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Role Overview
As a Lead Design Systems Designer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping how our brand is experienced across every touchpoint, particularly during periods of brand evolution. You will act as the bridge between product design, brand expression, and systems thinking, ensuring that our brand's vision is both cohesive and scalable. Working closely with leadership, you will ensure the design system reflects the essence of the brand while empowering teams to create seamless, user-focused experiences.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Partnership with Leadership

• Collaborate closely with the CMO, CEO and design leadership to integrate the brand's values and vision into every aspect of the design system.
• Bring a systems-thinking approach to high-level brand conversations, helping visualize the brand's future as a living, dynamic system that adapts across both digital and physical experiences.
• Translate abstract brand concepts-such as tone, character, and purpose-into practical, reusable components that align with the brand's evolution.
• Ensure the design system serves as both a representation of the brand and a functional toolkit that enhances design consistency and user experience across the organization.

From Brand Essence to Scalable Elements

• Lead the transformation of brand values into scalable design elements, including color systems, typography, motion, iconography, and interaction models.
• Work closely with brand and design teams to refine visual language that represents the brand's personality while maintaining usability and accessibility.
• Guide the application of design systems through ongoing brand evolution, ensuring consistency and flexibility across teams during new product launches or subtle refreshes.

A Bridge Across Disciplines

• Act as the connector between brand and product teams, balancing the emotional resonance and storytelling of the brand with the usability and functionality needs of product design.
• Ensure the design system embodies the brand's spirit while not compromising on user-centered design principles, usability, accessibility, or performance.
• Champion the integration of brand identity into product design without losing sight of business goals, user needs, or technical feasibility.

Scaling Vision Through Systems Thinking

• Develop and maintain frameworks, including design tokens, Figma libraries, and documentation, that scale the brand across various products and platforms.
• Create governance models that ensure the design system is effectively adopted and applied across all teams, empowering them to maintain brand integrity while fostering creative expression.
• Lead the evolution of the design system, continually refining tools and processes to ensure they meet the growing demands of the organization and the user base.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Communication

• Act as the primary point of contact for design system-related initiatives, ensuring that design teams, engineering, and product teams collaborate effectively to implement system components.
• Clearly articulate design decisions and strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring alignment and securing buy-in for the design system.
• Foster an open, collaborative environment that encourages continuous feedback, iteration, and refinement of the design system.

Design Excellence & Process Improvement

• Uphold the highest standards of design quality, ensuring that the design system is both aesthetically compelling and functionally efficient.
• Lead the development of best practices and processes for system adoption, ensuring that every component is well-documented, easy to use, and adaptable across teams.
• Foster a culture of innovation within the design team, staying at the forefront of emerging design trends and technologies, and applying them to enhance the design system.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing, developing, and maintaining design systems at a senior level, with a focus on brand integration and scalability.
• Deep knowledge of design theory, systems thinking, and brand expression, with the ability to translate abstract concepts into tangible, scalable design solutions.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage complex projects from inception through execution, balancing both creative and practical considerations.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to present complex ideas clearly and persuasively to diverse stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring and guiding junior designers, promoting a culture of design excellence and continuous learning.

Key Traits

• Ownership: Takes full responsibility for shaping the brand's visual and experiential identity through the design system.
• Leadership: Leads by example, guiding design teams and stakeholders to ensure the design system is adopted and applied effectively across the organization.
• Strategic Vision: Drives the long-term evolution of the brand's design system, ensuring it remains aligned with company goals and user needs.
• Empathy: Advocates for the end user and the brand, ensuring that design decisions balance both emotional resonance and functional excellence.