Principal UX Designer, Design Systems Architect

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

Job summary

Vanguard is seeking a Principal UX Designer to provide hands-on design leadership for the Advisor Experience System (AXS). The role sets technical and craft direction, solves complex design problems, and partners with engineers across Vanguard. Hybrid work in Malvern, PA or Charlotte, NC with on-campus Tue–Thu and remote Mon–Fri.

Visa sponsorship is not offered. The candidate will lead evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, and system foundations, translating complex needs into scalable,

Qualifications

• Significant UX and product design experience, especially in enterprise design systems.
• Expert knowledge of reusable system design, components, tokens, patterns, and docs.
• Strong visual and interaction craft across typography, layout, hierarchy, responsiveness, and content patterns.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical design and evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, templates, and system foundations.
• Translate complex needs into reusable, accessible, scalable solutions.
• Own complex component and pattern architecture including variants, states, and responsive considerations.
• Establish high quality across the design system library.
• Lead design reviews and guide decisions when constraints require tradeoffs.
• Partner with front-end engineers to align design and code and ensure system accuracy.
• Create and maintain documentation, usage guidance, specs, and examples for designers and developers.
• Identify gaps and opportunities to simplify the system before they become bigger problems.

Skills

UX design

Product design

Design systems

Component libraries

Accessibility

Collaboration with engineers

Tools

Figma

Job description

Vanguard is seeking a Principal UX Designer to provide hands-on design leadership for the Advisor Experience System (AXS). The role sets technical and craft direction, solves complex design problems, and partners with engineers across Vanguard. Hybrid work in Malvern, PA or Charlotte, NC with on-campus Tue–Thu and remote Mon–Fri.

Visa sponsorship is not offered. The candidate will lead evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, and system foundations, translating complex needs into scalable,