Design Systems Lead

Perplexity; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a Design Systems Lead who will own an extensive semantic token system across platforms and frameworks. You will work 50/50 in design and engineering, primarily in GitHub while staying fluent in Figma to keep design and code aligned.

You’ll set standards for visual quality, accessibility, and documentation to scale the system across orgs. You’ll collaborate with product feature teams across mobile, web, and React surfaces, define governance, and drive adoption through

Qualifications

• Extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations.
• Hybrid role blending design craft and engineering with credible code skills.
• Impeccable eye for visual design and system quality.
• Deep understanding of mobile, web, and React UI differences.
• Strong product sense to evaluate and integrate contributions across teams.
• Fluency in Figma, with primary work in GitHub repository ownership.
• Experience designing semantic tokens and scalable component APIs.
• Proven ability to document and drive adoption across an org.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and accessibility‑first thinking.
• Comfort with ambiguity and adoption of AI tooling in workflows.

Responsibilities

• Bootstrap and own a semantic token system that works across platforms and frameworks.
• Own the design system repo on GitHub as source of truth for components, tokens, and standards, including versioning and changelog.
• Set and uphold a high bar for visual design quality across surfaces the system touches.
• Align mobile, web, and React UI best practices within the system.
• Define and run the contribution model and governance for inbound team contributions.
• Keep design and engineering in sync, bridging Figma and code for end‑to‑end coherence.
• Own clear, first‑class documentation to drive adoption across the org via onboarding and office hours.
• Bake in accessibility (WCAG) and theming (including dark mode) as defaults.
• Maintain a system roadmap balancing new work, migrations, and deprecations.
• Bring new AI tooling into the design systems workflow and shape AI‑native systems.

Skills

Design systems

Designer‑Engineer

Semantic tokens

Figma

GitHub

Accessibility WCAG

Documentation

AI tooling

Cross‑functional partnering

React/UI systems

Tools

Storybook

Job description

About the role

We're seeking a Design Systems Lead with extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations. You'll bootstrap an intuitive semantic token system that supports design and product teams across multiple platforms and frameworks - the foundation that keeps Perplexity's product coherent as we scale.

This is a true 50/50 design-engineer role. You'll live primarily in GitHub, where you own the system's repo, while staying fluent in Figma so design and engineering never drift apart. You'll set the bar for visual quality and the technical standards that let feature teams move fast without fragmenting the experience.

You'll work at the intersection of design and engineering, partnering with product feature teams across mobile, web, and React surfaces.

What you'll do

• Bootstrap and own an intuitive semantic token system that works across multiple platforms and frameworks

• Own the design system repo on GitHub: the source of truth for components, tokens, and standards, including versioning, release management, and a clear changelog

• Set and uphold a high bar for visual design quality across every surface the system touches

• Navigate the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices, and encode them into the system

• Define and run the contribution model and governance: review and shepherd inbound contributions from product feature teams, keeping quality and consistency high as the system grows

• Keep design and engineering in sync, bridging Figma and code so the system stays coherent end-to-end

• Own clear, first-class documentation so teams can adopt components and tokens on their own, and drive adoption across the org through onboarding, office hours, and hands‑on support

• Bake in accessibility (WCAG) and theming (including dark mode) as defaults, not afterthoughts

• Maintain a system roadmap, balancing net-new work, migrations, and deprecations against feature‑team needs

• Bring new AI tooling into the design systems workflow and help shape how we build systems in an AI‑native way

• Operate with autonomy in a fast‑moving, ambiguous environment

What we're looking for

• Extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations

• A true 50/50 design‑engineer, equally credible in visual craft and in code

• An impeccable eye for visual design

• Deep understanding of the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices

• Strong product sensibilities to help evaluate and integrate contributions from various product feature teams

• Fluency in Figma, but primarily living in GitHub where you own the repo

• Experience designing and maintaining semantic design tokens and scalable component APIs

• A track record of driving adoption through excellent documentation and cross‑functional partnership

• Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system

• Readiness to work with new AI tooling and genuine comfort with ambiguity

Nice to have

• Experience building a semantic token system from scratch across multiple platforms

• A track record scaling a design system through a period of fast org growth

• Experience defining contribution models and governance for multi‑team design systems

• Familiarity with component tooling and documentation platforms (e.g., Storybook)

• Experience mentoring designers and engineers and growing a design systems practice