Staff Software Engineer, Design System

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JOIN US ON OUR MISSION TO BECOME THE #1 RETAIL TRADING PLATFORM IN THE WORLD

Welcome to the dynamic world of NinjaTrader! As an industry-leading trading platform and futures broker, we're empowering traders to take control of their financial destiny. How do we do it? We provide cutting-edge products and services that enhance the trading journey. Whether a seasoned pro or just starting out, NinjaTrader equips traders with award-winning software and brokerage services to navigate the world's leading financial markets with confidence.

Our growth story is nothing short of exhilarating. Since 2003, NinjaTrader has been dedicated to understanding and supporting traders on their journey toward trading triumph. Through those efforts, our user base has grown to over 2 million users and we have become the number one rated futures brokerage worldwide.

But we're not stopping there. We're constantly evolving, pushing boundaries, and modernizing the futures industry. Our commitment to innovation means users will always have access to dynamic tools, real-time support, and a community of like-minded traders.

So, why work at NinjaTrader? Here, you're not just part of a team; you're part of a movement. We empower employees to reach new heights in their careers by providing a dynamic culture focused on social connection, professional development, and employee recognition initiatives. Sounds too good to be true? Take it from our employees.

Join us as we redefine what's possible in trading, advocate for our customers, and continue our journey toward becoming the world's top retail-focused trading platform in the world.

What you'll do:

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Design Systems Engineer. You will be the foundational engineer responsible for designing, building, and scaling NinjaTrader’s new enterprise-grade design system, which will serve as a core frontend platform across multiple product teams in a regulated, high-availability trading environment. This role is expected to help shape the long-term evolution of the design systems function, including mentoring future contributors and team members, and carries clear technical ownership and decision-making authority for the design system as a shared frontend platform across the organization.

In this role you will:

• Own the development, maintenance, and evolution of NinjaTrader’s design system, including UI components, patterns, tokens, and documentation; this includes defining system standards, architectural direction, and long-term technical strategy

• Act as the technical authority for how designs are translated into production UI, partnering with Design while maintaining final responsibility for engineering quality, performance, and maintainability

• Make and defend tradeoffs between consistency, flexibility, velocity, and performance on behalf of the broader engineering organization

• Build and maintain a component library using modern frontend technologies, ensuring components are accessible, performant, and easy to consume across teams

• Establish and enforce best practices for consistency, accessibility (WCAG), responsiveness, and cross-browser compatibility

• Collaborate with other frontend engineers to support adoption of the design system, guide implementation, and continuously improve developer experiences

• Influence adoption through technical leadership rather than direct reporting authority

• Design scalable CSS and styling architectures (e.g., tokens, theming, variables) that support multiple products, themes, and future growth

• Create and maintain comprehensive documentation, examples, and usage guidelines for designers and engineers

• Work closely with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership to align the design system roadmap with business and product needs

What you'll need:

• 8+ years of professional experience in frontend engineering, design engineering, or design systems development

• Demonstrated experience building or leading a design system from early or intermediate stages, including architectural decisions, adoption challenges, and long-term maintenance

• Strong expertise in modern CSS and styling approaches (CSS-in-JS, CSS Modules, Tailwind, or similar), including theming and design tokens

• Proven experience partnering deeply with designers and translating design tools (e.g., Figma) into high-fidelity, production-ready components

• Strong knowledge of web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2 AA) and experience building inclusive, accessible interfaces

• Experience supporting shared systems used by multiple teams or products, balancing consistency with flexibility

• Ability to balance design fidelity, performance, and accessibility in production systems

• Familiarity with modern frontend tooling and workflows (Storybook, Vite/Webpack, Yarn/NPM, testing frameworks)

Compensation:

The salary range for this role will be $160,000.00 - $210,000.00 USD. In addition, this position will also receive an annual target bonus of 15%. Bonus pay at NinjaTrader is based on individual performance (50%) as well as company/team performance (50%).

Salary and bonus earnings are only two components of the total compensation package offered by NinjaTrader. NinjaTrader offers a 401K plan through ADP under which the company will match up to 3.5% of employee contributions. Annual paid time off allowance accrues at a rate of 23 days per year plus seven paid holidays.

Location:

This role is based in Chicago, IL. *There may be remote flexibility for exceptional candidates in the following states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington DC, Wisconsin.

Hybrid:

For Chicago-based employees, we follow a hybrid work schedule: In-office Tuesday through Thursday, with remote work on Mondays and Fridays. In addition to these weekly remote days, we offer:

• 20 additional flex remote days annually

• 5 Company Wide Office-Optional weeks tied to major holidays

Our Core Benefits Include:

• Generous PTO

• 7 Paid Holidays Annually + 5 Conditional Holidays Annually

• 1 Service Day Annually

• 401k with 3.5% Company Match

• Paid Parental Bonding Leave

• Health, Vision, Dental Coverage

• Life and Disability Insurance Covered 100% by NinjaTrader

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.