Design Systems Lead
This is the employer's own posting, not a copy on a job board.
What we know
Is it still open?
Confirmed still open
Last checked 10h ago — checked against the employer's own applicant tracking system, which is the company answering directly.
We re-read the employer's own applicant tracking system and the posting was still there. That is the company answering directly.
How old is it?
Posted 67d ago
The date the source published, not the day we noticed it (2026-07-09). Last seen at its source 2h ago.
Is it remote?
Remote (United States)
That is the location the employer filed this posting under. Quoted as written — we do not re-word the source's own location.
Who may apply?
United States
The description states no restriction of its own. This is the source's own tag.
Pay not stated
Similar roles pay $184.5k–227.6k/yr
Middle 50% of 38 listings that do state pay — Design · Lead · United States · USD/year. This employer has published no salary; this is what comparable listings we hold disclose, never converted between currencies or periods. How this is calculated.
Skills named in the ad
Recognised terms only, from a fixed vocabulary — this is what CV matching compares against.
Carried by 1 source
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ashby employer's own board first seen 6d ago · last seen 2h ago
The listing
About the role
We're seeking a Design Systems Lead with extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations. You'll bootstrap an intuitive semantic token system that supports design and product teams across multiple platforms and frameworks - the foundation that keeps Perplexity's product coherent as we scale.
This is a true 50/50 design-engineer role. You'll live primarily in GitHub, where you own the system's repo, while staying fluent in Figma so design and engineering never drift apart. You'll set the bar for visual quality and the technical standards that let feature teams move fast without fragmenting the experience.
You'll work at the intersection of design and engineering, partnering with product feature teams across mobile, web, and React surfaces.
What you'll do
Bootstrap and own an intuitive semantic token system that works across multiple platforms and frameworks
Own the design system repo on GitHub: the source of truth for components, tokens, and standards, including versioning, release management, and a clear changelog
Set and uphold a high bar for visual design quality across every surface the system touches
Navigate the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices, and encode them into the system
Define and run the contribution model and governance: review and shepherd inbound contributions from product feature teams, keeping quality and consistency high as the system grows
Keep design and engineering in sync, bridging Figma and code so the system stays coherent end-to-end
Own clear, first-class documentation so teams can adopt components and tokens on their own, and drive adoption across the org through onboarding, office hours, and hands-on support
Bake in accessibility (WCAG) and theming (including dark mode) as defaults, not afterthoughts
Maintain a system roadmap, balancing net-new work, migrations, and deprecations against feature-team needs
Bring new AI tooling into the design systems workflow and help shape how we build systems in an AI-native way
Operate with autonomy in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment
What we're looking for
Extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations
A true 50/50 design-engineer, equally credible in visual craft and in code
An impeccable eye for visual design
Deep understanding of the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices
Strong product sensibilities to help evaluate and integrate contributions from various product feature teams
Fluency in Figma, but primarily living in GitHub where you own the repo
Experience designing and maintaining semantic design tokens and scalable component APIs
A track record of driving adoption through excellent documentation and cross-functional partnership
Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system
Readiness to work with new AI tooling and genuine comfort with ambiguity
Nice to have
Experience building a semantic token system from scratch across multiple platforms
A track record scaling a design system through a period of fast org growth
Experience defining contribution models and governance for multi-team design systems
Familiarity with component tooling and documentation platforms (e.g., Storybook)
Experience mentoring designers and engineers and growing a design systems practice