Manager, Design Systems

Schlage Lock Company LLC; Golden (CO); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Generous paid time off

Job summary

Allegion is seeking a Manager, Design Systems in Golden, CO to own the design system repository and governance. Lead 1–3 designers/engineers, collaborate with product and software teams, and ensure accessibility and AI-assisted workflows.

You will build reusable components and maintain standards across products in a hybrid work environment. The role requires 8+ years in design systems/UX/frontend, strong leadership, Figma proficiency, and GitHub experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design, HCI, CS, or related field.
• 8+ years in design systems, UX, or frontend.
• Experience leading designers or engineers.
• Proficiency with GitHub workflows and code reviews.
• Figma proficiency for component design and systems.

Responsibilities

• Own the shared design system repository, including GitHub workflows and component releases.
• Coordinate with engineering on building, reviewing, and releasing coded components.
• Keep the Figma library and coded components in sync.
• Define and maintain contribution standards, versioning, and deprecation practices.
• Run the defect resolution process with named owners.
• Build accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) into component standards.
• Train designers and engineers to use these workflows and review AI output.
• Create documentation, onboarding, and demos to promote the design system.

Skills

Leadership / people management

Design systems experience

Frontend familiarity

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design / HCI / CS

Tools

Figma

GitHub

Design tokens tooling

Job description

Creating Peace of Mind by Pioneering Safety and Security At Allegion, we help keep the people you know and love safe and secure where they live, work and visit. With more than 40 brands, 14,000+ employees globally and products sold in 130 countries, we specialize in security around the doorway and beyond. Additionally, Allegion is proud to be recognized with the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) for the third consecutive year, earning distinction in both the employee engagement and strengths categories. This year, Allegion also received Gallup’s With Distinction honor — a designation reserved for a select group of organizations that go above and beyond in building exceptional workplace cultures.

Creating Peace of Mind by Pioneering Safety and Security At Allegion, we help keep the people you know and love safe and secure where they live, work and visit. With more than 40 brands, 14,000+ employees globally and products sold in 130 countries, we specialize in security around the doorway and beyond. Additionally, Allegion is proud to be recognized with the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) for the third consecutive year, earning distinction in both the employee engagement and strengths categories. This year, Allegion also received Gallup’s With Distinction honor — a designation reserved for a select group of organizations that go above and beyond in building exceptional workplace cultures.

Manager, Design Systems - Golden, CO

The Allegion User Experience team is seeking a Manager, Design Systems to own the technical operation of our design system and to lead the people who build and maintain it. As part of the Global Software Solutions (GSS) UX team, you will work closely with product managers, software developers, designers, and researchers so that the design system is a dependable foundation for our mobile and web software. This is a people-management role within UX, leading one to three direct reports (designers and/or engineers, depending on team needs). You will be a technically capable leader who operationalizes the system, not the person who builds every component.

Product designers contribute components under the governance you set, and engineering partners review and approve code. Allegion has invested in its design system. The next step is keeping it healthy and useful at scale: maintained coded components, clear standards, a reliable defect process, and AI-assisted workflows that help designers and engineers deliver faster and more consistently. This role provides the dedicated technical ownership that makes that possible.

Creating Peace of Mind by Pioneering Safety and Security At Allegion, we help keep the people you know and love safe and secure where they live, work and visit. With more than 40 brands, 14,000+ employees globally and products sold in 130 countries, we specialize in security around the doorway and beyond. Additionally, Allegion is proud to be recognized with the 2026 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award (GEWA) for the third consecutive year, earning distinction in both the employee engagement and strengths categories. This year, Allegion also received Gallup’s With Distinction honor — a designation reserved for a select group of organizations that go above and beyond in building exceptional workplace cultures.

Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States. The company does not intend to provide sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B, TN, etc.) for this employment position.

Hybrid

Hybrid: At Allegion, we are driven by a bold vision: redefining safety while empowering our employees to thrive. When you join our team, you become part of a culture that values innovation, purpose, and excellence. This role offers the benefits of our dynamic hybrid work model—combining in-person collaboration for meaningful moments with the flexibility of remote work. Since hybrid arrangements can vary based on the needs of the individual, team and business, your talent acquisition partner will provide specific hybrid details about this role. We are committed to fostering a healthy work-life balance and building meaningful connections, ensuring you have the tools, resources, and support needed to excel in any environment. Together, we’ll unlock your potential and create a lasting impact. While this is the current structure and we currently have no plans to change, we reserve the right to make changes to the hybrid schedule as needed at the Company’s discretion.

What You Will Do

• Own the shared design system repository, including GitHub workflows, pull requests, reviews, and component releases.
• Coordinate with engineering on building, reviewing, and releasing coded components, and set clear expectations for contributors.
• Keep the Figma library and the coded components in sync.
• Define and maintain contribution standards, versioning, and deprecation practices.
• Run the defect resolution process: how issues are reported, triaged, fixed, reviewed, and released, with named owners.
• Build accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) into component standards and review.
• Build and maintain reusable agent skills (for example in Claude Code) that generate, check, and document components to our standards.
• Establish code review practices and guardrails for AI-generated code.
• Train designers and engineers to use these workflows and to review AI output.
• Create documentation, onboarding, and demos, and advocate for the design system across products.
• Define and report metrics on the health of the system, including adoption, reuse, and duplicated work.
• Manage and coach one to three direct reports, and manage external contractors where used.
• Partner with UX leadership, product, and engineering to align design system priorities with product roadmaps.

What You Need to Succeed

• Bachelor’s degree in Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of experience in design systems, design engineering, UX, or front-end development, including 2+ years leading people or teams.
• Experience working in a shared code repository on GitHub: branching, pull requests, code review, and releases.
• Figma proficiency (components, variables, auto layout).
• Advanced component creation is not required.
• Experience with design token tooling and native mobile guidelines (Apple Human Interface Guidelines, Material Design).
• Front-end proficiency (HTML, CSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and a component framework such as React) sufficient to build components and review others’ code.
• Technical proficiency in component-based UI development across web and/or native mobile platforms, with the ability to collaborate effectively with engineers, evaluate implementation quality, and guide reusable component architecture.
• Experience defining design system governance: contribution, versioning, defect handling, and deprecation.
• Working fluency with Jira.
• Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2 AA).
• Strong communication and stakeholder collaboration skills, including the ability to influence engineering and product partners without direct authority.

Preferred

• Experience implementing AI coding agents, reusable agent skills, or automated design-to-code workflows.
• Experience managing contractors or vendors.
• Experience in connected-device, security, or access-control software.

Success Measures

• Increase adoption of shared components across targeted products.
• Contribution standards and versioning practices are published and in use.
• Improve component release predictability and defect resolution time.
• The repository workflow is documented, with regular, reviewed component releases.
• Establish measurable design-to-development efficiency improvements.
• Demonstrate practical value from AI-assisted workflows through a pilot and expand successful practices.
• Team proficiency in GitHub and AI-output review improves.

Why Work for Us

Allegion is a Great Place to Grow your Career if: You’re seeking a rewarding opportunity that allows you to truly help others. With thousands of employees and customers around the world, there’s plenty of room to make an impact. As our values state, “this is your business, run with it”. You’re looking for a company that will invest in your professional development. As we grow, we want you to grow with us. You want a culture that promotes work-life balance. Our employees enjoy generous paid time off, because at Allegion we recognize that you have a full life outside of work