Job Description
Design at Stepstone
Find the right job for everyone – Our mission reflects how design has been part of our DNA for more than a decade. Our product design organisation has evolved through this time and today we are a team of 30+ designers including Design Operations, Design System and Design Foundation roles. We are also part of a wider design organisation including our dedicated User Research team of +10 people.
As a product design team, we have designers in key senior leadership positions and therefore you will always have support pushing for strategical initiatives across the business.
We are spread across both the B2C and B2B sides of the business, providing an end-to-end experience, for both candidates and recruiters alike.
The Role
This is a critical leadership role within our design system team. As a Lead Product Designer, Design Systems, you will provide thought leadership, champion design excellence, and define innovative approaches to elevate our design system as a cornerstone of product development.
You’ll be responsible for advancing the quality, scalability, and adoption of our design system across the organisation, partnering closely with design, product, and engineering leaders. This role combines hands-on design expertise with strategic vision to ensure our design system evolves to meet the needs of teams and users.
Key Responsibilities
1. Lead the evolution of our design system, ensuring it supports best-in-class design and development practices.
2. Define and maintain design principles, patterns, and components that drive consistency, accessibility, and efficiency across all products.
3. Elevate the craft of design across the organisation through your leadership and contributions to the system.
4. Drive critical design system initiatives across multiple teams, ensuring alignment and collaboration.
5. Mentor and guide designers within the organisation to build a culture of excellence and innovation.
Day to Day
6. Report directly to our Design Operations Manager overseeing the design system team.
7. Collaborate with design, product, and engineering teams to define and implement scalable design solutions.
8. Craft clear, modular, and reusable components that solve real problems for real users while empowering product teams to build better experiences faster.
9. Input into the strategy for scaling the design system, ensuring alignment with long-term business goals and user needs.
10. Champion accessibility, usability, and performance in all aspects of the design system.
11. Conduct workshops and lead discussions to promote system adoption and education across teams.
12. Prototype innovative solutions and demonstrate how the design system can inspire new possibilities.
Qualifications
Ideal Candidate
13. Track Record of Impact: You’ve shipped scalable design system solutions that have driven real impact in both consumer and enterprise products.
14. Craft and Clarity: You bring exceptional design craft and can connect user needs and insights with elegant, modular solutions.
15. System Innovator: You have a proven ability to evolve design languages and lead the innovation of design systems.
16. Storyteller and Educator: You can effectively communicate the value of the design system to diverse stakeholders and bring them on the journey.
17. Prototyping Expertise: You excel at bringing concepts to life and inspiring teams through prototyping.
18. Leadership Aptitude: You can guide teams, mentor junior designers, and foster a collaborative, high-performing culture.
Additional Information
Our Commitment
Equal opportunities are important to us. We believe that diversity and inclusion at The Stepstone Group are critical to our success as a global company, so we want to recruit, develop, and keep the best talent. We encourage applications from everyone, regardless of background, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, ethnicity, belief, age, family or parental status, and any other characteristic.