504 open positions

System Design Jobs with a Great Work-Life Balance

Browse 504+ system design jobs at companies offering unlimited PTO and best places to work—for a better work-life balance. 64 new this week. Hiring companies include ServiceNow, Experian, and DigitalOcean.

Schedules on this page

generous PTO 28
flexible hours 16
unlimited PTO 169
best places to work 240
generous parental leave 22

Updated August 23, 2026

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Distinguished AI Engineer

NEW

Capital One · Remote · USA

86 · Excellent4 Day Work Week (80%)Pro-rata pay~$210k· reduced weekPro · early access

Senior Solution Engineer – GPU & AI Infrastructure

11d

Civo · Remote · UK

92 · Excellent4 Day Work Week

Senior Software Engineer II

1mo

Signifyd · Remote · USA

89 · Excellent4 Day Work Week$170k – $220k

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Senior Backend Engineer

NEW

Zerion · Remote · Europe

64 · GoodFlexible Hours

Senior Software Engineer, Payments Platform

Airbnb · Remote · USA

64 · GoodFlexible Hours

Distinguished Engineer

18d

Capital One · Remote · USA

86 · Excellent4 Day Work Week (80%)Pro-rata pay~$210k· reduced week

GTM Engineer

Pogo · Remote · USA or Canada

62 · GoodUnlimited PTO

Staff Software Engineer, Marketplace Insurance

NEW

Zocdoc · Remote · USA

59 · GoodUnlimited PTO$180k – $270k

Lead Data Engineer - Healthcare Data & Audience Applications

Zeta Global · Remote · USA

59 · GoodUnlimited PTO$180k – $200k

Senior Staff Software Engineer, Interop

Zocdoc · Remote · New York, USA

59 · GoodUnlimited PTO$201k – $304k

Senior Software Engineer, Simple Trade Experience

Coinbase · Remote · USA

62 · GoodUnlimited PTO$186k – $219k

Staff AI Engineer

Acquia · Remote · USA

58 · GoodBest Place to Work$145k – $159k

Staff AI Engineer

Acquia · Remote · Canada

58 · GoodBest Place to Work

Staff Software Engineer, Passport & Commerce (Backend)

Airbnb · Remote · USA

64 · GoodFlexible Hours$212k – $265k

Staff Technical Program Manager

Fivetran · Remote · Europe +2 more

57 · GoodBest Place to Work

Staff Software Engineer, Voice AI Platform

Toast · Remote · USA

58 · GoodBest Place to Work$125k – $254k

Senior Software Engineer

Elastic · Remote · USA

62 · GoodBest Place to Work

Senior Software Developer

Elastic · Remote · Canada

62 · GoodBest Place to Work

Staff Software Engineer, Mobile (App Infrastructure)

Affirm · Remote · Canada

61 · GoodBest Place to Work$181k – $241k

Staff Software Engineer, Mobile (App Infrastructure)

Affirm · Remote · USA

61 · GoodBest Place to Work$20k – $264k

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Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know about 4-day week jobs

Employers hiring for System Design on this page include ServiceNow, Experian, and DigitalOcean. System Design roles appear most frequently in engineering, data, and platform teams at companies that have adopted a reduced-hours schedule. Each listing indicates the seniority level and whether System Design is a primary requirement or one of several preferred skills — expand any role above to see the full stack and responsibilities.

System Design roles span the full seniority range — we list 511 open roles requiring System Design across entry-level, mid-level, senior, lead, and staff/principal positions. Senior and above tend to dominate because employers offering reduced-hours schedules often lean toward experienced individual contributors who can deliver consistently in fewer hours. Filter by level in the sidebar to narrow the list above.

Lead with measurable outcomes over time spent — System Design hiring managers at reduced-hours companies care about delivered value, not hours worked. Highlight projects where you shipped at a steady cadence, collaborated asynchronously, or reduced engineering toil through automation or tooling. Include concrete metrics (latency improvements, adoption numbers, cost reductions) rather than vague duty descriptions. Expand listings above to see the exact framing each employer uses in their job descriptions.

For the full-pay schedules here — 4-day weeks and 9-day fortnights — yes: you keep a full-time salary for a shorter week. Part-time and pro-rata roles instead scale pay to hours, and each listing makes the arrangement clear. System Design roles in tech and data typically command premium rates at both reduced-hours and traditional employers; specific ranges depend on seniority, location, and sub-specialty (e.g. backend vs frontend, infra vs ML). Individual listings above show exact bands where the employer publishes them.

Depends on the role, but System Design candidates who also demonstrate async communication, clean documentation, and cross-functional collaboration are typically strong fits for reduced-hours employers — those companies rely on written-first communication and high-context handoffs to operate on a compressed schedule. Technical-adjacent skills vary by stack. Browse the top skills shown in the sidebar to see which tags co-occur most often with System Design on current listings.

Browse all 504 jobs

System Design Jobs with a Great Work-Life Balance

Browse 504+ system design jobs at companies offering unlimited PTO and best places to work—for a better work-life balance. 64 new this week. Hiring companies include ServiceNow, Experian, and DigitalOcean.

Job listings

Frequently asked questions

Job listings

Frequently asked questions

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