Sr Software Developer, Design Systems

Sr. Software Developer, Design Systems- Hybrid, Cary, North Carolina or Remote in EST time zone

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About the job

The Digital Experience organization in R&D is seeking a Senior Software Developer Lead to drive technical excellence for SAS’s newest component offering in its design system, Filament, which supports marketing and post-purchase experiences. You’ll apply your deep front-end expertise to architect, build, and optimize the components that power customer-facing digital properties. You’ll partner with the Filament development managers, designers, and cross-functional teams to establish technical patterns, mentor developers, and ensure components are performant, accessible, and scalable. You’ll have the opportunity to make a significant impact by shaping technical direction, championing engineering best practices, and components that serve SAS customers at global scale. 

As a Senior Software Developer, you will: 

• Architect and implement complex front-end components and patterns, establishing technical standards and best practices for component development, testing, and documentation.
• Lead technical design discussions and code reviews, providing expertise and guidance to ensure code quality, performance, accessibility, and maintainability across the component library.
• Collaborate closely with designers to translate design specifications into technical implementations, identify edge cases, propose solutions, and ensure design intent is preserved.
• Establish and maintain component APIs, prop interfaces, and variant systems that provide flexibility while maintaining consistency and ease of use.
• Drive accessibility excellence by implementing WCAG compliant components, conducting accessibility testing, and partnering with the accessibility team to validate with assistive technologies. 
• Partner with other Filament engineering teams to properly consume and extend foundational design tokens, base components, and shared patterns.
• Optimize component performance, bundle sizes, and rendering efficiency, establishing patterns for lazy loading, code splitting, and runtime optimization.
• Build and maintain development tooling, including Storybook documentation, automated testing suites, and CI/CD pipelines to support efficient development workflows.
• Mentor front-end developers on the team, conducting code reviews, pair programming sessions, and knowledge sharing to elevate technical skills across the organization.
• Be encouraged to participate in open-source projects on behalf of SAS. 
• Ensure all applicable security policies and processes are followed to support the organization’s secure software development goals. 
• Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.

Required qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 8 years of front-end development experience with strong expertise in building component libraries or design system implementations
• Expert knowledge of modern front-end technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and component frameworks (particularly React, including meta-frameworks like Next.js), and Web Components, including performance optimization techniques
• Deep understanding of component API design, prop patterns, composition strategies, and design system architecture principles
• Demonstrated experience with design tokens, theming systems, and CSS architecture patterns
• Proven track record of leading technical initiatives and driving architectural decisions in a senior IC capacity
• Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications. 

Additional competencies, knowledge and skills

• Demonstrates strong technology savvy by leveraging modern tools, platforms, and trends to improve work processes, productivity, quality, and overall business outcomes
• Applies sound decision-making and high work standards by analyzing data and perspectives, involving stakeholders to build alignment, taking timely action, and setting a strong example of accountability and ownership
• Experience with Storybook and related component documentation tools such as JSDoc and TypeDoc, along with strong design-to-development handoff workflows
• Strong understanding of responsive design, mobile-first development, progressive enhancement, cross-browser compatibility, semantic HTML, and SEO best practices
• Experience with TypeScript, type-safe component development patterns, and code quality tools to support maintainable and reliable UI components
• Familiarity with front-end performance monitoring, Core Web Vitals, and optimization techniques
• Experience integrating design system components with content management systems or marketing platforms
• Proven experience working on complex, UI-intensive products and design systems
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines, automated deployment workflows, and modern DevOps practices

World-class benefits  

Highlights include...

• Comprehensive medical, prescription, dental and vision plans.
• Medical plan options include:
  • PPO with low annual deductible and copays.
  • HDHP combined with a health savings account with a contribution from SAS (no access to on-site health care center).
• Onsite Health Care Center (HQ) that’s free to employees and family members enrolled in the PPO plan. There's a pharmacy too! Not local to HQ? The pharmacy will ship prescriptions for no additional charge!
• An industry-leading 401k plan.
• Tuition Assistance Program and programs and resources to support your development
• Generous time away including vacation time, a variety of paid holidays, and our much-loved U.S. Winter Wellness Break between December 25 and January 1.
• Volunteer Time Off, parental leave and unlimited paid sick days.
• Generous childcare benefits for all full-time employees.

You are welcome here.

At SAS, it’s not about fitting into our culture – it’s about adding to it. We believe our people make the difference. Our inclusive workforce brings together unique talents and inspires teams to create amazing software that reflects the diversity of our users and customers.

Additional Information:

To qualify, applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States, and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status. SAS is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by law. Read more: Know Your Rights. 

Resumes may be considered in the order they are received. SAS employees performing certain job functions may require access to technology or software subject to export or import regulations. To comply with these regulations, SAS may obtain nationality or citizenship information from applicants for employment. SAS collects this information solely for trade law compliance purposes and does not use it to discriminate unfairly in the hiring process.

SAS only sends emails from verified “sas.com” email addresses and never asks for sensitive, personal information or money. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of any type of communication from, or on behalf of SAS, please contact [email protected].

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