Design System Lead - Product & Engineering

Shift4; Tampa (FL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Shift4 seeks a Design System Lead to own the design system end-to-end, from token architecture to AI-assisted tooling that closes the gap between Figma and production. You will define what should be standardized across platforms and lead migration to a unified system across web, mobile, and POS products in a high-autonomy role.

Based onsite in Tampa, FL, with opportunities to work across locations. Relocation assistance may be available.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in Product Design, Design Systems, or UX Engineering roles.
• Proven track record building, evolving, and implementing production-ready design systems at scale.
• Deep expertise in token architecture, theming, component variants, accessibility, and cross-platform design systems.
• Strong Figma skills and understanding of design system best practices, governance, and design-to-code workflows.
• Hands-on experience with React, ShadCN, and Tailwind CSS, as well as Kotlin/Jetpack Compose and Material 3, with a strong understanding of how design system components, tokens, and patterns are implemented in production code.

Responsibilities

• Assess the current state of our design systems across design and engineering, identify gaps and duplication, and establish a practical roadmap for unification, migration, and ongoing governance.
• Own, evolve, and consolidate our design system foundations across web, mobile, and POS products.
• Define and maintain scalable token architecture, component libraries, theming, accessibility standards, and cross-platform patterns.
• Lead the migration of existing and legacy interfaces to the shared design system, using AI-assisted tools and workflows to accelerate the process at scale.
• Drive design-to-code alignment between Figma and production, establishing practical workflows that connect design, design system code, and production.
• Partner closely with engineers to translate design system foundations into production, accelerate component migration, identify inconsistencies, and improve adoption across products.
• Identify and implement AI-assisted opportunities to automate repetitive design system work, including audits, component mapping, documentation, and migration.
• Establish clear design system standards and review mechanisms that prevent teams from creating redundant or non-compliant components and ensure new work aligns with the shared system.
• Work closely with Product and Engineering leads to ensure the design system accelerates product development rather than creating additional processes or rework.
• Mentor designers on implementation-aware design, token usage, systems thinking, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Create practical documentation, examples, and guidelines that help product teams correctly adopt and extend the design system.

Skills

Figma

AI-assisted workflows

Design systems

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Tools

React

ShadCN

Tailwind CSS

Kotlin/Jetpack Compose

Material 3

Storybook

Style Dictionary

Job description

Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) is boldly redefining commerce by simplifying complex payments ecosystems across the world. As the leader in commerce-enabling technology, Shift4 powers billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses in virtually every industry. For more information, visit www.shift4.com.

Design System Lead - Product & Engineering

Summary

Our Product Design team works across multiple product lines, from web and SaaS to Android and POS hardware, as we move toward a shared foundation. We are looking for a Design System Lead to lead the next evolution of that foundation. You will own the design system end-to-end, from token architecture and component governance to AI-assisted tooling that closes the gap between Figma and production. You will define what should be standardized across platforms and what should remain platform-specific, creating a cohesive product experience without forcing a single technical implementation. This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role at the intersection of systems design, front-end engineering, and modern AI workflows.

This role is onsite and can be based at any of the following Shift4 locations: Tampa, FL (preferred) / Atlanta, GA / Center Valley, PA. Relocation assistance may be available.

Responsibilities

• Assess the current state of our design systems across design and engineering, identify gaps and duplication, and establish a practical roadmap for unification, migration, and ongoing governance.
• Own, evolve, and consolidate our design system foundations across web, mobile, and POS products.
• Define and maintain scalable token architecture, component libraries, theming, accessibility standards, and cross-platform patterns.
• Lead the migration of existing and legacy interfaces to the shared design system, using AI-assisted tools and workflows to accelerate the process at scale.
• Drive design-to-code alignment between Figma and production, establishing practical workflows that connect design, design system code, and production.
• Partner closely with engineers to translate design system foundations into production, accelerate component migration, identify inconsistencies, and improve adoption across products.
• Identify and implement AI-assisted opportunities to automate repetitive design system work, including audits, component mapping, documentation, and migration.
• Establish clear design system standards and review mechanisms that prevent teams from creating redundant or non-compliant components and ensure new work aligns with the shared system.
• Work closely with Product and Engineering leads to ensure the design system accelerates product development rather than creating additional processes or rework.
• Mentor designers on implementation-aware design, token usage, systems thinking, and AI-enabled workflows.
• Create practical documentation, examples, and guidelines that help product teams correctly adopt and extend the design system.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in Product Design, Design Systems, or UX Engineering roles.
• Proven track record building, evolving, and implementing production-ready design systems at scale.
• Deep expertise in token architecture, theming, component variants, accessibility, and cross-platform design systems.
• Strong Figma skills and understanding of design system best practices, governance, and design-to-code workflows.
• Hands-on experience with React, ShadCN, and Tailwind CSS, as well as Kotlin/Jetpack Compose and Material 3, with a strong understanding of how design system components, tokens, and patterns are implemented in production code.
• Demonstrated ability to use AI-assisted tools to accelerate design system work, including migration, auditing, component generation or mapping, documentation, and design-to-code workflows.
• Strong understanding of front-end implementation and the ability to collaborate directly with engineers on production design system components.
• Clear communicator who can align design and engineering around shared conventions and technical constraints.

Nice‑to‑have

• Experience in fintech, commerce, POS, or SaaS product environments.
• Experience migrating legacy design systems or products to a new unified system.
• Experience using AI to automate or accelerate design system implementation, auditing, and migration.
• Experience contributing directly to design system code or front-end repositories.
• Experience with Storybook, Style Dictionary, or other token pipeline tooling.
• Background in prototyping advanced or AI‑assisted user experiences.
• Comfort working with payment terminal UI constraints and hardware-specific design patterns.

What Success Looks Like

• Legacy products have a clear path toward the shared design foundation, with migration prioritized based on product impact and engineering feasibility.
• The shared design system is successfully adopted across web, mobile, and POS products, with legacy experiences progressively migrated to the new foundation.
• Product teams ship faster because the design system accelerates decisions instead of creating rework.
• Figma and production stay tightly aligned, with designers and engineers working from a consistent source of truth.
• AI‑assisted workflows meaningfully accelerate design system migration, auditing, documentation, and design-to-code workflows.
• The design team produces more consistent, implementation‑aware work.
• New features move from concept to production faster without sacrificing UX quality.
• The system has modern, maintainable foundations that scale as Shift4 adds products, platforms, and people.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.