Titlesby GlyphDesign Engineer job title trend since Apr 2011
Engineering · Established · in 1.1% of HN hiring posts · 110 open roles at 49 companies · median $190k
Half designer, half front-end engineer: prototypes and ships polished interfaces.
first seen May 2011, Hacker Newstook off Mar 2012
Why it exists
Written by rule from our own data
First seen in our data in May 2011, in a Hacker News Who is hiring post from San Francisco, Cupertino, Seattle. It took off in March 2012, when its share of Who is hiring posts first reached a quarter of its best year. Today 110 open roles use the title at 49 companies, most of them in robotics and autonomy. Closest tracked titles: Product Engineer, Product Designer, Full Stack Engineer.
- PostingAsk HN: Who is hiring? (May 2011)Hacker News, May 2011 · backs: first sighting
- PostingStaff Electrical Harness Design Engineer, Air Dominance and StrikeAnduril Industries, Nov 2026 · backs: an open posting with the title
Where it is posted
Sectors
- Robotics and autonomy10
- AI infrastructure5
- AI lab3
- AI application3
- Data platform2
- Infrastructure2
- Fintech2
- Software2
Cities
- Palo Alto15
- Seattle14
- San Francisco13
- Los Angeles10
- New York9
- Bengaluru, India4
- London, United Kingdom2
- Washington1
- Sydney, Australia1
- Toronto, Canada1
Countries and remote
- United States89
- United Kingdom5
- India4
- Canada3
- Germany2
- Australia1
- Singapore1
Remote option19%
Posted pay
Middle half $158k to $219k, median $190k from 76 postings that state a base range (USD a year).
Pay by level and city on SalariesWho is hiring for it
Open postings on their own job boards, read 5h ago| # | Company | Open roles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | K2 SpaceA company hiring most for Design Engineer and Test Engineer. | 19 | |
| 2 | Anduril IndustriesA company hiring most for Systems Engineer and Test Engineer. | 15 | |
| 3 | 10 | ||
| 4 | 7 | ||
| 5 | Relativity SpaceA company hiring most for Test Engineer and Systems Engineer. | 5 | |
| 6 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 3 | ||
| 8 | 2 | ||
| 9 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 2 | ||
| 12 | 2 |
Open roles
8 of 110; company pages list the restStaff Electrical Harness Design Engineer, Air Dominance and Strike
Costa Mesa, California, United States
| Role | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff Electrical Harness Design Engineer, Air Dominance and StrikeAnduril IndustriesCosta Mesa, California, United States$191k to $254k | Anduril Industries | Costa Mesa, California, United States | $191k to $254k |
| Lead Design Engineer | Remote - US | $137k to $231k | |
| Principal PCS/PMA RTL Design Engineer | San Jose, California, United States | $185k to $240k | |
| Design engineer (US) | New York City, NY | $129k to $234k | |
| Staff Design EngineerGrayMatter RoboticsLos Angeles - HQ$135k to $250k | GrayMatter Robotics | Los Angeles - HQ | $135k to $250k |
| Senior Design Engineer - Design System & Platform UI | Europe or US | $142k to $250k | |
| Photonic IC Design Engineer, Chip-to-System IntegrationK2 SpaceSeattle, WA$130k to $200k | K2 Space | Seattle, WA | $130k to $200k |
| Staff Aerostructures Design Engineer - Ranger (R6355) | Seattle, Washington | $170k to $250k |
Share of Hacker News hiring posts
644 posts since Apr 2011 · -22% in 6 monthsNovember 2026 2 of 207 postings, 0.97%
Related titles
Product EngineerA full-stack engineer who owns product decisions too, not just tickets.7.8% of HN posts, 12 mo · 109 open · $220k median · since May 2011Product DesignerDesigns how a product works and looks, from research to the final screen.3.1% of HN posts, 12 mo · 268 open · $206k median · since Apr 2011Full Stack EngineerWorks across the browser, the API and the database; the default startup hire.16% of HN posts, 12 mo · 294 open · $196k median · since Apr 2011AI EngineerA software engineer who builds products on top of models rather than training them.6.4% of HN posts, 12 mo · 244 open · $240k median · since Jun 2011Founding EngineerOne of a startup's first engineers, usually with equity and a wide remit.5.9% of HN posts, 12 mo · 25 open · $194k median · since Jul 2011Platform EngineerBuilds the internal platform other engineers deploy on: clusters, CI, paved roads.5.8% of HN posts, 12 mo · 206 open · $185k median · since Apr 2011
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...
Median posted salary $190k from 76 postings that state a base pay range (the median of their midpoints, USD a year). Not a survey of what people earn.