypes, unblocking authentication issues, broken integrations, and environment problems
- Own hosting and deployment infrastructure for designer-built prototypes, micro-apps, and tools
- Help designers develop and maintain a shared library of AI tools and workflows, including reusable assistants, automations, and commands
- Support designers as they build out a shared UI component library for prototyping
- Act as the primary liaison between UX and engineering on infrastructure matters, aligning on shared standards and ensuring consistency with Roku's broader technical systems
What experience would help someone be successful in this role at Roku?
- Experience in a hybrid design and engineering role with the ability to bridge both disciplines
- Proficiency in web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and at least one modern framework such as React, Vue, or Next.js
- Experience building or operating AI application tooling, such as MCP server integrations, custom agent development, evaluation harnesses, or comparable infrastructure for LLM-based products
- Systems thinking across tool chains, with the ability to design how separate tools compose into a single coherent workflow
- Experience with hosting, deployment, and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab Pages, AWS)
- Familiarity with API integration and working with real data in prototypes or tools, including secure credential handling
- Experience building or maintaining shared tooling, component libraries, or developer and designer toolchains
- Working knowledge of security and compliance requirements relevant to web applications, including PII handling and secure data access
- Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, Figma Make, Claude, v0, or similar
- Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with both designers and engineers from different backgrounds
- Design experience or strong design sensibility, including the ability to participate meaningfully in a design critique, read a Figma file fluently, and recognize when a prototype needs more than a technical fix
- A degree in Computer Science, Design Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
#LI-SB5
What's Roku's approach to hybrid working?
Roku fosters an inclusive and collaborative environment where teams generally work in the office Monday through Thursday. Fridays are generally flexible for remote work, except for employees whose specific roles or assigned office location require five days' a week attendance.
What are some of the benefits?
Roku is committed to offering a diverse range of benefits as part of our compensation package to support our employees and their families. Our comprehensive benefits include global access to mental health and financial wellness support and resources. Local benefits include statutory and voluntary benefits which may include healthcare (medical, dental, and vision), life, accident, disability, commuter, and retirement options (401(k)/pension). Employees are supported in taking time off, in accordance with local leave policies and other personal needs to support their evolving work and life needs. It's important to note that not every benefit is available in all locations or for every role. For details specific to your location, please consult with your recruiter.
Accommodations
Roku welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and provides reasonable accommodations and adjustments in accordance with applicable law. If you require reasonable accommodation at any point in the hiring process, please direct your inquiries to EmployeeRelations@Roku.com.
What should I know about Roku's culture?
Roku is a great place for people who want to work in a fast-paced environment where everyone is focused on the company's success rather than their own. We try to surround ourselves with people who are great at their jobs, who are easy to work with, and who keep their egos in check. We appreciate a sense of humor. We believe a fewer number of very talented folks can do more for less cost than a larger number of less talented teams. We're independent thinkers with big ideas who act boldly, move fast and accomplish extraordinary things through collaboration and trust. In short, at Roku you'll be part of a company that's changing how the world watches TV.
We have a unique culture that we are proud of. We think of ourselves primarily as problem-solvers, which itself is a two-part idea. We come up with the solution, but the solution isn't real until it is built and delivered to the customer. That penchant for action gives us a pragmatic approach to innovation, one that has served us well since 2002.
To learn more about Roku, our global footprint, and how we've grown, visit https://www.weareroku.com/factsheet.
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