Design Systems Architect

InSync Systems; Calgary; Hybrid; CAD 165,000 - 248,000; Full time

Job summary

InSync Systems Inc. seeks a Senior Design Systems Architect for a 2-month contract in Calgary, Alberta, with hybrid on-site work and limited remote days. The role focuses on creating a scalable design system for a regulatory web app, token architecture, and an AI-enabled development workflow.

The candidate will lead token strategy, component governance, and design-to-code pipelines, ensuring accessibility and rigorous documentation for handoff to engineering teams.

Qualifications

• University degree in interaction design, human computer interaction, design, computer science, or related discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• Portfolio demonstrating design system work and shipped complex applications is required.
• Certification such as IAAP CPACC or WAS, or Nielsen Norman Group UX certification, is recommended. Demonstrated implementation experience is weighted above certification.
• Demonstrated authorship of a production design system with implemented components.
• Design token architecture experience with semantic layering, theming, and tokens published to code.
• Hands on WCAG 2.2 AA conformance work and accessibility conformance experience.
• Demonstrated use of AI tooling in the design and build workflow to produce shipped work.
• Experience designing complex regulatory apps with multi-step forms and high data density.
• Strong technical writing. Governance of a shared component library across teams.

Responsibilities

• Author the design system for the regulatory web app including tokens, components, layouts, and patterns.
• Translate the design guide into a token architecture with semantic layering, theming, and density variants.
• Define layout standards for multi-step forms, dashboards, maps, and document viewers.
• Define component inventory and usage rules for Material, extensions, and custom builds.
• Publish machine readable tokens, APIs, and usage rules for AI tooling.
• Establish end-to-end AI-assisted design-to-code workflow to Angular Material pages.
• Design AI features with provenance, citations, confidence, and human escalation.
• Define digital adoption patterns and instrumentation to measure task success.
• Governance: versioning, deprecation, breaking changes, CI conformance.
• Coach teams and transfer standards to named owner.

Skills

Design systems

UX/UI design

Accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA)

AI tooling in design

Technical writing

Governance of component libraries

Regulatory app design

Documentation writing

Portfolio of design system work

Education

University degree in interaction design / related

UX certification (IAAP CPACC / Nielsen Norman Group)

Tools

Angular

Angular Material

Job description

We are looking for a Senior Design Systems Architect for a 2-month contract position, with possible extensions in Calgary, Alberta. Must be legally entitled to work in Canada.

This position is a hybrid position primarily on-site in downtown Calgary with 5 days per month remote.

Responsibilities

• Author the Company design system for the regulatory web application, covering design tokens, primitive elements, composite components, layout and page templates, interaction patterns, form and validation behaviour, empty and error states, and content and microcopy standards
• Translate the existing Company design guide into an implementable token architecture with semantic layering (primitive, semantic, and component level tokens), theming, and density variants, so brand compliance is enforced by the tokens rather than by review
• Define layout standards for the page archetypes the regulatory application actually needs, including search and result lists, record detail, multi step submission forms, review and decision queues, dashboards, document viewers, and map and geospatial views
• Define the component inventory and the composition rules, including when to consume a Material component as delivered, when to extend it, when to build custom, and what must never be forked
• Make the design system consumable by AI tooling. Publish machine readable tokens, component APIs, usage rules, worked examples, and pattern descriptions structured so that AI generated mockups and code are compliant on the first pass rather than corrected afterward
• Establish the AI assisted design to code workflow end to end, from prompt or wireframe through to a compliant Angular Material page, including instruction files, guardrails, review gates, and the definition of done that developers and designers work to
• Design the patterns for AI features inside the product experience, including conversational assistance, in context guidance, and generative or predictive help, with explicit treatment of provenance, citation, confidence, correction, human escalation, and failure states
• Define digital adoption patterns: onboarding, progressive disclosure, in product guidance, help content placement, and the instrumentation needed to measure task success, time on task, error rate, and abandonment
• Define the design system governance model: contribution process, versioning and deprecation policy, breaking change handling, and the conformance checks that run in CI
• Build Company capability through coaching, pattern walkthroughs, and developer facing documentation, and transfer each published standard to a named Company owner of record

Required Skills and Experience

• University degree in interaction design, human computer interaction, design, computer science, or a related discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
• A portfolio demonstrating design system work and shipped complex applications is required.
• Certification such as IAAP CPACC or WAS, or Nielsen Norman Group UX certification, is recommended. Demonstrated implementation experience is weighted above certification.
• Demonstrated authorship of a production design system that development teams built from. Experience limited to screen design, style guides, or a Figma library with no implemented component library will not meet this requirement
• Design token architecture experience, including semantic token layering, theming, and tokens published to code as the shared source of truth between design and development
• Hands on WCAG 2.2 AA conformance work: designing to conformance, auditing, remediating, and testing with assistive technology. Awareness of accessibility as a principle without demonstrated conformance work will not meet this requirement
• Demonstrated use of AI tooling in the design and build workflow to produce work that shipped, and the ability to explain how they structured a design system, documentation, or instruction set so that AI generated output was compliant. Casual or exploratory AI use will not meet this requirement
• Experience designing complex transactional or regulatory applications with multi step forms, long lived cases, high data density, and role based views. Marketing or content site experience will not meet this requirement
• Strong technical writing. Standards must be usable by a developer and by an AI coding tool without the author present
• Demonstrated governance of a shared component library across multiple service delivery teams, including versioning, deprecation, and contribution

Recommended Skills and Experience

• Hands on Angular (17+) and Angular Material, including the theming API, the CDK, and packaging and publishing a shared component library
• Experience designing AI features in the interface, such as assistants and chat, retrieval grounded answers with citation and provenance, streaming responses, confidence and uncertainty display, human in the loop review, and hallucination and failure states
• Digital adoption experience: onboarding and walkthrough design, in product guidance, and adoption measurement, including platforms such as WalkMe, Pendo, or Userlane
• Public sector or government design system experience, for example the GC Design System, GOV.UK, Alberta.ca, or USWDS, and familiarity with public facing service obligations
• Design ops tooling: Storybook, visual regression testing, and automated accessibility testing integrated into CI
• Geospatial and map interface patterns, including layer control, feature selection, and attribute display

Please note that while all applications are appreciated, only candidates selected for interview will be contacted.

InSync Systems Inc. is a privately-owned boutique Canadian Resourcing and Consulting Services Company that works closely with a range of corporate clients across multiple industries to bring them solutions that effectively address their business needs.