Senior Design Engineer

Starnek is two people. We want to be three. The third person is someone who can see a Figma file and a Tailwind config as the same artefact — and is happiest when neither of those is the bottleneck.

You'll work on every active engagement. Some weeks that means designing in Figma; some weeks it means writing CSS-in-CSS, building components, debugging Lighthouse scores. We do not split design and engineering across people on the same project.

Requirements

• 5+ years working in design, frontend engineering, or both — at least two of those years in a hybrid role.
• Strong portfolio of shipped design systems or component libraries.
• Production-grade React + TypeScript. Comfortable in Next.js 14/15 App Router.
• Tailwind 3 or 4 in real anger. Comfortable with token systems, CSS variables, prefers-reduced-motion.
• Clear written English. Comfortable speaking Dutch in client meetings preferred but not required.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with Payload CMS, Sanity, or similar.
• Eye for typography — you have opinions about line-height, optical sizing, and tracking.
• Past freelance or studio experience.
• Lives within an hour of Amsterdam (most weeks remote, occasional studio days).