Lead Product Designer - Design Systems

The Stepstone Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative firm is seeking a Lead Product Designer to elevate their design system, ensuring it supports best-in-class practices. In this pivotal role, you will champion design excellence, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and mentor designers to foster a culture of creativity and performance. With a focus on accessibility and usability, you will drive critical initiatives that shape the future of product design, making a real impact on both consumer and enterprise solutions. Join this dynamic team and help redefine the design landscape in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Benefits

29 days holiday allowance + bank holidays

Private medical and dental healthcare

Pension contribution up to 10%

Training and development opportunities

Cycle to work scheme

In-house Barista

Bring your dog to the office!

Qualifications

• Experience in leading design system initiatives across teams.
• Proven track record of delivering scalable design solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the evolution of the design system for best practices.
• Mentor designers and promote a culture of innovation.

Skills

Design Leadership

Prototyping

Design Systems

User Research

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Design or related field

Master's Degree in Design or related field

Tools

Figma

Sketch

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

• Legal Entity: The Stepstone Group UK Ltd

Company Description

At The Stepstone Group, we have a simple yet very important mission: The right job for everyone. Using our data, platform, and technology, we create opportunities for job seekers and companies around the world to find a perfect match, in fair and equitable way. With over 20 brands across 30+ countries, we strive for fair and unbiased hiring.

Join our team of 4,000+ employees and be part of reshaping the labour market and becoming the world’s leading job-tech platform.

We’re a community here that cares as much about your life outside work as how you feel when you’re with us. Because your job shouldn’t take over your life, it should enrich it. Here are some of the benefits we offer:

• 29 days holiday allowance + bank holidays
• Private medical and dental healthcare
• Pension contribution up to 10%
• Training and development opportunities
• Cycle to work scheme
• In house Barista
• and you can bring your dog to the office!

Job Description

Design at Stepstone

Find the right job for everyone – Our mission reflects how design has been part of our DNA for more than a decade. Our product design organisation has evolved through this time and today we are a team of 30+ designers including Design Operations, Design System and Design Foundation roles. We are also part of a wider design organisation including our dedicated User Research team of +10 people.

As a product design team, we have designers in key senior leadership positions and therefore you will always have support pushing for strategical initiatives across the business.

We are spread across both the B2C and B2B sides of the business, providing an end-to-end experience, for both candidates and recruiters alike.

The Role

This is a critical leadership role within our design system team. As a Lead Product Designer, Design Systems, you will provide thought leadership, champion design excellence, and define innovative approaches to elevate our design system as a cornerstone of product development.

You’ll be responsible for advancing the quality, scalability, and adoption of our design system across the organisation, partnering closely with design, product, and engineering leaders. This role combines hands-on design expertise with strategic vision to ensure our design system evolves to meet the needs of teams and users.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the evolution of our design system, ensuring it supports best-in-class design and development practices.
• Define and maintain design principles, patterns, and components that drive consistency, accessibility, and efficiency across all products.
• Elevate the craft of design across the organisation through your leadership and contributions to the system.
• Drive critical design system initiatives across multiple teams, ensuring alignment and collaboration.
• Mentor and guide designers within the organisation to build a culture of excellence and innovation.

Day to Day

• Report directly to our Design Operations Manager overseeing the design system team.
• Collaborate with design, product, and engineering teams to define and implement scalable design solutions.
• Craft clear, modular, and reusable components that solve real problems for real users while empowering product teams to build better experiences faster.
• Input into the strategy for scaling the design system, ensuring alignment with long-term business goals and user needs.
• Champion accessibility, usability, and performance in all aspects of the design system.
• Conduct workshops and lead discussions to promote system adoption and education across teams.
• Prototype innovative solutions and demonstrate how the design system can inspire new possibilities.

Qualifications

Ideal Candidate

• Track Record of Impact: You’ve shipped scalable design system solutions that have driven real impact in both consumer and enterprise products.
• Craft and Clarity: You bring exceptional design craft and can connect user needs and insights with elegant, modular solutions.
• System Innovator: You have a proven ability to evolve design languages and lead the innovation of design systems.
• Storyteller and Educator: You can effectively communicate the value of the design system to diverse stakeholders and bring them on the journey.
• Prototyping Expertise: You excel at bringing concepts to life and inspiring teams through prototyping.
• Leadership Aptitude: You can guide teams, mentor junior designers, and foster a collaborative, high-performing culture.

Additional Information

Our Commitment

Equal opportunities are important to us. We believe that diversity and inclusion at The Stepstone Group are critical to our success as a global company, so we want to recruit, develop, and keep the best talent. We encourage applications from everyone, regardless of background, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, ethnicity, belief, age, family or parental status, and any other characteristic.