Design Systems Lead

Summary:

We are seeking a Design Systems Lead with deep, hands-on expertise in Figma to help drive the creation, maintenance, and adoption of a robust design system supporting a major web redesign for a leading global pharmaceutical organization. This role is perfect for a system thinker who thrives in cross-functional teams, has meticulous attention to detail, and is passionate about scalable design excellence.

You’ll partner closely with visual designers, UX designers, developers, brand, and product teams to evolve the system’s structure, component library, and documentation, ensuring it supports a diverse set of digital experiences across markets.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the definition, creation, and maintenance of the design system in Figma, including atomic elements, components, templates, and tokens.
• Audit existing design artifacts to define scalable patterns and reusable components.
• Collaborate with UX designers to ensure consistency and alignment across all digital products.
• Partner with front-end developers to ensure accurate translation of components from Figma to code (e.g., Storybook or equivalent).
• Develop and maintain documentation, usage guidelines, and best practices for system adoption.
• Set governance standards and processes to manage design debt and contributions to the system.
• Facilitate training and onboarding for designers and developers on how to use the system effectively.
• Ensure accessibility and global brand standards are built into the system from the ground up.

Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in UX/design with at least 3 years focused on design systems.
• Expert-level Figma skills, including libraries, variables, auto-layout, component variants, and prototyping.
• Strong understanding of component-driven design, token-based systems, and scalable architecture.
• Experience collaborating with engineering teams to align design and code (e.g., via Storybook or equivalent frameworks).
• Ability to distill complex ideas into clear, documented patterns and workflows.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how they apply to design systems.
• Experience working in regulated industries (healthcare/pharma preferred) is a plus.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.Strong collaboration mindset—You enjoy working cross-functionally and thrive in a team-oriented environment.
• Creative leadership experience—Mentorship, critique, and a passion for elevating design teams.
• Exposure to motion design, microinteractions, or front-end development principles
• Experience with mobile user experience and mobile application design patterns
• Preferred but not required - History leading design teams in healthcare, pharmaceuticals or other highly-regulated industries.
• Preferred but not required - Understanding of contemporary development processes and familiarity with the possibilities and deployment of modern front-end libraries and frameworks.