Senior Design Platform Leader

Upstart; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 199,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity with quarterly vesting

401(k) with company match

ESPP (US only)

Comprehensive health coverage

HSA contributions (US only)

Paid time off & parental leave

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Upstart is seeking a Senior Manager on the Design Platform team to lead two senior designers and spend ~60% on hands-on design and ~40% on people management. You will shape the design system's architecture, tokens, and visual language across web and native mobile, and define AI-enabled workflows to help designers and engineers work efficiently.

This role is remote within the United States. You will partner with engineering and product leaders to rethink product construction, establish

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product design experience, including 2+ years of direct people management.
• Experience building or scaling a design system adopted across multiple product teams.
• Experience defining design patterns or platform strategy across both web and native mobile experiences.
• Experience owning design systems work across components, tokens, documentation, governance, and visual design direction.
• Experience partnering with engineering on design system implementation, including component APIs and token architecture.

Responsibilities

• Lead two senior designers and spend ~60% on hands-on design and ~40% on people management.
• Set direction for Upstart's design system, including component architecture, token strategy, and visual language.
• Define platform strategy across web and mobile, and shape product integration across teams.
• Develop AI-enabled workflows and data-driven prioritization to guide design decisions.
• Establish governance and ownership models for the Design Platform across teams.

Skills

Senior-level product design

People management

Design system leadership

Platform design strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Engineering collaboration

Job description

Upstart is seeking a Senior Manager on the Design Platform team to lead two senior designers and spend ~60% on hands-on design and ~40% on people management. You will shape the design system's architecture, tokens, and visual language across web and native mobile, and define AI-enabled workflows to help designers and engineers work efficiently.

This role is remote within the United States. You will partner with engineering and product leaders to rethink product construction, establish