Staff Engineer Design Systems at Pleo - Remote EU — Columbus

About Pleo

Messy spend management is tricky business. And tedious processes are a lose-lose situation for all involved, not just finance. At Pleo, we're changing that. We build spend solutions that make managing money seamless, empowering, and surprisingly effective for finance teams and employees alike — with a vision to help all businesses 'go beyond'.

The word 'Pleo' actually means 'more than you'd expect', and living by that mantra has been the secret to our success over the last 10 years.

Now, we're at a pivotal moment in our journey; every move we make has a direct impact on our 40,000+ customers, our business, and our collective success. We need people who take pride in uncovering customer needs, who turn complex problems into simple solutions, challenge the way things are done (respectfully), and always aim high.

With great ambitions driving us forward, we can't say we've got this whole thing figured out — and frankly, that's half the fun! What we can say is that we're a driven, progressive, and, importantly, a kind bunch of 850+ people from over 100 nationalities, all committed to delivering the future of business spending, together.

We're hiring a Staff Engineer to join the Design Systems team. This role will help lead the engineering direction and execution of our design system — Telescope — across web and mobile.

What Design Systems Does

• Own and evolve Telescope, Pleo's design system (components, patterns, guidelines, and tooling).
• Enable product teams to ship faster with consistent UI, accessibility, and quality.
• Partner with Design and Engineering across the company to drive adoption and improve the contribution experience.
• Steward shared foundations (tokens, components, documentation, and best practices).

What You'll Be Doing

As a Staff Engineer in Design Systems, you will be a force multiplier for product delivery and UI quality across Pleo.

• Set technical direction for key parts of Telescope (architecture, component standards, release practices, and quality bars).
• Drive and evolve our contribution model and how teams interact with Design Systems.
• Own and improve how requests flow into the team (triage, prioritisation, and expectations).
• Improve the developer and contributor experience through tooling and automation, including:
  • Design system visual testing and workflows
  • Supporting internal operational needs where relevant
  • Improving how we measure and communicate adoption and system health
  • Evolving our docs publishing workflow
• Lead rituals that keep the team effective and aligned.
• Represent Design Systems in cross-team initiatives and align stakeholders across Design and Engineering.
• Coach and mentor engineers, and help grow technical leadership in the frontend community.
• Contribute hands-on in code — this role blends strategy and execution, and you should expect to be coding a meaningful part of the time.

You'll Bring Solid Experience With

• Building and maintaining component libraries or platform-like products that serve multiple teams.
• TypeScript and modern frontend engineering (React experience is a plus).
• Designing maintainable systems with clear boundaries, versioning, and backwards compatibility.
• Testing practices and tooling (unit, integration, end-to-end) and a strong quality mindset.
• Accessibility and performance best practices for UI systems.
• Collaboration with designers and product engineers, and navigating tradeoffs across stakeholders.

Your Colleagues Would Say You

• Lead by example and raise the bar with pragmatism and care.
• Communicate clearly, listen well, and bring people along in decisions.
• Enjoy breaking down complex problems, gathering input, and driving to a solution.
• Coach others and create space for people to grow.
• Prefer progress over perfection, while still caring deeply about quality.

Benefits

• Your own Pleo card (no more out-of-pocket spending!)
• Lunch is on us for your work days — enjoy catered meals or receive a lunch allowance based on your local office.
• Comprehensive private healthcare — depending on your location, coverage options include Vitality, Alan, or Médis.
• 25 days of holiday + your public holidays.
• Both hybrid and fully remote working options available.
• Access to MyndUp for free mental health and well-being support.
• Paid parental leave — we want to support families so you don't have to compromise.

About Your Application

• English first. Since it's our company language, please submit your application in English.
• A fair look for everyone. Our talent team reads every single application to ensure the process is fair. We only accept applications through our system — our support team can't pass on calls or emails.
• Diversity drives us. We can only reach our goals if our team reflects the world around us. That starts with you hitting apply, even if you don't tick every single box. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to join us.
• Interview at your best. If you have any accessibility requirements or need a specific format, email [email protected]. We'll design a process that works for you.
• Your data is safe. When you apply, we process your personal data as a data processor. For more information on how Pleo processes personal data, read our Privacy Policy here.
• Applying for multiple roles? Nothing is stopping you, and we assess every role independently. However, we do look for alignment, so make sure you can explain why your interest and experience are right for each specific role.
• Reapplying. If you're applying for the same role again, please wait six months from your last decision before hitting submit.