Lead Design Systems Architect for Interstate & AI

Cox Automotive; Kansas City (MO); On-site; USD 112,000 - 186,000; Full time

Job summary

Cox Automotive in the United States seeks a Lead Product Designer to own the Interstate design system and the shared foundation for Cox Automotive B2B products. You will be the senior-most design voice for Interstate, guiding components, tokens, and patterns across teams.

You will work with product managers, designers, engineers, and the broader org to enable faster, higher‑quality design and AI-assisted tooling. Strong communication and a bias toward shipping with quality are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree + 6 years of related experience.
• Systems thinker who explains patterns and governance across products.
• Obsessed with craft and quality in visuals and interactions.
• High agency and ability to influence without tickets or prompts.
• Biased toward shipping while maintaining quality.
• Clear communicator and teacher who documents decisions clearly.
• Fluent with AI-assisted design and design-system tooling.
• Accessible by default with WCAG-focused mindset.
• Outcome-driven with measurable design impact.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Interstate: guidelines, tokens, components, reusable patterns.
• Set design direction for ambiguous features aligned to product value.
• Define quality bar for design execution, accessibility and usability.
• Create cross-product interaction and visual patterns for multiple user types.
• Define rules for contribution, versioning and deprecation in the system.
• Shape design side of Interstate AI tooling and agent-based UIs.
• Identify gaps, propose fixes, communicate changes across org.
• Mentor other designers through critique and established standards.

Skills

Systems thinker

Craft and quality

High agency

Clear communicator

AI-assisted design

Accessible by default

Outcome driven

Lead design direction

Education

Bachelor's degree in related discipline

Master's degree +4 years experience

Ph.D. +1 year experience

10 years experience

Tools

Figma variables

Style Dictionary

React

HTML/CSS

Job description

Cox Automotive in the United States seeks a Lead Product Designer to own the Interstate design system and the shared foundation for Cox Automotive B2B products. You will be the senior-most design voice for Interstate, guiding components, tokens, and patterns across teams.

You will work with product managers, designers, engineers, and the broader org to enable faster, higher‑quality design and AI-assisted tooling. Strong communication and a bias toward shipping with quality are essential.