Design Systems Lead: Coherent UI Across Web & Mobile

Perplexity; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Perplexity is seeking a Design Systems Lead to bootstrap a semantic token system across platforms and frameworks, preserving coherence as we scale. You’ll own the GitHub repo and stay fluent in Figma to keep design and engineering aligned.

In this 50/50 design‑engineering role, you’ll establish standards, accessibility and theming, and drive adoption through documentation, onboarding, and hands‑on support.

Qualifications

• Experience owning design systems at large organizations.
• A true 50/50 design–engineering capability with strong visual craft and code.
• Excellent visual design eye.
• Knowledge of mobile, web, and React UI patterns.

Responsibilities

• Bootstrap and own a semantic token system across platforms and frameworks.
• Own the design system repository on GitHub as the source of truth for components, tokens, and standards.
• Set a high bar for visual quality across surfaces the system touches.
• Encode mobile, web, and React UI best practices into the system.
• Define and govern the contribution model and onboarding for cross‑team contributions.
• Bridge Figma and code to keep design and engineering coherent end‑to‑end.
• Maintain clear documentation and drive system adoption across the org.

Skills

Design systems leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Visual design craft

Ability to operate in ambiguity

Tools

Figma

GitHub

Storybook

Job description

Perplexity is seeking a Design Systems Lead to bootstrap a semantic token system across platforms and frameworks, preserving coherence as we scale. You’ll own the GitHub repo and stay fluent in Figma to keep design and engineering aligned.

In this 50/50 design‑engineering role, you’ll establish standards, accessibility and theming, and drive adoption through documentation, onboarding, and hands‑on support.