Senior Design System Engineer
Design for the people in the tiny chairs
At Famly, we build software that takes admin off the plates of early-years educators, so they can spend their time where it matters - with the children. And we make it easier for over a million parents to stay close to their child's day, even while they're at work.
We're looking for a design system builder to join the design team - responsible for the design system, prototyping tools and all other infrastructure with the goal of driving consistency and coherence across the entire product.
About Famly
We’re on a mission to stop admin stealing the joy of working with young children. We do that with our platform, the world’s first proactive assistant for educators and staff that handles admin for them so they can get back to what they love. And we do it with our content (like The Tiny Chair Podcast), reminding educators of the joy and meaning that got them into working with children in the first place.
About the role
You live where design and code meet. With a small team, you'll own Famly's design system: the components, patterns, and documentation that product teams (and increasingly, AI agents) build on every day.
The team's job is coherence. Every feature and every domain should feel like it came from the same place. You'll give builders what they need to design and build to our standards, and keep the conversation going so the system keeps getting better.
You'll bring deep technical knowledge of design systems, and you'll care just as much about how the product feels to the people using it.
The team is based in our Copenhagen office, but we are open to you being based somewhere else.
What you'll be doing
Build production-quality React and TypeScript components for Famly's design system.
Design component APIs that are hard to misuse, and version them so upgrades don't break product teams.
Write the documentation that makes those components self-serve, so a new engineer or an AI agent can pick one up and use it correctly without asking anyone.
Keep the system trustworthy: tests, visual regression, and a release process people don't dread.
Learn Famly's frontend deeply enough to know where a pattern lives, who depends on it, and what breaks if it changes.
Audit and evolve the components we already have, for consistency, accessibility, and reuse across the product.
Own the code side of the design standard with a small team, so design intent survives the trip into production.
Push back when a design won't hold up in code - too many states, no empty case, a pattern that already exists - and say what you'd do instead.
Work with PMs, designers, and engineers across product teams, and bring them ideas before they ask.
You’ll thrive in this role if you:
You have 5+ years of frontend experience in B2B SaaS, including design system work.
You're strong in React, TypeScript, and CSS.
You have taste for craft: spacing, motion, states, and the details that make a component feel finished.
You think in systems: reusable, documented, maintainable components over one-off fixes.
You get from a rough idea to a working prototype fast.
You own your work end to end, from discovery through testing to shipping.
You care about the difference between "works" and "is right," and you'll say so and set the direction.
The interview process looks like:
Short meet and greet with Lead People Partner
A logical test
1st interview: Meet and greet with our Senior Director of Product Design
Take-home assignment
2nd interview: Assignment presentation with Senior Director of Product Design and Lead Designer
And who are Famly?
You’re probably wondering at this stage, and Famly are...? Well, it all began when our co-founder Henrik’s daughter was ready to start at daycare. He couldn’t believe the amount of work being done on paper - and how distant he felt from his first child during the day. The paper ‘parent’ books they exchanged once a month just weren’t cutting it. Together with his friend, our co-founder and CEO Anders, they set about solving that.
These days, about 180 of us build Famly for more than 10,000 institutions and over 1 million parents.
We handle admin stress so they can get back to what matters, and we make it easier than ever to connect home, and nursery so parents can play a part in their child’s day. If you join us, you’ll be building, selling, or support customers with everything from staff rotas and invoices, to child development and parent communication.
How we work
Famly prides itself on a few principles; we choose simplicity, we believe friendliness is a superpower, we set the pace, and we want everyone to be surrounded by talent.
It all adds up to a culture that refuses to make employees choose between a place that is ambitious and sets the pace for what good looks like - and one that is a nice place to work. We think you can be ambitious and kind and when you get to meet our team, we hope you’ll agree.
What we expect of you, is that you make others shine, that you believe in being better than yesterday, and you are not afraid to just ‘get it done’. Finally, we want you to value ‘sitting in the tiny chair’ - which means you look at your work through the impact it has on our customers: the people sitting in tiny chairs in childcare settings all over the world.
What’s in it for you?
Competitive pension, private health insurance, and paid maternity/paternity leave.
A clear career framework and coaching to make sure you’re growing, a $1000 personal development budget and a ‘We’ll buy you any book you want’ policy.
We guarantee we’ll create the time, space and leadership (as well as the budget) to make sure you grow and develop.
We want to set the pace, and don’t cut corners when it comes to investing in tooling and technology that you need to be at the frontier of tech.
We’re all about hiring clever people who are good humans too. It means Famly is full of top thinkers and generous teammates waiting to help you shine.
We like to give a lot of ownership both in terms of responsibility and freedom to try new, challenging tasks.
Top-notch work equipment (including noise cancelling headphones for those focus periods!).
We believe collaboration happens best in person, so we have the default of four days a week in office - but with plenty of flexibility for when life happens outside the office too.
We're looking to fill the position as soon as possible, so get your application in today by sending us:
Your CV
Short and precise cover letter to tell us what you can bring to the role
Portfolio (attached or linked) showcasing your work
Looking forward to hearing from you!
The inside scoop on Famly
Wanna get to know Famly even better? Then have a look at our website to learn more about:
What it's like working at Famly and have a look at some of the fun stuff we do
Want to get know more about how we work in Famly?
One of our builders, Matthew Fitzsimmons talking about how he, and the other builders are working with AI.
Our CEO, Anders Laustsen talking about embracing AI
Famly is committed to creating a more diverse, equal, and inclusive workforce, building teams that represent a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. It is a fundamental policy at Famly not to discriminate on any basis or characteristics and celebrate diversity. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to apply.
