Lead UX Designer, Design Systems

Into Design Systems; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

The Design Systems and Practices Team at Vanguard seeks a Principal/Lead UX Designer to provide hands‑on design leadership for the Advisor Experience System (AXS). You’ll set technical direction and craft quality standards for the shared design system.

Collaborating with product and engineering, you translate complex needs into reusable, accessible solutions, define component architecture, and guide documentation, tokens, and templates to scale across platforms.

Qualifications

• Significant UX and product design experience in enterprise design systems or scaled pattern ecosystems.
• Expert knowledge of reusable system design including components, variants, tokens, patterns, and documentation.
• Strong visual and interaction design craft across typography, layout, hierarchy, and responsive behavior.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical design and evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, templates, and system foundations.
• Translate complex product needs into reusable, accessible, scalable solutions.
• Own component and pattern architecture including states, behavior, and responsive considerations.
• Set a high bar for interaction and systems design quality across the library.
• Lead design reviews and help decisions when requirements or constraints clash.
• Partner with front-end engineers to ensure design and code alignment in production.
• Create and maintain clear documentation, usage guidance, and examples for designers and developers.
• Identify gaps and opportunities to simplify the system before they become problems.

Skills

Design system leadership

UX design integration

Figma proficiency

Component architecture

Accessibility in system design

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Figma

Design tokens

Documentation tooling

Job description

The Design Systems and Practices Team (DS+P) at Vanguard is hiring a Principal/Lead UX Designer to provide hands‑on design leadership for the Advisor Experience System (AXS), FAS's shared design system. The role focuses on setting technical and craft direction, solving complex design problems, and raising system quality through component, pattern, token, template, and documentation work. The position is hybrid based in Malvern, PA or Charlotte, NC with on-campus expectations Tuesday–Thursday and remote Monday and Friday. Vanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position.

What you'll do

• Lead the technical design and continued evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, templates, and system foundations.
• Translate complex product and experience needs into reusable, accessible, scalable, and practical-to-implement solutions.
• Own complex component and pattern architecture, including variants, states, behaviors, responsive considerations, and composition.
• Establish a high bar for interaction, visual, and systems design quality across the library.
• Lead design reviews and help the team make sound decisions when requirements, use cases, or technical constraints compete.
• Partner closely with front-end engineers to keep design and code aligned, resolve implementation questions, and ensure the system works as intended.
• Create and maintain clear documentation, usage guidance, specifications, and examples that help designers and developers use the system correctly.
• Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities to simplify the system before they become larger problems.

What they're looking for

• Significant UX and product design experience, including deep experience building or evolving enterprise design systems, component libraries, or scaled pattern ecosystems.
• Expert knowledge of reusable system design, including components, variants, properties, tokens, patterns, templates, and documentation.
• Strong visual and interaction design craft, with excellent judgment across typography, layout, hierarchy, behavior, responsiveness, and content patterns.
• Experience designing complex components and accounting for states, edge cases, accessibility requirements, and implementation constraints.
• Strong command of Figma, including variables, modes, component architecture, library management, prototyping, and modern design-system workflows.
• Experience working closely with engineers to evaluate feasibility, clarify intended behavior, and maintain alignment between design and code.
• A practical understanding of front-end concepts and how design decisions translate into production experiences.
• Deep knowledge of accessibility and an ability to incorporate it into system architecture rather than treating it as a final review step.