Design Engineer Jobs in San Francisco, CA
Design Engineer jobs in San Francisco are in strong demand, concentrated in SoMa, the Mission District, and the Financial District across hardware, biotech, and advanced manufacturing. Employers hiring right now include OpenAI, HP, and Salesforce. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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About HUD
HUD is building infrastructure to create RL training data and evals for frontier AI agents, as well as a marketplace to sell these to frontier labs through the HUD marketplace. Our platform is used by frontier labs, Fortune 500 companies, and startups. We’ve raised $16M from top VCs and were YC W25.
About the role
We’re looking for a Design Engineer to design and build experiences across HUD’s products. You’ll help people create and evaluate environments, understand how agents behave, improve training data, and use the results to decide what to do next. These workflows can be technically dense; your work will make them clear without hiding the details that matter.
You’ll talk with users, work closely with research and engineering, and ship interfaces that improve through use and feedback. The role calls for both practical execution and a point of view: choices about what to show, how to explain results, and where to give people control will shape how humans work with increasingly capable AI agents.
Responsibilities
Design and build interfaces across HUD’s platform and marketplace, from early concepts through shipped product
Make agent runs, evaluation results, reward signals, and quality feedback understandable and actionable
Work with research and engineering to turn complex RL and evaluation workflows into useful tools
Talk with users, observe where they struggle, and use what you learn to improve the product
Develop thoughtful interaction patterns and maintain a high bar for usability, visual quality, and implementation
Experience
You may be a good fit if you have:
Strong product and interaction design judgment, especially for complex tools or workflows
Front-end engineering skills and the ability to turn your designs into working product interfaces
A record of shipping products, learning from users, and improving what you built
The ability to understand technical concepts well enough to present them clearly to users
Good judgment about when to ship quickly and when an experience needs more care
Clear communication and comfort working closely with engineers, researchers, and users
Strong candidates may also have:
Experience designing developer tools, data-rich products, or research software
Familiarity with AI agents, evaluations, reinforcement learning, or training data
Experience creating reusable interface patterns as a product grows
Experience working independently in an early-stage company
We prioritize technical aptitude and learning potential over years of experience. Motivated candidates are encouraged to apply even if they don't meet all criteria.
Team & company details
Team Size: ~25 people currently, mostly full-time in-person, but some remote.
Our team: Our team includes 4 International Olympiad medalists (IOI, ILO, IPhO), serial AI startup founders, and researchers with publications at ICLR, NeurIPS, etc.
Company stage: We have 8 figures in funding and are scaling profitably and quickly to meet very strong demand.
Logistics
Employment: Full-time.
Location: We have offices in San Francisco or Singapore but are open to remote candidates who can work hours that 70-80% overlap with either San Francisco or Singapore time zones.
Visa Sponsorship: We provide support for relocation and visas for strong full-time candidates to the US or Singapore.
Timeline: Applications are rolling. The process is 2 technical interviews and a 2-3 day work trial.
What we offer
Competitive compensation
100% covered top-of-the-line medical, dental, and vision from Blue Shield of CA (US employees)
Lunch and dinner when you’re in the office (in-office employees)
Company-wide holiday break (Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day) on top of PTO and paid holidays
Other perks including an Equinox membership, 401k, and commuter benefits (US employees)
Unlimited* access to tokens for ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, etc. By unlimited, we mean no one on our token usage leaderboard has ever hit a limit. So we have no idea what the limit is.
Due to high volume, we may not actively respond to every application, but feel free to contact us at recruiting@hud.so or elsewhere if we missed your application!
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Find Design Engineer JobsDesign Engineer Job Market in San Francisco
Who's Hiring
- OpenAI133

- HP38

- Salesforce38

- PAE Consulting Engineers38

- HUD19
Design Engineer Jobs in San Francisco: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a design engineer job in San Francisco?
Focus your search on San Francisco's hardware and consumer electronics companies in SoMa, biotech firms in Mission Bay, and defense and aerospace contractors near the Caltrain corridor. Candidates who stand out locally combine CAD proficiency with experience in rapid prototyping or product development cycles. A portfolio showing shipped products or cross-functional collaboration with manufacturing teams carries significant weight with San Francisco hiring managers.
Which companies hire design engineers in San Francisco?
Employers hiring design engineers in San Francisco right now include OpenAI, HP, and Salesforce, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. San Francisco's employer mix skews toward consumer tech startups, medical device companies, and established hardware firms that maintain design and engineering functions in the city.
Are there remote design engineer jobs in San Francisco?
Yes, though with limits: design engineering often requires hands-on prototyping and lab access, so fully remote roles are less common than in purely software-focused fields. About 65% of design engineer openings tied to San Francisco are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, with hybrid arrangements most common for roles centered on CAD modeling, documentation, or systems-level design work.
How can I get a design engineer job in San Francisco with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in San Francisco is targeting associate or junior design engineer roles at consumer hardware startups in SoMa or medical device companies in Mission Bay, which regularly hire candidates straight from university programs. Contract positions and design co-ops at mid-size firms are also a common first step. A strong portfolio of personal or academic projects demonstrating CAD skills and a functional prototype gives local candidates a concrete edge over applicants with credentials alone.
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