Design Engineer

Monad Foundation; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading blockchain technology firm is seeking an experienced Design Engineer to lead the behavioral design of their platform, focusing on interaction models and prototypes. Candidates should have over 5 years in a design/engineering role, strong prototype development skills, and knowledge of visual craft. This position offers the chance to work on challenging projects within a motivated team, with benefits including full medical insurance and generous paid time off.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance (100% coverage)

Generous paid time off

Paid parental leave

10 company-observed holidays

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a hybrid design/engineering role (Design Engineer, Interaction Engineer).
• Strong skills in GSAP or Framer Motion.
• Experience with prototypes integrated with real data.

Responsibilities

• Own the interaction logic and design behavioral layer.
• Prototype flows in code to validate experience early.
• Shape feedback for transactions and user interactions.

Skills

Strong GSAP skills

Experience building prototypes in React/Next.js

Understanding of timing and easing

Visual craft skills

Motion accessibility patterns knowledge

Job description

About the Monad Foundation

The Monad Foundation is a team of dedicated ecosystem and community builders on a mission to massively grow the impact of decentralized technology. We believe that the Monad blockchain— the performant and parallel EVM Layer 1— will enable decentralized apps to become ubiquitous.

The Role

The Design Engineer sits within the Design Team and owns the behavioral layer: interaction logic, motion systems, micro‑interactions, and high‑fidelity UI and prototypes that define how features feel before engineering builds them. This role shapes interaction specifications upstream of implementation, focusing on clarity, feel, perceived speed, and emotional UX.

What You Will Do

Interaction Architecture & Behavior Design

• Define interaction models, state diagrams, and multi-step flows (idle → hover → press → loading → success → error).
• Shape transitions that improve clarity, trust, and perceived performance.
• Establish behavioral defaults and consistent interaction patterns across the product.

Motion Systems & Perceptual UX

• Design motion as communication—timing scales, easing curves, hierarchy, spatial continuity.
• Build motion tokens and reusable interaction primitives (duration stacks, velocity scales, spring configs).
• Create GSAP/Framer Motion animations that reduce friction, explain system changes, and tell stories.

Prototyping for Discovery

• Prototype flows in real code (Next.js sandboxes, isolated canvases) to validate experience early.
• Explore multiple variants quickly to answer UX questions before engineering commits.
• Pressure‑test complexity, emotional tone, and loading states through motion‑first prototypes.

Micro‑Interaction Design

• Design multi‑state component behavior (press, release, scrub, drag, kinetic motion).
• Shape feedback for transactions, loading, optimistic UI, and error recovery.
• Prevent user disorientation with subtle transitions, progressive reveals, and spatial continuity.
• Create an enjoyable, polished and uniquely branded experience through animation.

Interaction Systems & Design Tokens

• Develop interaction and motion tokens for duration, easing, velocity, and transforms.
• Define systemized micro‑interactions for buttons, cards, lists, panels, and navigation.
• Collaborate with the design‑system team to integrate motion guidelines and behaviors into core components.

Partnering With Design & Engineering

• Work with designers to refine flows, simplify complexity, and surface issues early.
• Work with engineers to clarify behavior requirements and reduce rework cycles.
• Provide guidance on constraints, feasibility, and opportunities to elevate the experience.
• Bridge the gap between design and engineering.

Perceived Performance & UX Friction

• Design loading behaviors that reduce perceived waiting.
• Establish patterns for skeletons, micro‑delays, optimistic UI, and sequencing.
• Diagnose friction based on user confusion, not just technical bugs.

Who You Are

• 5+ years in a hybrid design/engineering role (Design Engineer, Interaction Engineer, Prototyper).
• Strong GSAP or Framer Motion skills—beyond simple examples.
• Experience building prototypes in React/Next.js to validate flow and timing.
• Deep understanding of timing, easing, motion hierarchy, and when each is appropriate.
• Strong visual craft: spacing rhythm, type alignment, optical adjustments, depth cues.
• Knowledge of animation performance: transform/opacity, avoiding layout thrash, interruptibility.
• Comfortable shaping ambiguous UX spaces and exploring alternatives quickly.
• Communicates behavior clearly through prototypes, diagrams, and rationale.
• High bar for detail and interaction quality.

Nice to Have

• Experience with FLIP/layout transitions, layoutId, shared‑layout strategies.
• Experience with WebGL/Canvas/SVG for advanced motion.
• Motion/integration experience within design systems.
• Prototypes synced with real data or simulated network states.
• Familiarity with mobile performance and motion accessibility patterns.

How You Work

• Behavior‑first. You think in states, transitions, timing, and user intent.
• Prototype‑driven. You validate ideas through working examples, not static discussion.
• System‑minded. You favor reusable patterns over bespoke animations.
• Detail‑calibrated. Small timing/easing changes matter to you.
• Cross‑functional. Designers rely on you to reveal flow issues; engineers rely on you to clarify behavior.
• Autonomous. You turn ambiguous product areas into clear, testable interaction models.
• Pragmatic. You balance clarity, delivery, and maintainability.

Why Work with Us

• Challenging problems. You’ll work on extremely challenging problems with massive impact.
• Huge opportunity. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard is ubiquitous, but existing EVM‑compatible chains are slow and bandwidth‑constrained. Monad’s core innovations offer developers the best of both worlds (portability and performance) and are a game‑changer for mass user adoption in crypto.
• The right team. You’ll be part of an exceptional and highly‑motivated team.
• Culture. We’re a lean team working together to achieve very ambitious goals. We are united in our culture of collaboration, low ego, and high‑quality output. As an early member of our team, you’ll help continue to shape our culture.

Salary and Benefits

Benefits for full‑time employees may include medical, dental, and vision insurance (100% coverage for employees); generous paid time off; paid parental leave; and 10 company‑observed holidays.