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 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.

• 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

• 6+ years of professional web development experience, with at least 4+ years of experience working with modern Java script 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

• 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

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

The team operates on the East/West coast time zones.

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 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.

• 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,…