Staff Design System Lead

RB Global; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 124,000 - 155,000; Full time

Job summary

RB Global is seeking a Staff Design System Lead to set strategy for our MUI/React-based design system. You will guide foundations, components, tokens, and documentation while ensuring the system remains cohesive with RB Global’s brand.

The role requires hands-on expertise with MUI, React, and Figma, plus a track record of maturing design systems across multiple teams. Hybrid work in IL is available, with a strong emphasis on governance and adoption across product groups.

Qualifications

• 9+ years in product design, including significant time setting strategy for and maturing a design system at a product company.
• Hands-on experience with MUI (Material UI) and React-based component libraries—theming, extending, and overriding MUI defaults.

Responsibilities

• Set the strategy and multi-year roadmap for the design system.
• Own the system end to end from foundations to documentation.
• Design for real usage by partnering with product designers and engineers.
• Build in Figma and connect to code; keep library in sync with MUI/React in production.
• Push beyond Material Design; tailor the system to RB Global identity.
• Architect the token system for theming, scale, and consistency across products.
• Elevate visual polish, motion, and modern feel; maintain imagery guidelines.
• Set governance for contributions, versioning, and roadmap sequencing.
• Document guidelines and onboarding resources for self-service.

Skills

MUI/React design systems

Figma components

AI design workflows

Design system governance

Engineering collaboration

Tools

Storybook

Code Connect

Figma

Claude AI

Job description

RB Global is hiring a hands-on Staff Design System Lead to set the strategy and advance our existing MUI (Material UI) and React design system. The foundation is in place; we need a senior leader with a proven record of evolving design systems that work for product designers and engineers—not just in a style guide.

What You’ll Do

• Set the strategy. Define the multi-year vision and roadmap for the design system, translating business and product priorities into decisions that hold up as RB Global scales.
• Own the system end to end. Lead foundations, components, patterns, tokens, and documentation as a single, coherent system — building on the existing MUI/React foundation rather than starting over.
• Design for real usage. Partner directly with product designers to understand where the current system falls short, gather input, and continuously evolve components and guidelines based on that feedback — not in a vacuum.
• Build in Figma, connect to code. Maintain a component library (variants, auto layout, variables/tokens) that stays tightly synced with the MUI/React implementation in production.
• Push past default Material Design. Theme, extend, and override MUI's out-of-the-box components and patterns so the system reads as distinctly RB, not generic Material Design.
• Architect the token system. Establish a token structure that supports theming, scale, and long-term consistency across products.
• Elevate the craft. Bring a high bar for visual polish, detail, and motion so the system feels slick and modern — not just functional.
• Own illustration and imagery. Develop and maintain an illustration style, icon system, and imagery guidelines that reinforce and extend brand identity.
• Set governance that scales. Define contribution models, versioning, and decision-making processes so the system holds up as more teams adopt it.
• Document relentlessly. Create clear usage guidelines and onboarding resources so designers and engineers can self-serve with confidence.
• Partner closely with engineering. Work hand-in-hand with front-end engineers on component architecture, implementation, and release planning — you're a co-owner of the system with them, not just a handoff.
• Manage intake and prioritization. Own the process for how new component requests, bug reports, and change proposals come in, get evaluated, and get sequenced on the roadmap — balancing designer needs, engineering capacity, and system integrity.
• Democratize the system with AI. Connect the design system to Claude — building structured documentation (e.g., CLAUDE.md-style files) and custom agents/skills so any designer, PM, or engineer can query, apply, and extend the system correctly without being a design systems expert.
• Bake in accessibility. Treat WCAG-aligned accessibility as a default, non-negotiable part of every component.
• Represent the system. Be the org-wide voice for design system strategy — influencing decisions and trade-offs with design and engineering leadership, not just answering questions as they come in.

Responsibilities

• 9+ years in product design, including significant time setting strategy for and maturing a design system at a product company — taking something that already exists and materially leveling it up, not just standing one up on a blank canvas or executing someone else's roadmap.
• Hands-on experience with MUI (Material UI) and React-based component libraries — comfortable theming, extending, and overriding MUI's defaults to produce something distinctive, rather than settling for the out-of-the-box look.
• A portfolio that demonstrates systems thinking: token architecture, component libraries, documentation, and real adoption across multiple teams.
• Deep fluency in Figma (variables, component variants, auto layout) and familiarity with design-to-code workflows (e.g., Code Connect, Storybook).
• Strong visual craft — typography, layout, color, and motion — with an eye for making systems feel considered and slick, not generic.
• Real, hands-on experience partnering with engineering — you can speak to component architecture, technical constraints, and implementation trade-offs, not just hand off Figma files.
• Experience running an intake and prioritization process for a shared platform or system (design or otherwise), balancing competing requests against roadmap and capacity.
• A track record of taking input from many designers and stakeholders and distilling it into coherent, scalable decisions — with the influence to make those decisions stick without needing formal authority over a team.
• Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system by default.
• Comfort balancing structure with flexibility — opinionated enough to keep things consistent, flexible enough to stay usable.
• An avid, hands-on AI user who brings it into the daily workflow — e.g., Claude, Figma's AI/MCP integrations, or similar — and has experience (or strong interest in) writing documentation and agents/skills that make a design system self-serve for people who aren't designers, not just using AI as a novelty.

Qualifications

• 9+ years in product design, including significant time setting strategy for and maturing a design system at a product company — taking something that already exists and materially leveling it up, not just standing one up on a blank canvas or executing someone else's roadmap.
• Hands-on experience with MUI (Material UI) and React-based component libraries — comfortable theming, extending, and overriding MUI's defaults to produce something distinctive, rather than settling for the out-of-the-box look.
• A portfolio that demonstrates systems thinking: token architecture, component libraries, documentation, and real adoption across multiple teams.
• Deep fluency in Figma (variables, component variants, auto layout) and familiarity with design-to-code workflows (e.g., Code Connect, Storybook).
• Strong visual craft — typography, layout, color, and motion — with an eye for making systems feel considered and slick, not generic.
• Real, hands-on experience partnering with engineering — you can speak to component architecture, technical constraints, and implementation trade-offs, not just hand off Figma files.
• Experience running an intake and prioritization process for a shared platform or system (design or otherwise), balancing competing requests against roadmap and capacity.
• A track record of taking input from many designers and stakeholders and distilling it into coherent, scalable decisions — with the influence to make those decisions stick without needing formal authority over a team.
• Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system by default.
• Comfort balancing structure with flexibility — opinionated enough to keep things consistent, flexible enough to stay usable.
• An avid, hands-on AI user who brings it into the daily workflow — e.g., Claude, Figma's AI/MCP integrations, or similar — and has experience (or strong interest in) writing documentation and agents/skills that make a design system self-serve for people who aren't designers, not just using AI as a novelty.

Nice to Have

• Illustration or icon design skills, or experience directing an illustration system.
• Experience evolving an existing brand identity through a design system, rather than building on a blank canvas.
• Familiarity with motion and interaction design principles.
• Experience with design token tooling (e.g., Style Dictionary, Tokens Studio).

What Success Looks Like

• Product designers reach for the system by default because it's faster and easier than building from scratch.
• The system reduces visual and interaction inconsistency across RB products without slowing teams down.
• The system is recognizably, distinctly RB — not a generic off-the-shelf look.
• The system evolves on a steady cadence based on real designer feedback, with clear versioning and communication.

Location & Compensation

• Locations: 2 Westbrook Corporate Ctr, Westchester, IL, 60154, US (Hybrid)
• Job Schedule: Full time
• Minimum Salary: $123,950
• Maximum Salary: $154,880