Design System Lead: Strategy, Governance & Adoption (Hybrid)

Brooklyn Arts Council; Vienna (VA); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 91,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vis

Employer-Paid Life Insurance

Employer-Paid Short-Term and Long-Term

401(k)

Paid Time Off (PTO) including Vacation

Educational Assistance

Job summary

BRMi is seeking a Design System Lead to guide strategy, governance, and adoption of the design system across an assigned product platform. You will partner with design, engineering, product, accessibility, and enterprise teams to ensure scalable, accessible, and consistent digital experiences.

The role translates enterprise standards into practical guidance, documentation, and governance while driving adoption across product teams. Minimum 5+ years in related fields are preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, CS, IS, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 5+ years of experience in design systems, UX/UI design, design operations, front-end engineering, or 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.

Responsibilities

• 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.

Skills

Design systems

UX/UI design

Leadership

Collaboration

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, CS, IS, or related field

Tools

HTML

CSS/SCSS

JavaScript/TypeScript

React

Vue

Job description

BRMi is seeking a Design System Lead to guide strategy, governance, and adoption of the design system across an assigned product platform. You will partner with design, engineering, product, accessibility, and enterprise teams to ensure scalable, accessible, and consistent digital experiences.

The role translates enterprise standards into practical guidance, documentation, and governance while driving adoption across product teams. Minimum 5+ years in related fields are preferred.