Design Engineer - Maternity Cover

We are Progress - the trusted provider for software that enables our customers to develop, deploy and manage responsible, AI-powered applications and experiences with agility and ease.

We’re proud to have a diverse global team where we value the individual and enrich our culture by considering varied perspectives because we believe people power progress. Join us as a

Design Engineer

and help us do what we do best: empower developers with beautifully crafted, AI-ready UI component libraries and design system tooling.

Are you passionate about design systems, front-end architecture, and building tools that make developers’ lives easier? Progress is seeking a Design Engineer to join the Kendo UI team as a Maternity Cover. The position is in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Please note that this is a maternity cover position with an approximate duration of 1–1.5 years.

In this role you will

Own and evolve the Kendo UI Themes framework — a design-token-driven theming layer powering thousands of enterprise applications across the JS ecosystem (jQuery, React, Angular, and Vue) and .NET (Blazor, MVC, Core)

Architect and implement SCSS-to-CSS‑custom-property migration paths, enabling runtime theme switching and AI-assisted customization without build steps

Develop AI-enabled tooling and agentic workflows — including MCP servers, prompt-to-theme pipelines, and LLM-friendly configuration surfaces — that let customers generate and validate themes programmatically

Implement perceptually uniform color generation using OKLCH, with built-in WCAG/APCA contrast validation

Contribute to the creation of CLI and programmatic API that produces multi-format output (CSS custom properties, DTCG JSON, SCSS) from a single source of truth

Collaborate with product designers and developer advocates to ensure theming APIs are intuitive, well-documented, and aligned with modern CSS capabilities

Champion accessibility-first engineering — every generated theme must pass contrast validation before it ships

Participate in code reviews, architectural decision records, and cross-team alignment with the broader org

Your background

3+ years of professional experience as a Design or Front-End Engineer, with deep expertise in React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript

Strong command of SCSS/Sass architecture — mixins, functions, module systems, and large-scale variable management across multi-brand theme codebases

Hands-on experience building or contributing to design systems, component libraries, or theming frameworks at scale

Solid understanding of CSS custom properties, cascade layers (@layer), modern color spaces (OKLCH, Display P3), and the design tokens ecosystem (DTCG specification is a plus)

Experience with front-end architecture patterns: monorepo tooling (npm workspaces, Nx), build pipelines (tsup, Vite, Rollup), and CI/CD for library publishing

Familiarity with AI-enabled developer tools and agentic workflows — MCP servers, LLM integration patterns, prompt engineering, or building AI-powered features into developer products

Understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA/AAA, APCA) and how they apply to color contrast, typography, and component design

Experience with Node.js backend tooling — CLI frameworks, file system operations, JSON schema validation

Excellent communication skills in English; comfortable with asynchronous collaboration across distributed teams

A genuine interest in developer experience, color science, and the intersection of design and engineering

If this sounds like you and fits your experience and career goals, we’d be happy to chat.

What we offer in return is the opportunity to experience a great company culture with wonderful colleagues to learn from and collaborate with and also to enjoy:

Compensation

• Generous remuneration package.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan Enrollment.

Vacation, Family, and Health

30 days paid annual vacation.
An extra day off for your birthday.
2 additional days off for volunteering.
Premium healthcare and dental care coverage.
Additional pension insurance.
Well-equipped gym on-site with Cross-Fit equipment and climbing wall.
Co-funded Multisport card.
Flexible working hours.
Free underground parking with a designated space for bikes, motorbikes and electric scooters.
Apply now!
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