Senior Design Engineer

Meadow is the modern payments platform for higher education that simplifies the entire student financial experience. We're transforming the $600 Billion higher education payments industry in the United States — building for universities what Shopify built for retail businesses, and bringing the entire student financial experience online.

The need for a platform like Meadow has never been greater. If you're passionate about our mission to empower students financially and strengthen economic mobility through higher education — and you're excited to join a highly ambitious, talented team — we'd love to hear from you.

As a Design Engineer at Meadow, you'll sit at the intersection of Product Design and Front-End Engineering to conceptualize and ship product that powers the student financial experience.

Design at Meadow is AI-first and builder-led. We're looking for a Design Engineer who is excited to 1) use AI as a core part of how they design — prototyping early, testing with real customers, and staying involved through launch and iteration, and to 2) design for AI — building products that assume the system can understand context, take initiative, and collaborate with the user.

• Own Product Work End-to-End: You'll work in lockstep with Product and Engineering to define problems, explore solution spaces, validate concepts, and ship products.

• Prototype Using AI Tools: You'll use Cursor, Claude, and/or other AI tools to build and iterate on flows and interactions — then partner with Engineering to turn them into production-ready designs or pick up backend APIs and design bits of the frontend on top.

• Build Meadow's Design Engineering & Product Design Practice: We're a small team of builders who thrive on ownership. As our first Design Engineer, you'll help us think through how the whole team can best ship an accessible, beautiful, and usable frontend.

• 4+ Years of Experience Across Product Design and Front-End Engineering

• Fluency in React, TypeScript or JavaScript, Semantic HTML, Modern CSS

• Active Use of AI Tools in Your Design Workflow (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex)

• Proven Success Owning Projects from Problem Definition → Launch & Iteration

• Proven Success Communicating & Collaborating with Engineering and Product

• Portfolio Showcasing High Visual and Interaction Craft

• Experience at an Early Stage Startup

• You're comfortable pointing out issues in our frontend UI and be proactive in how you'd fix them — considering things like accessibility, form validation, and other best practices.

Meadow is a remote-friendly organization with offices in New York, NY and San Mateo, CA, and we're currently seeking candidates based in the United States.

For Candidates Based in New York, NY: Our Chief Product Officer (Nathan) and Senior Product Designer (Amanda) choose to work from Meadow's New York, NY Office 3-5+ Days/Week. If you live within commuting distance of our office in Hudson Square, you're very welcome — but not obligated — to work in-person alongside them.

Please note that Meadow does not currently offer relocation support and/or visa sponsorship for this role.

This is a full-time position reporting to the Chief Product Officer. Meadow wants all employees to be supported in their personal and professional development, so we take a comprehensive approach to compensation and benefits. The initial annual salary for this position is expected to be $124,950-$202,000 USD. Actual compensation will depend on numerous factors such as: experience, knowledge and skills, qualifications, location, and other job-related factors.

In addition to the chance to positively impact the world while building a company around a $600B opportunity, Meadow offers:

• Competitive Salary

• Competitive Equity

• 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

• Subsidized Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance (with HSA & FSA Plans Available)

• Flexible Paid Time Off

• Paid Company Holidays

• Paid Parental Leave

• 1-2 Onsites Per Year

• Membership in an Ambitious, Kind, No-Drama Team

We believe in hiring adaptable, curious, and fast-learning people who are eager to develop their skills every day. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align exactly with the job description, we encourage you to go ahead and apply. You may be just the right candidate for this role.

Meadow is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity in all its forms, and we encourage our employees to participate as their authentic selves in our work environment. We strive to build better for all, towards a more open, inclusive space. Come as you are.