Design Systems Lead — Architecting Coherent, AI-Driven UX

Into Design Systems; New York (NY); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Ramp is seeking a Design Systems Lead to build the foundations of Ramp so designers, engineers, and agents can produce coherent, usable experiences. You will lead and develop the design systems team, own the system vision, and stay hands-on by prototyping and coding.

You will elevate visual and interaction design, craft reusable patterns, guide cross‑functional architecture with engineering and AI teams, and create workflows that ship ideas faster with fewer rework.

Qualifications

• Experience leading and developing design or design engineering teams with a track record of direction and outcomes.
• Exceptional visual and interaction design skills with a clear point of view and attention to detail.
• Deep systems thinking and experience building widely adopted design systems.
• Proficiency prototyping and building in code; ability to discuss front-end architecture with engineers.
• Active, hands-on use of AI to improve design workflows and product outcomes.
• Ability to translate design principles into reusable patterns and quality checks.
• Strong product judgment; stay close to user workflows and business goals.
• Comfort creating clarity in ambiguity and maintaining momentum without compromising quality.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the design systems team: set priorities, ownership, and goals; give direct, timely feedback; hold people accountable.
• Own the system’s vision and direction; decide what to preserve, evolve, simplify, or replace and turn that direction into focused work the team can deliver.
• Elevate Ramp’s visual and interaction design, including typography, hierarchy, density, motion, responsive behavior, accessibility, and states beyond the happy path.
• Translate design principles into reusable patterns, reference experiences, composition rules, and guidance that people and agents can use without a designer present.
• Guide technical architecture with engineering across components, tokens, agent discovery of guidance, interface composition, and checks; balance flexibility, coherence, performance, and ease of use.
• Stay hands-on: build prototypes, work in code, and engage with implementation details to test ideas, unblock the team, and find system failures.
• Define and measure quality by building repeatable evaluations grounded in real tasks and measuring whether builders can ship better work faster with less rework.
• Improve the path from idea to shipped experience by partnering with engineering and AI teams on workflows that support exploration, iteration, and production safeguards.

Skills

Leadership in design teams

Visual and interaction design

Systems thinking

Prototyping in code

AI in design workflows

Design principles to patterns

Product judgment

Ambiguity management

Job description

Ramp is seeking a Design Systems Lead to build the foundations of Ramp so designers, engineers, and agents can produce coherent, usable experiences. You will lead and develop the design systems team, own the system vision, and stay hands-on by prototyping and coding.

You will elevate visual and interaction design, craft reusable patterns, guide cross‑functional architecture with engineering and AI teams, and create workflows that ship ideas faster with fewer rework.