Job Description
Principal / Staff Product Designer, Design Systems
Location: London
Work model: Hybrid – 2 to 3 days per week in Central London
Base salary: £95–120k
Annual bonus: 15%
Equity: £30–40k (long-term incentives, based on level and experience)
Total approximate compensation: £145–175k
About the role
We are hiring a Principal or Staff level Product Designer to join a global consumer technology organisation and take a leading role in shaping and scaling their design system.
This role sits within the Design organisation, reporting to the Head of Design Operations, and works closely with Product Design, Content Design, Engineering, and Design Leadership. You’ll be part of a large, global tech company while working in small, empowered teams, tackling problems that genuinely matter to millions of people.
Design systems experience is required, and a portfolio demonstrating this work is required as part of the application process.
Mission
Take the company’s internal design system from a foundation and technical baseline to a system designers cannot live without.
This is a highly visible role focused on design quality, usability, adoption, and clarity, ensuring the system is not only robust, but genuinely improves how teams design and build products.
Context
* Over the past year, the team has built a strong, technical white-label foundation for the design system.
* The current design systems team includes highly technical designers, many with frontend engineering backgrounds.
* This role is a counterpoint: design-first, process-led, and deeply focused on adoption, clarity, and day-to-day usefulness for designers and product teams.
What you’ll do
* Lead the evolution of the design system from a design perspective, ensuring high standards of visual, interaction, and usability quality.
* Establish and refine patterns, guidelines, and standards that designers can confidently apply without second-guessing.
* Productise the design system through clear documentation, decision rationale, and usage guidance.
* Drive adoption through enablement and evangelism, including presentations, walkthroughs, and ongoing communication with design and engineering teams.
* Act as a strong design partner to engineering, translating system needs into practical, scalable solutions without being primarily responsible for coding.
* Influence cross-functional stakeholders through clear storytelling and thoughtful communication.
* Ensure the system supports consistent, consumer-grade experiences across mobile, native, and web platforms.
Must-haves
* Senior Product Designer with a strong systems and process mindset.
* Clear design judgement and “designer’s designer” craft, including polish, spacing, hierarchy, and usability patterns that reduce downstream tweaking.
* Proven ability to productise and evangelise a design system, including guidelines, patterns, decision documentation, and adoption initiatives.
* Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to adapt messaging for designers, engineers, and product partners.
* Comfortable speaking the language of frontend teams (tokens, variables, tooling evolution), without wanting to primarily write production code.
Nice-to-haves
* Experience running design system adoption programmes, including office hours, roadshows, communication cadences, or governance models.
* Experience working in large, distributed design organisations.
* Familiarity with AI-assisted design tools and workflows as part of modern design practice.
Benefits
* Unlimited PTO (paid time off)
* Tuition reimbursement
* Home equipment stipend
* Annual fitness allowance