Design Engineer

The Company

We’re Octopus Legacy: one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country, part of the UK’s most exciting and best-trusted group (you may have heard of some of our sister companies…) and we have a mission.

We’re on a path to scale, aiming to become a household name while transforming a long-established industry and helping our customers prepare for, and find support after, death.

But we can’t do it alone, and that’s why we’re assembling a team of top performers to build with us.

Ready to be part of something big?

The Role

We’re looking for a Design Engineer to own the intersection of design and frontend development across Octopus Legacy’s product suite. This is a hands-on role - you’ll design in Figma and build in React, shipping polished, functional interfaces end-to-end.

You’ll work closely with our Product Manager and development team to ensure our applications are intuitive, consistent, and beautifully crafted. You’ll establish and maintain a design system, prototype new features and improve UX across existing products - all while writing production code.

You’ll bridge design and frontend development, bringing designs to life in React and delivering intuitive, high-quality user experiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and build user interfaces across our product suite - from initial concept in Figma to production-ready React components.
• Establish and maintain a shared design system and component library - ensuring visual consistency, reusable patterns, and clear documentation for developers.
• Prototype new features and flows - create high-fidelity designs in Figma to validate ideas with stakeholders before committing to code.
• Improve UX across existing products - identify friction points, propose solutions, and ship improvements that make a real difference to users.
• Collaborate with developers to ensure design intent is preserved in implementation - review pull requests, pair with engineers, and bridge the gap between design and code.
• Contribute to frontend architecture decisions - help shape component structure, styling approaches, and patterns that scale across the product.
• Work with the Product Owner to translate business requirements into user-centered designs that balance usability, visual quality, and technical feasibility.

Who Are You?

• Strong hands-on experience with Figma - comfortable creating and maintaining design systems, component libraries, and high-fidelity prototypes.
• Experience building features with React - able to implement the designs you create within a modern component-based frontend codebase.
• A strong eye for detail across spacing, typography, colour, and interaction design
• Systems thinking - you design in components and patterns, not just individual screens.
• You communicate clearly, explaining design decisions effectively to both technical and non-technical colleagues.
• Pragmatic, knowing when pixel-perfect matters and when shipping matters more.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, small team environment where you’ll have real ownership and autonomy.

Bonus points

• Parts of our stack use Vue.js, so familiarity is a plus.
• Experience with design tokens and bridging design tools to code (e.g., Figma variables, Style Dictionary, or similar).
• Familiarity with Next.js or server-side rendered React applications.
• Motion design or micro-interaction skills - bringing interfaces to life with animation.

Why You’ll Love It Here

• This is a rare opportunity to turn your own ideas into reality, designing and building experiences that directly shape how our products look and feel.
• You’ll be building meaningful products that make a difference, crafting tools that are intuitive, polished, and impactful for our users.
• You’ll have real ownership and autonomy, with the ability to influence both our design system and frontend architecture as our products evolve.
• The role offers strong growth opportunities, including exposure to new technologies, frameworks, and modern approaches to design and development.

Our Mission 

When people think about planning for death they think about wills, life insurance and funerals. We take these cold processes and turn them into something more human. Share more than money: leave voice notes, music, and recipes. Shape a legacy that connects you while you're here. And after you're gone. 

Founded by Sam after his mum died suddenly, we’re a group of people who work in death because we’ve been affected by it. We know the difference a good plan makes, and what it’s like when there isn’t one.

Death can come between us, leave mess, legal fees, frustration. But it can also make us stronger. We see a world where people talk openly about death, and work out the real meaning of legacy, one that connects to them. We’re here to make that world happen. 

Benefits:

• Octopus share incentive scheme.
• Hybrid working (London Bridge).
• Flexible holiday + extra day off for your Birthday.
• Work from anywhere in the world for up to 4 weeks per year.
• Vitality Health & Life Insurance. 
• Pension scheme.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• Free Will & LPAs + discounts on other Octopus services.
• Cycle to Work Scheme and access to the Electric Vehicle (EV) Salary Sacrifice Scheme.
• Octopus Giving: we match any charitable fundraising that you do up to £500. 
• Octopus Springboard: where we help our employees become fully-fledged entrepreneurs.
• Dog friendly office.
• Breakfast every day, snacks and wellness activities.

We know that to be truly innovative, we need to have a diverse team around us. That is why Octopus Legacy is committed to creating an inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.