2 min lesson
The role at a glance
Name the parts in "The role at a glance" and give the practical job of each one.
Step 1 of 2
The translation runs both directions and the second direction is the one candidates undersell. You take Figma to code faithfully. You also push design forward through technical innovation: you discover, in code, that a spring feels better than the specced easing, that a layout can be denser without crowding, that an interaction nobody drew is suddenly possible because you prototyped it. Design Engineers move the design, they don't only render it.
- One-sentence framing
- Own UI from concept to shipped at the design/code seam - taste plus engineering, no handoff.
- Stack
- TypeScript, React, SolidJS, modern CSS, web animations, inside an Electron editor.
- Signature mandate
- Get experiences from 90% to 100% - the last-mile polish is explicitly the job.
- Direction of work
- Bidirectional: Figma→code and code→pushing the design forward.
- What's weighted
- Taste, motion polish and novel-UI thinking as heavily as raw engineering.
That 90→100 line is in the job description, not a flourish a recruiter added. Most engineers ship at 90: it works, it matches the mock, it passes review. The last ten points are timing on an ease-out, a focus ring that lands on the right element, an empty state that doesn't feel broken, a 200ms delay that makes a transition read as intentional. Cursor pays a Design Engineer for those ten points specifically.
The loop is calibrated to one question: do you actually live at design↔code or do you lean to one side? The portfolio review tests whether you can defend taste decisions. The no-AI coding screen tests raw engineering. The build round tests both at once - correctness and polish in the same artifact. The 2-day trial tests whether the seam is who you are, not a costume for the interview. If you're strong on one side and bluffing the other, the loop is built to find the gap.
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Full explanation
Full explanation
When asked what a Design Engineer is, compress it before you elaborate: “I own UI from concept to shipped - I have the taste to know what right looks like and the engineering to build it, so nothing gets lost in a handoff.” Then name the bidirectional translation and the 90→100 mandate. That signals you read the charter, not just the title.