Senior Frontend Engineer, Design System

About Upstart

Upstart is the leading AI lending marketplace partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit. By leveraging Upstart's AI marketplace, Upstart-powered banks and credit unions can have higher approval rates and lower loss rates across races, ages, and genders, while simultaneously delivering the exceptional digital-first lending experience their customers demand. More than 80% of borrowers are approved instantly, with zero documentation to upload.

Upstart is a digital-first company, which means that most Upstarters live and work anywhere in the United States. However, we also have offices in San Mateo, California; Columbus, Ohio; and Austin, Texas.

Most Upstarters join us because they connect with our mission of enabling access to effortless credit based on true risk. If you are energized by the impact you can make at Upstart, we’d love to hear from you!

The Team:

The Frontend Platform team champions frontend excellence at Upstart by empowering teams to engineer high-quality, scalable user experiences. We build tools and services that are used internally by the engineering, design and product teams, including Upstart’s Design System.

As a Senior Frontend Engineer working on the Design System, you’ll play a key role in modernizing Upstart’s frontend foundations and shaping the future of our borrower-facing products. You’ll help evolve our design system - aligning with modern product design principles to ensure consistency, accessibility, and adaptability across responsive web and native app surfaces. This work will enable a unified, future-proof foundation that accelerates developer velocity, enhances design-engineering collaboration, and delivers polished, consistent user experiences across all of Upstart’s borrower touchpoints.

How You’ll Make An Impact

• Mature Upstart’s design system to enable consistent UI development and a shared vocabulary between engineers and design
• Author, document and maintain UI components that are accessible, performant and robust
• Act as a liaison between product design and engineering, providing technical guidance and coaching
• Build relationships with frontend engineers working on Upstart products and drive best practices

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional web development experience, with at least 4+ years of experience working with modern Javascript web frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, Svelte, etc
• Advanced hands-on experience coding with Typescript
• Experience building and maintaining a Design System or designing, auditing, and building highly accessible web components
• Experience with Vanilla Extract, Sprinkles, Chakra UI or other atomic CSS frameworks like Tailwind
• A strong understanding of semantic HTML and CSS3, including layouts, responsive design and accessibility
• Experience with modern testing frameworks (e.g., Jest, react-testing-library, etc) and Storybook

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience as a software engineer embedded within an internal frontend platform team
• You are familiar with best practices around design token versioning and maintenance
• You’re adept at clear, concise and well-organized written communication

Position location This role is available in the following locations: Remote-United States

Travel requirements As a digital first company, the majority of your work can be accomplished remotely. The majority of our employees can live and work anywhere in the U.S but are encouraged to to still spend high quality time in-person collaborating via regular onsites. The in-person sessions’ cadence varies depending on the team and role; most teams meet once or twice per quarter for 2-4 consecutive days at a time.

What you'll love:

• Competitive Compensation (base + bonus & equity)
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with Health Savings Account contributions from Upstart
• 401(k) with 100% company match up to $4,500 and immediate vesting and after-tax savings
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Life and disability insurance
• Generous holiday, vacation, sick and safety leave
• Supportive parental, family care, and military leave programs
• Annual wellness, technology & ergonomic reimbursement programs
• Social activities including team events and onsites, all-company updates, employee resource groups (ERGs), and other interest groups such as book clubs, fitness, investing, and volunteering
• Catered lunches + snacks & drinks when working in offices

At Upstart, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package. The anticipated base salary for this position is expected to be within the below range. Your actual base pay will depend on your geographic location–with our “digital first” philosophy, Upstart uses compensation regions that vary depending on location. Individual pay is also determined by job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

In addition, Upstart provides employees with target bonuses, equity compensation, and generous benefits packages (including medical, dental, vision, and 401k).

United States | Remote - Anticipated Base Salary Range

$163,600—$226,400 USD

Upstart is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. We are dedicated to ensuring that underrepresented classes receive better access to affordable credit, and are just as committed to embracing diversity and inclusion in our hiring practices. We celebrate all cultures, backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences, and know that we can only become better together.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing an application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please email _candidate_accommodations@upstart.com

_https://www.upstart.com/candidate_privacy_policy