Principal Software Development Engineer, Design Systems (Web)

Quick Facts

• Role: Principal Software Development Engineer (Design Systems, Web)

• Focus: Technical owner of the Constellation Web design system

Description

You will serve as the technical owner for Constellation Web, setting the technical direction and ensuring the system remains healthy and reliable across hundreds of codebases. You will shape how the design system evolves for AI-native development, including support for AI-assisted and AI-generated UI, while maintaining strict quality, performance, and accessibility standards. You will partner with design systems designers and engineers, as well as platform and engineering leadership, to drive adoption and alignment.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction for Constellation Web: component architecture, styling approach, framework upgrades, and major releases

• Make consequential architecture decisions using evidence to clarify complex trade-offs

• Partner with the front-end platform team to evolve shared platform capabilities as AI changes front-end development

• Drive adoption and alignment across Zillow: lead foundational technical shifts, build buy-in, and guide consuming teams through upgrades

• Own the engineering bar for Constellation Web: end-to-end performance (including complex pages with many sub-apps and micro frontends), release safety, code quality, and accessibility standards

• Mentor senior engineers and build resilient technical leadership within the team

• Evolve Constellation Web for AI-native development: define how it’s built and used with coding agents while enforcing quality; support AI-generated and server-driven UI under the same standards

Requirements

• 8+ years of front-end engineering experience, with several years in platform engineering

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Computer Engineering or equivalent experience

• Expert-level React, TypeScript, and CSS architecture, including composable component API design

• Experience with build-time styling systems (e.g., Panda CSS, vanilla-extract, StyleX, Tailwind)

• Architectural judgment across the web stack (build tooling, server rendering, platform integrations)

• Experience leading multi-phase migrations/major upgrades of shared libraries across many consuming applications with strong testing and release practices

• Deep web performance expertise, including Core Web Vitals (especially INP)

• Deep accessibility expertise at the component-contract level (ARIA relationships, focus management, keyboard behavior, screen reader testing)

• Strong AI fluency with agentic coding tools and the ability to set standards for both human- and AI-authored code

• Demonstrated technical leadership beyond your team (mentoring and influence through evidence and technical narratives)

Benefits

• Competitive base salary plus equity awards (amount varies by experience, performance, and location)

• Base pay ranges vary by U.S. state of residence; no pay below exempt salary thresholds where you reside