Design Systems Lead

Braintrust; United States; Remote; USD 145,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Colgate Palmolive is seeking an experienced Design Systems Lead to own strategy, evolution, and execution of design systems across its digital commerce ecosystem. This senior leadership role requires governance, alignment across Design, Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders, and managing a multi-brand, multi-platform portfolio.

The role focuses on scalable component libraries, design tokens, and global UI standards, with collaboration across product, engineering, and marketing to

Qualifications

• 10+ years UI/Product Design experience.
• Experience leading design systems at enterprise scale.
• Experience managing multi-brand, multi-platform initiatives.
• Deep expertise in design systems architecture and governance.
• Strong collaboration with product, engineering, and business leaders.
• Knowledge of accessibility and frontend development workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the design systems team across brands.
• Own vision, strategy, architecture, and roadmap.
• Develop scalable, themeable component libraries and tokens.
• Establish governance, processes, and best practices.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and executives.
• Drive delivery, resourcing, prioritization, and stakeholder communication.
• Champion design excellence and continuous improvement.

Skills

UI/Product Design

Design Systems Leadership

Design Tokens

Governance

Cross-functional Collaboration

Multi-brand / Multi-platform

Ecommerce & Responsive Design

Accessibility

Leadership

Stakeholder Management

Tools

Shopify

React-based component libraries

Job description

• Rate: $105 – $120/hr
• Hours: 40 hours / week
• Experience: 10+ years
• Location: North America | Europe + 1 more

Preferred location: NYC or NJ

We're looking for an experienced Design Systems Lead to own the strategy, evolution, and execution of design systems across Colgate's digital commerce ecosystem, spanning B2C, B2B, and multiple brands and platforms. This is a senior leadership role responsible for managing the broader design systems team, establishing governance and standards, and driving alignment across Design, Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders.

What You'll Do

• Lead and manage the design systems team, overseeing designers, specialists, and QA resources across multiple workstreams
• Own the design systems vision, strategy, architecture, and roadmap across B2C, B2B, and multi-brand digital experiences
• Drive the development and evolution of scalable, reusable, and themeable component libraries, design tokens, and UI standards
• Establish design system governance, processes, and best practices to ensure consistency, accessibility, quality, and adoption across teams
• Partner with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and business leadership to align priorities, translate business needs into design initiatives, and manage cross-functional dependencies
• Oversee delivery across design system initiatives, including resource allocation, prioritization, implementation quality, and stakeholder communication
• Champion design excellence, operational efficiency, and continuous improvement across the digital experience ecosystem

Requirements

• 10+ years of UI/Product Design experience, including significant design systems leadership experience
• Proven track record leading design teams and complex, enterprise-scale design systems initiatives
• Deep expertise in design systems architecture, component libraries, design tokens, theming, and governance
• Experience managing multi-brand, multi-platform design systems across B2C and/or B2B environments
• Strong understanding of eCommerce, responsive design, accessibility, and front-end development workflows
• Excellent people leadership, stakeholder management, strategic planning, and cross-functional collaboration skills
• Ability to balance long-term design systems strategy with day-to-day team execution and delivery

Nice to have: Experience with Shopify, React-based component libraries, enterprise eCommerce platforms, and global consumer brands.

Company: Colgate Palmolive