Joel Lithgow

Dear Hiring Manager,

I am writing to express my interest in the Software Engineer position on Figma's Code Platform team. The mission—powering seamless interoperability between design and code—describes the problem I've spent my career navigating from both sides. I've been the designer frustrated by implementation gaps and the developer trying to faithfully translate design intent. Building the infrastructure that makes this translation magical is exactly the kind of work I want to do.

I bring seven years of experience at California College of the Arts, progressing from QA Specialist to Interaction Designer to UX Designer/Developer. This trajectory gives me something directly relevant to Code Platform: I understand what designers expect when they hand off work, and I understand the technical challenges of translating those expectations into code. When you're building systems that translate between HTML, JSX, and structured design models, that dual perspective helps anticipate edge cases and define correctness.

My technical foundation is in TypeScript and modern frontend development. I've built complex UI systems, implemented design patterns in production, and worked extensively with component architectures. I use Figma daily—both as a design tool and as a reference for implementation—so I understand the product deeply from the user's perspective. I know where the friction points are in design-to-code workflows because I encounter them regularly.

The AI-powered aspects of this role are particularly exciting. I've spent the past year deeply immersed in AI-assisted development using Claude Code, building WebGL shaders, orchestrating complex workflows, and developing intuition for how to structure work for LLMs. This experience gives me perspective on LLM-friendly representations—what makes AI interactions feel magical versus frustrating, and how to design systems that enable AI-powered creation.

I'm honest that AST manipulation and compilation concepts are areas where I'd be learning. But my QA foundation means I learn systems thoroughly—I understand the importance of debugging performance issues, maintaining correctness across edge cases, and building reliable infrastructure. I'm excited to deepen these skills on a team building strategically important abstractions.

I'm based in Oakland and would work from the San Francisco hub or remotely. The opportunity to work on infrastructure that directly impacts how millions of users translate between design and code—and to help shape what's possible with AI-powered creation—is deeply motivating.

Thank you for considering my application. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how my experience bridging design and code, combined with my perspective on AI-assisted development, could contribute to Code Platform.