Sr. Dir, Design Engineering

About the role

We’re looking for a Senior Design Engineering leader to redefine the future of design in an agent-native world. This leader will define the technical and organizational vision for how design, engineering, and AI-powered workflows come together to build world-class developer experiences at scale.

This leader will drive strategy across our design systems, design-to-code ecosystem, and agent-enabled product development practices. They will partner closely with Design, Product, and Engineering leaders to influence investment decisions, guide long-term roadmaps, and bring clarity to complex customer experience challenges through compelling, executive-ready narratives.

The ideal candidate will lead and grow a team of design engineers and technical leaders, helping GitHub evolve its platform, tooling, and practices for an AI-native future. Success in this role requires the ability to set a clear vision, align diverse stakeholders, elevate technical and design craft, and build the systems, culture, and leadership capability needed to scale across one of the world's largest developer platforms.

Responsibilities

• Defines a technical roadmap that sets the direction for GitHub-wide front-end architecture, innovating industry-leading user interface (UI) strategies.
• Functions as GitHub’s thought leader on design engineering, shaping the global landscape of front-end architecture and design systems.
• Represents GitHub’s point of view (POV) in external forums, advancing and redefining industry standards through proven technical leadership, shaping GitHub's design implement strategy.
• Innovates scalable design-to-code frameworks that align engineering and design at the organizational level, establishing technical paradigms.
• Pioneers cutting-edge approaches (e.g., artificial intelligence [AI]-assisted user experience [UX], motion/rendering systems), proactively identifying and mitigating risk through strategic prototype development methodologies.
• Champions strategic discussions with design engineering leaders to address GitHub's most complex UI and customer experience challenges.
• Develops and defines the long-term front-end roadmap, aligning Product Management, Design, and Engineering leadership teams on execution plans to meet overarching customer requirements.
• Leads collaboration with Engineering, Product, and Design teams to advance GitHub’s core technical capabilities and elevate user experience.
• Establishes organization-wide standards, crafting design and code review strategies that improve design consistency and system fidelity.
• Champions industry-leading methodologies that define customer engagement strategies and establish a new benchmark for GitHub’s interface design.
• Directs the development of organizational strategies in partnership with senior leadership, guiding GitHub's most advanced and innovative UI and experience advancements.
• Anticipates future trends and opportunities, ensuring GitHub maintains its leadership position by innovating ahead of market demands.
• Empowers high-performing engineers and designers, promoting a robust community of practice and setting high craft and innovation standards.
• Champions innovative technical demonstrations and proof-of-concepts, positioning GitHub as a pioneer in developer experience and AI.
• Fosters excellence across design and code intersections, mentoring design engineers to push the boundaries of UI and design craft at GitHub.

Qualifications

• 12+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 10+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Master's Degree in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 8+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR Doctorate in Industrial Design, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Art, Computer Science, Human Factors Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, Information Architecture, or related field AND 6+ years experience in front-end engineering or development OR equivalent experience.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams across design and engineering.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience scaling design systems, integrating AI/ML and accessibility, and delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Experience driving cross-functional alignment across design, engineering, and product.
• Experience building systems that support AI-assisted or generative UI workflows.
• Experience working on developer tools or technical platforms.
• 5+ years people management experience.
• 8+ years of experience shipping products and/or delivering to customers as a result of an end-to-end design process.