Location
London

Hours
Full Time

Salary
£55,000 per annum

About the Role
Outland delivers groundbreaking work across diverse fields centred on high-end construction and fitout, specialising in ultra-prime residential projects. We manage projects from early feasibility and concept through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and post-delivery. Our holistic approach spans coordinating architectural projects to designing and producing bespoke pieces such as furniture, lighting, kinetic and sculptural elements, artworks, technical installations, and custom sound systems, combining traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology.

We uniquely integrate design, engineering, project management, fabrication, procurement, and production under one roof, tackling technically demanding, highly bespoke, or fast-moving challenges that conventional workflows struggle to resolve. Our team works from an Old Street studio and a production space in London Fields, soon to be consolidated in central/east London. The workshop supports prototyping, sampling, mock-ups, digital fabrication, and hands-on development, enabling rapid idea testing and a close connection between design and making.

Alongside physical projects, we are building our own digital tools to coordinate projects, manage information and resources, communicate with clients, and run the organisation more effectively.

As a Design Engineer, you will help build and take ownership of this digital ecosystem and leverage the latest technology across our work. The role bridges creative technology, software development, graphic design, and technical problem-solving. We value AI-assisted development to move rapidly from idea to working application, balanced with strong technical judgement regarding security, architecture, data integrity, reliability, and maintainability.

From day one, you will take responsibility for existing applications including the embryonic Outland Portal and reporting tools, stabilising current systems before rapidly developing new ones. For well-defined briefs, we aim for working prototypes within days.

Key Responsibilities:
1. Rapid Digital Tool & Application Development: Design and develop diverse internal and client-facing applications, tools, and prototypes using AI-assisted development where appropriate. Iterate quickly with the team based on real-world use, balancing rapid prototyping with rigorous engineering. Design beautiful, intuitive interfaces for desktop and mobile.
2. Technical Ownership & Production Quality: Build and maintain frontend interfaces, backend services, databases, and integrations. Debug and improve existing and AI-generated code, implement security best practices, manage deployment and hosting, and document systems.
3. AI, Automation & Creative Technology: Identify and implement AI and automation opportunities to improve workflows. Experiment with new models and emerging tools pragmatically. Extend work into interactive installations, computer vision, physical computing, fabrication automation, sound and lighting control as relevant.
4. Product Thinking & Internal Collaboration: Translate loosely expressed problems into clear technical solutions. Treat applications as products, iterating based on usage and taking responsibility for ongoing usefulness. Balance visual quality, usability, speed, and robustness.

Experience
- Adaptable, technically curious problem-solver comfortable with incomplete briefs and ambiguity.
- Strong design ability, visual judgement, and sensitivity to interface design.
- Highly capable with or motivated to master modern AI-assisted coding and development workflows.
- Able to understand, interrogate, and improve systems beyond tutorials or generated code.
- Highly independent and proactive, balancing quick experiments with rigorous production work.
- Professional software development experience is welcome but not essential.
- Possible backgrounds include software development, creative technology, design, computational design, technical art, or physical computing.
- Beneficial skills include experience or understanding of construction, architecture, interiors, production, or project management.
- Experience with modern web stacks (JavaScript/TypeScript, React/Next.js, Node.js/Python, Supabase/PostgreSQL, cloud deployment, authentication, APIs).
- Experience with LLM APIs, AI application development, agentic workflows, or workflow automation.
- Experience building internal tools, dashboards, admin systems, lightweight SaaS products, or personal software.
- Experience with creative technology tools such as TouchDesigner, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, computer vision, real-time graphics, electronics, or interactive systems.
- Experience working within design, architecture, engineering, construction, fabrication, or other project-based organisations.

About You
- Intellectually honest about the limits of your knowledge and able to recognise when deeper engineering or specialist review is needed.
- Comfortable moving between rapid prototyping and more rigorous engineering.
- Strong communication skills to collaborate with non-specialists and challenge briefs constructively.
- Passionate about building tools that have immediate impact and improve workflows.

Qualifications
- No specific qualifications required; we prioritise technical aptitude, problem-solving ability, and quality of judgement over formal credentials.
- We value demonstrated ability through self-directed work and practical experience.