Lead Product Designer, Design Systems (Contract Talent)

Into Design Systems; San Ramon (CA); On-site; USD 83,000 - 124,000; Full time

Job summary

Robert Half is seeking a Lead Product Designer, Design Systems (Contract Talent) to drive scalable, accessible design system solutions. The role partners with engineering to evolve a system of reusable components and patterns across products and platforms, ensuring quality and adoption.

The ideal candidate has 5–8+ years in product/UX design, with 3+ years contributing to enterprise design systems, and a strong portfolio demonstrating scalable design patterns and consistent UI across platforms.

Qualifications

• 5–8+ years in Product Design or UX Design.
• 3+ years contributing to and evolving enterprise design systems across multiple products or platforms.
• A portfolio that demonstrates scalable design patterns and accessible experiences across platforms.
• Strong eye for visual craft, interaction quality, and consistency across a complex design system.

Responsibilities

• Translate product and experience needs into scalable design system solutions by evolving reusable components, patterns, foundations, and guidance.
• Partner with engineering to evolve the design system, ensuring scalable, accessible, and globally inclusive solutions.
• Evaluate designs to identify standardization opportunities and decide when to reuse system assets.
• Build partnerships with UX, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Brand to improve the design system experience.
• Lead design system initiatives and contribute to roadmap planning for long-term health and adoption.

Skills

Figma proficiency

Design systems

Accessibility standards

Cross-functional collaboration

Front-end understanding

Component architecture

Education

BA or equivalent in related fields

Tools

HTML/CSS

React

Job description

Robert Half is hiring a Lead Product Designer, Design Systems (Contract Talent) in the Experience Design department. The role focuses on contributing to and evolving enterprise design systems, scaling design across platforms, and improving quality, accessibility, and adoption. The position involves leading strategic design system initiatives, partnering with cross-functional teams including engineering, and stewarding reusable components, patterns, foundations, and guidance. The role is a contract/temporary engagement with an hourly pay range provided.

What you'll do

• Translate product and experience needs into scalable design system solutions by evolving reusable components, patterns, foundations, and guidance.
• Partner closely with engineering to evolve the design system, ensuring solutions are scalable, technically aligned, accessible, globally inclusive, and easy for teams to adopt and implement.
• Evaluate product designs to identify opportunities for standardization and determine when solutions should become reusable system assets versus remain product-specific.
• Build strong partnerships with UX, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Brand, and other cross-functional partners to understand their needs and improve the overall design system experience.
• Lead strategic design system initiatives and contribute to roadmap planning by identifying opportunities that improve the long-term health, quality, and adoption of the system.
• Champion design quality through accessibility reviews, implementation validation, and ongoing system stewardship.
• Partner with front-end engineers to ensure system decisions translate effectively into code with shared ownership of quality, parity, and maintainability.
• Contribute to the evolution of design system governance by evaluating new requests, balancing flexibility with consistency, and helping establish standards.

What they're looking for

• BA or equivalent in related fields.
• 5-8+ years of experience in Product Design or UX Design.
• 3+ years of dedicated experience contributing to and evolving enterprise design systems across multiple products or platforms.
• A portfolio that demonstrates shaping scalable design patterns, systemizing complex UI challenges, and delivering cohesive accessible experiences across platforms.
• A strong eye for visual craft, interaction quality, and detail, with the ability to maintain a high bar for consistency across a complex design system.
• Expert proficiency in Figma, including component architecture, variables, design tokens, Auto Layout, and scalable library management.
• Exceptional knowledge of accessibility standards and commitment to inclusive design.
• Strong understanding of front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, React, or similar) and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineering on implementation.