Lead Design Engineer GM Design System

Job Description

Our Company
At General Motors we combine the passion of a startup with the influence of a global powerhouse. We pride ourselves on designing building and selling the worlds best vehicles and transportation solutions. Our vision of a future with zero crashes zero emissions and zero congestion is bold and our people are leading the way as we seek to transform the future of personal mobility. To achieve this vision we need people to join us who are passionate about crafting safer better and more sustainable ways for people to get around.

The Role
Were looking for a highly skilled Senior Design Engineer to help evolve and scale our enterprise design this role youll collaborate with designers engineers and platform teams to build accessible performant and reusable components that power consistent experiences across multiple products and platforms. Youll also help define processes tools and standards that enable design excellence at scale.

What Youll Do

• Develop and maintain a scalable design system using vanilla HTML CSS JavaScript and Web Components.

• Write semantic accessible HTML aligned with WCAG and WAI-ARIA best practices.

• Architect modular maintainable CSS for large-scale applications.

• Build flexible reusable components with a focus on performance accessibility and self-documentation.

• Ensure cross-browser and cross-device consistency for all UI components.

• Translate Figma designs into production-ready code collaborating closely with designers.

• Contribute to design system documentation for easy adoption across teams.

• Define and enforce coding standards best practices and governance models for long-term scalability.

• Incorporate progressive enhancement and ensure graceful degradation when JavaScript is unavailable.

• Partner with engineering teams to integrate components into CI/CD pipelines and ensure robust testing (unit visual regression accessibility).

• Mentor developers on front-end architecture and design system best practices.

Your Skills & Abilities

• A bachelors degree in a technical or design related field or work experience commensurate with education.

• 9 Years of experience working as a professional Design Engineer or Design Technologist.

• 3 years of direct people management experience.

• Proven expertise in vanilla HTML CSS JavaScript and Web Components (not reliant on frameworks).

• Strong understanding of front-end architecture and strategies for scaling CSS in enterprise environments.

• Deep knowledge of semantic HTML WCAG and ARIA accessibility standards.

• Experience with progressive enhancement and performance optimization.

• Ability to write clean maintainable and self-documenting code.

• Proven experience building or contributing to large-scale design systems or UI libraries.

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• 4 years of experience working with React Angular or other advanced modern JavaScript frameworks.

• Proven expertise with design tokens Style Dictionary or similar tools.

• Knowledge of testing frameworks (e.g. Jest Playwright) and visual regression tools (e.g. Percy).

• Curiosity for emerging front-end techniques and a passion for continuous learning.

• Background in web design design tooling or collaborating heavily with design teams.

• Previous experience leading developing and inspiring a team.

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us

We believe we all must make a choice every day individually and collectively to drive meaningful change through our words our deeds and our culture. Every day we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

From day one were looking out for your well-beingat work and at homeso you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.

All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex race color national origin citizenship status religion age disability pregnancy or maternity status sexual orientation gender identity status as a veteran or protected veteran or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal state and local laws.

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required where applicable to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more visit How we Hire.

Accommodations

General Motors offers opportunities to all job seekers including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation to assist with your job search or application for employment email us or call us your email please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.