Design Engineer job title trend since Apr 2011

Engineering · Established · in 0.92% of HN hiring posts · 39 open roles at 24 companies · median $203k · first seen May 2011

First sighting

Who is hiring for it

Open postings on their own job boards, read 22h ago

12 of 24 companies (top 12 shown)

#	Company	Open roles
1	Shield AI	10
2	OpenAI	4
3	CoreWeave	2
4	Linear	2
5	Stripe	2
6	Arize AI	1
7	Baseten	1
8	Braintrust	1
9	Crusoe	1
10	Cursor	1
11	DoorDash	1
12	ElevenLabs	1

Open roles

8 of 39; company pages list the rest

Role	Company	Location	Posted pay
Senior Propulsion Design Engineer (R4641)Shield AISeattle, Washington$130k to $200k	Shield AI	Seattle, Washington	$130k to $200k
Design EngineerVercelRemote - United States$208k to $312k	Vercel	Remote - United States	$208k to $312k
Sr Due Diligence Design EngineerCoreWeaveLivingston, NJ / New York, NY / Sunnyvale, CA / San Francisco, CA / Bellevue, WA$143k to $210k	CoreWeave	Livingston, NJ / New York, NY / Sunnyvale, CA / San Francisco, CA / Bellevue, WA	$143k to $210k
Design Engineer (Brand Team)BasetenSan Francisco$190k to $240k	Baseten	San Francisco	$190k to $240k
Senior Gear Design EngineerFigureSan Jose, CA$160k to $250k	Figure	San Jose, CA	$160k to $250k
Actuator Design EngineerOpenAISan Francisco$225k to $423k	OpenAI	San Francisco	$225k to $423k
Staff SoC Design EngineerWaymoMountain View, CA, USA$251k to $310k	Waymo	Mountain View, CA, USA	$251k to $310k
Senior/Staff Design Engineer, iOSSunoNYC$215k to $323k	Suno	NYC	$215k to $323k

Share of Hacker News hiring posts

638 posts since Apr 2011 · -44% in 6 months

September 2026 1 of 256 postings, 0.39%

3-month averageEach monthFirst sighting

Title	Share of HN posts, 12 mo	6 mo change	Open roles
Product EngineerEstablished ·7.3% of posts · 44 open · since May 2011	7.3%	+13%	44
Product DesignerEstablished ·3.5% of posts · 150 open · since Apr 2011	3.5%	-51%	150
Full Stack EngineerEstablished ·17% of posts · 146 open · since Apr 2011	17%	-16%	146
AI EngineerEmerging ·6.7% of posts · 115 open · since Jun 2011	6.7%	+9%	115
Founding EngineerEstablished ·6.3% of posts · 1 open · since Jul 2011	6.3%	-2%	1
Platform EngineerEstablished ·5.8% of posts · 95 open · since Apr 2011	5.8%	+16%	95

About this title

Half designer, half front-end engineer: prototypes and ships polished interfaces.

Also counted: UI engineer, design technologist

First sighting

...Server engineer, QA engineer, Windows engineer, Frontend UI engineer, Cloud, Intern, and much more. 50+ positions. Splunk offers attractive...

San Francisco, Cupertino, Seattle, Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2011) . Took off in March 2012, when its 12-month share first reached a quarter of its best.

Median posted salary $203k from 26 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.

Sources: Hacker News Who is hiring threads and about 130 public job boards, read weekly. A title's share is not the job market's size. Logos via logo.dev; trademarks belong to their owners.

Who is hiring for it

Open roles

Share of Hacker News hiring posts

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