Design System Lead – Hybrid

Jobtailor; Vienna (VA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a Lead Platform Design System to champion the strategy, roadmap, and governance of our enterprise-grade design system across the product portfolio. You will set standards, define priorities, and guide cross-functional teams toward scalable, accessible components.

You will partner with product, engineering, UX, accessibility, and enterprise design system teams to ensure consistency, adoption, and high quality.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in design, HCI, CS, information systems, or related field.
• 5+ years in design systems, UX/UI, design ops, or front-end engineering.
• Experience leading or governing design systems for enterprise or large-scale platforms.
• Proficient in HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and React or Vue.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design.
• Experience with Figma, Storybook, Zeroheight.

Responsibilities

• Lead platform design system strategy, roadmap, and governance.
• Drive adoption of tokens, components, patterns, and docs.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, UX, accessibility teams.
• Define governance, contribution models, and implementation standards.
• Evaluate feasibility and work with engineering on reusable components.
• Support CI/CD, versioning, release management, testing, documentation.
• Develop implementation guidance and training using Storybook and Zeroheight.
• Facilitate design-to-development handoffs and cross-functional collaboration.
• Conduct design system audits for adoption, accessibility, consistency, quality.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and delivery speed.
• Monitor trends and update governance and tooling.

Skills

Design systems

UX/UI design

Front-end engineering

Stakeholder management

Communication

Accessibility knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in Design/UX/HCI/CS

Tools

Figma

Storybook

Zeroheight

React

Vue

Job description

• Lead the platform design system strategy, roadmap, and governance in alignment with enterprise standards.
• Drive adoption of approved design tokens, components, patterns, and documentation across the platform.
• Partner with product, engineering, UX, accessibility, and enterprise design system teams to deliver consistent user experiences.
• Define and maintain platform-specific design system governance, contribution models, and implementation standards.
• Evaluate implementation feasibility and collaborate with engineering teams on reusable, scalable, and accessible components.
• Support design system delivery through CI/CD, versioning, release management, testing, and documentation best practices.
• Develop and maintain implementation guidance, documentation, and training materials using tools such as Storybook and Zeroheight.
• Facilitate design-to-development handoffs and improve cross-functional collaboration throughout the product lifecycle.
• Conduct design system audits to evaluate adoption, accessibility, consistency, and overall quality.
• Identify technical and process improvement opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce rework, and improve delivery speed.
• Monitor industry trends and recommend enhancements to design system practices, tooling, and governance.
• Represent platform needs within enterprise design system initiatives and communicate priorities, risks, and recommendations to leadership.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of experience in design systems, UX/UI design, design operations, front-end engineering, or a related discipline.
• Experience leading or governing design systems for enterprise or large-scale digital platforms.
• Working knowledge of HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and modern component frameworks such as React or Vue.
• Experience with design tokens, component libraries, theming, and design system architecture.
• Understanding of CI/CD, version control, release management, and documentation workflows.
• Strong knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design principles.
• Experience with Figma, Storybook, Zeroheight, or similar design and documentation tools.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.
• Ability to translate business, design, and technical requirements into scalable design system solutions.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in leading design system strategies and governance while ensuring alignment with enterprise standards. Proficient in implementing scalable, accessible design solutions and fostering cross-functional collaboration to enhance user experiences.