Lead Designer - Design Systems

Idme; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

ID.me seeks a Lead Design Systems Designer to shape our brand across products and platforms. You will bridge product design, brand expression, and systems thinking, ensuring a cohesive and scalable design system that empowers teams during launches and refreshes.

Collaborate with leadership to translate brand concepts into practical, reusable components, maintain governance, and guide designers, engineers, and product teams toward consistent, accessible experiences.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, developing, and maintaining design systems at a senior level.
• Deep knowledge of design theory, systems thinking, and brand expression.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams and manage complex projects.
• Excellent communication skills with stakeholders across technical and non‑technical teams.
• Experience mentoring junior designers and promoting design excellence.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate closely with the CMO, CEO and design leadership to integrate the brand’s values and vision into the design system.
• Apply systems thinking to high-level brand conversations and visualize the brand as a living system across digital and physical touchpoints.
• Translate abstract brand concepts into practical, reusable components that align with brand evolution.
• Ensure the design system acts as a brand representation and a functional toolkit for consistency and UX.
• Lead the transformation of brand values into scalable design elements and governance models.
• Bridge design and product teams to balance brand storytelling with usability and performance.

Skills

Design systems

Brand integration

Leadership

Communication skills

Systems thinking

Tools

Design tokens

Figma libraries

Documentation

Job description

Company Overview

ID.me is the next-generation digital identity wallet that simplifies how individuals securely prove their identity online. Consumers can verify their identity with ID.me once and seamlessly login across websites without having to create a new login and verify their identity again. Over 152 million users experience streamlined login and identity verification with ID.me at 20 federal agencies, 45 state government agencies, and 70+ healthcare organizations. More than 600+ consumer brands use ID.me to verify communities and user segments to honor service and build more authentic relationships. ID.me’s technology meets the federal standards for consumer authentication set by the Commerce Department and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is committed to “No Identity Left Behind” to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. To learn more, visit https://network.id.me/.

ID.me is a full-time, in-office culture. Unless a specific job description explicitly states otherwise, all roles are on-site five days per week at one of our offices in McLean, VA; Mountain View, CA; New York City, NY; or Tampa, FL. Certain roles — such as field-based sales or other remote‑by‑design positions — may have different work arrangements as noted in their individual postings.

At ID.me, we embrace the thoughtful use of AI tools in our daily work and there are even occasions where we leverage AI in our hiring process. However, during the interview process, we want to understand your individual skills and experiences. Therefore, we have guidelines on how AI can be appropriately used during your application and interviews which can be found here.

Role Overview

As a Lead Design Systems Designer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how our brand is experienced across every touchpoint, particularly during periods of brand evolution. You will act as the bridge between product design, brand expression, and systems thinking, ensuring that our brand’s vision is both cohesive and scalable. Working closely with leadership, you will ensure the design system reflects the essence of the brand while empowering teams to create seamless, user‑focused experiences.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Partnership with Leadership

• Collaborate closely with the CMO, CEO and design leadership to integrate the brand’s values and vision into every aspect of the design system.
• Bring a systems‑thinking approach to high‑level brand conversations, helping visualize the brand’s future as a living, dynamic system that adapts across both digital and physical experiences.
• Translate abstract brand concepts—such as tone, character, and purpose—into practical, reusable components that align with the brand’s evolution.
• Ensure the design system serves as both a representation of the brand and a functional toolkit that enhances design consistency and user experience across the organization.

From Brand Essence to Scalable Elements

• Lead the transformation of brand values into scalable design elements, including color systems, typography, motion, iconography, and interaction models.
• Work closely with brand and design teams to refine visual language that represents the brand’s personality while maintaining usability and accessibility.
• Guide the application of design systems through ongoing brand evolution, ensuring consistency and flexibility across teams during new product launches or subtle refreshes.

A Bridge Across Disciplines

• Act as the connector between brand and product teams, balancing the emotional resonance and storytelling of the brand with the usability and functionality needs of product design.
• Ensure the design system embodies the brand’s spirit while not compromising on user‑centered design principles, usability, accessibility, or performance.
• Champion the integration of brand identity into product design without losing sight of business goals, user needs, or technical feasibility.

Scaling Vision Through Systems Thinking

• Develop and maintain frameworks, including design tokens, Figma libraries, and documentation, that scale the brand across various products and platforms.
• Create governance models that ensure the design system is effectively adopted and applied across all teams, empowering them to maintain brand integrity while fostering creative expression.
• Lead the evolution of the design system, continually refining tools and processes to ensure they meet the growing demands of the organization and the user base.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration & Communication

• Act as the primary point of contact for design system‑related initiatives, ensuring that design teams, engineering, and product teams collaborate effectively to implement system components.
• Clearly articulate design decisions and strategies to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, ensuring alignment and securing buy‑in for the design system.
• Foster an open, collaborative environment that encourages continuous feedback, iteration, and refinement of the design system.

Design Excellence & Process Improvement

• Uphold the highest standards of design quality, ensuring that the design system is both aesthetically compelling and functionally efficient.
• Lead the development of best practices and processes for system adoption, ensuring that every component is well‑documented, easy to use, and adaptable across teams.
• Foster a culture of innovation within the design team, staying at the forefront of emerging design trends and technologies, and applying them to enhance the design system.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, developing, and maintaining design systems at a senior level, with a focus on brand integration and scalability.
• Deep knowledge of design theory, systems thinking, and brand expression, with the ability to translate abstract concepts into tangible, scalable design solutions.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams and manage complex projects from inception through execution, balancing both creative and practical considerations.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex ideas clearly and persuasively to diverse stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring and guiding junior designers, promoting a culture of design excellence and continuous learning.

Key Traits

• Ownership: Takes full responsibility for shaping the brand’s visual and experiential identity through the design system.
• Leadership: Leads by example, guiding design teams and stakeholders to ensure the design system is adopted and applied effectively across the organization.
• Strategic Vision: Drives the long‑term evolution of the brand’s design system, ensuring it remains aligned with company goals and user needs.
• Empathy: Advocates for the end user and the brand, ensuring that design decisions balance both emotional resonance and functional excellence.

The annual base salary listed does not include a company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity and benefits which will be determined based on experience, skills, education, relevant training, geographic location and role.

ID.me offers comprehensive medical, dental, vision, health savings account, flexible spending accounts (medical, limited purpose, dependent care, commuter benefit accounts), basic and voluntary life and AD&D insurance, 401(k) with company match, parental leave, ability to participate in unlimited paid time off subject to the terms and conditions of the PTO policy, including 8 company wide holidays, short and long-term disability insurance, accident and critical illness insurance, referral bonus policy, employee assistance program, pet insurance, travel assistant program, wellbeing and childcare discounts, benefit advocates, and a learning and development benefit.

Final offers may vary from the amount listed based on qualifications, professional experiences, skills, education, relevant training, geographic location, and other job related factors.

Mountain View, CA Pay Range

$200,000 — $250,000 USD

ID.me maintains a work environment free from discrimination, where employees are treated with dignity and respect. All ID.me employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling our commitment to equal employment opportunity. ID.me does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. ID.me adheres to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, ID.me's policy is to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works. Upon request we will provide you with more information about such accommodations.

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