Design Lead - Design Systems - Freelance

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Design Lead - Design Systems - Freelance

Company: AKQA

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

Job Type: Freelance, Contract, Temporary

Category: Design Leadership / Design Operations

Date Posted: September 10, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (with required onsite client visits)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead and inspire a team of designers to deliver exceptional digital product experiences for a globally recognized consumer brand.

• Drive the evolution and maintenance of complex design systems, ensuring scalability, consistency, and adherence to brand standards.

• Shape the creative vision for flagship digital products, aligning with strategic client objectives and user needs.

• Facilitate seamless collaboration between design, UX, strategy, and development teams to ensure cohesive product delivery.

• Act as a key presenter of creative concepts and design solutions to clients and stakeholders, demonstrating strategic insight.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a critical intersection of hands-on design leadership and strategic design systems management, requiring a candidate who can both execute at a high level and guide a team towards a unified vision. The "Freelance" and "Temporary" employment types indicate a project-based engagement, emphasizing the need for immediate impact and a proven ability to integrate quickly.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on creative direction and art direction for a team of designers working on a flagship digital product.

• Oversee the creation, refinement, and governance of a large-scale, complex design system, ensuring its adoption and effectiveness.

• Develop and articulate a clear creative vision for digital platforms, aligning with client goals and the needs of a massive user base.

• Collaborate closely with UX researchers, strategists, product managers, and front-end developers to ensure integrated and high-quality solutions.

• Present design concepts, system updates, and strategic recommendations to client stakeholders with confidence and persuasive articulation.

• Mentor and coach junior and mid-level designers, fostering a culture of learning, accountability, and design excellence.

• Champion best practices in UI design, component management, and design system implementation to drive efficiency and consistency.

• Contribute to AKQA's culture of innovation by pushing creative boundaries and exploring distinctive solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "complex design systems" and "flagship digital product" suggests a need for experience with large-scale, mature design operations. The responsibility for "governance" implies a role in establishing and enforcing design system standards and processes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a strong portfolio and demonstrated experience are paramount. A Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field is often preferred for leadership roles in this domain.

Experience: 6+ years of progressive experience in UI design, art direction, or a closely related design leadership role, with a significant focus on digital platforms and products.

Required Skills:

• Proven ability to lead and inspire design teams, fostering a collaborative and high-performing environment.

• Deep expertise in the creation, management, and evolution of comprehensive design systems, with a focus on scalability and consistency.

• Expert proficiency in Figma, including advanced capabilities in component creation, variant management, auto-layout, and library organization.

• Strong understanding of UI design principles, user-centered design methodologies, and best practices for application, mobile, and responsive interfaces.

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex design concepts and strategic rationale to diverse audiences, including clients.

• Experience collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams, including UX, product management, and engineering.

• A strong visual and conceptual design sensibility, with a track record of producing distinctive and impactful digital experiences.

• Proactive and adaptable mindset, capable of navigating evolving technological landscapes and project requirements. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with design system tooling beyond Figma, such as Storybook or related documentation platforms.

• Familiarity with front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to better inform design system constraints and possibilities.

• Experience working with large, global consumer brands and understanding the nuances of brand consistency across diverse products.

• A strong point of view on design trends and the ability to translate them into practical applications within a design system.

• Experience in art direction for digital campaigns or integrated brand experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "expert proficiency in Figma" and "advanced component and library management" highlights this as a core technical requirement. The need for experience with "complex design systems" for a "globally recognized consumer brand" suggests that candidates with experience in enterprise-level design operations or large-scale product ecosystems will be highly valued.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 3-5 significant projects demonstrating your leadership in UI design, art direction, and design systems.

• Include detailed case studies that highlight your role in shaping creative vision, leading design teams, and evolving design systems.

• For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your approach, your specific contributions, the tools used (especially Figma), and the measurable impact or outcome.

• Demonstrate a strong understanding of design system principles through examples of component libraries, style guides, and pattern documentation you have contributed to or led.

• Highlight projects involving large-scale digital products, applications, or platforms with a focus on consistency, scalability, and user experience. Process Documentation:

• Evidence of your process for creating, maintaining, and scaling design systems, including governance models and collaboration workflows.

• Examples of how you have facilitated communication and collaboration between design, development, and product teams to ensure design system adoption and integrity.

• Documentation or case studies illustrating how you have driven creative excellence and conceptual thinking within a design team.

• Demonstrations of how you have used Figma's advanced features to create robust, reusable components and manage complex design libraries efficiently.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the "Design Systems" focus, the portfolio must prominently feature examples of robust, scalable design systems the candidate has directly influenced or led. Demonstrating a systematic approach to design system evolution, including governance and collaboration, will be crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

The role states an expected weekly compensation of $2,500 to $3,000 USD.

This translates to an approximate annual salary range of $130,000 - $156,000 USD, assuming full-time (40 hours/week) work for 52 weeks.

Benefits:

As a freelance/contract position, traditional employee benefits like health insurance, paid time off, and retirement plans are typically not included. However, specific contractual arrangements may vary.

• Project-Based Engagement: Offers flexibility and the opportunity to work on high-profile projects.

• Potential for Future Engagements: Successful performance may lead to extended contracts or future opportunities within AKQA or WPP.

• Remote Work Flexibility: Ability to work from anywhere in the United States, with the caveat of required onsite client visits.

Working Hours:

• 40 hours per week.

• The contract duration is from ASAP through December 23, 2026.

• Requires regular onsite client visits and meetings in Seattle, WA.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary is presented on a weekly basis, which is common for freelance roles. The estimated annual range is provided for context, but the weekly rate is the direct compensation figure. The lack of traditional benefits is standard for contract roles, emphasizing the candidate's responsibility for their own benefits package.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Advertising, Marketing & Digital Services (part of WPP, a global leader in this sector). AKQA is known for its innovative and future-forward approach to digital experiences.

Company Size: AKQA is a large global agency network, part of WPP, which is one of the world's largest advertising and marketing groups. This scale provides access to diverse projects and resources.

Founded: AKQA was founded in 2001. Its history is rooted in digital innovation and creating transformative experiences for clients.

Team Structure:

• The role involves leading a team of designers, implying a direct reporting structure where designers report to the Design Lead.

• Collaboration is expected with UX strategists, UX researchers, product managers, and development teams, indicating a cross-functional team environment.

• As a Design Lead, you will likely report to a Creative Director or Group Design Director within AKQA. Methodology:

• AKQA emphasizes an "imaginative application of art and science." This suggests a blend of creative exploration and data-driven decision-making.

• The company culture fosters an "entrepreneurial and collaborative approach," valuing innovation and teamwork.

• Design is treated as a core discipline for shaping "adaptive digital services and applications."

Company Website: https://www.akqa.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Working for AKQA, a prominent agency within WPP, means being part of a large, established organization with a strong reputation for cutting-edge digital work. The "hybrid approach including required in-office days" for AKQA employees (mentioned in the job description) contrasts slightly with the "Remote (United States only)" designation for this freelance role, but the explicit mention of "regularly scheduled onsite client visits and meetings" in Seattle clarifies the necessity for local presence.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a senior-level individual contributor or team lead position within the design function, specifically focused on design systems and product experience. It's a critical role for ensuring consistency and quality in digital product development.

Reporting Structure: The Design Lead will guide a team of designers and likely report to a higher-level design or creative director at AKQA. Collaboration will be extensive with product and engineering leads.

Operations Impact: The Design Lead's impact is significant, directly influencing the user experience of a major consumer brand's digital products. This includes ensuring brand consistency, usability, and aesthetic quality across millions of user touchpoints, thereby contributing to customer satisfaction, retention, and brand perception. The role is operational in nature by managing and scaling the design system.

Growth Opportunities:

• Project Leadership: Successfully leading this high-profile project can open doors to longer-term engagements or leadership roles on other major client accounts within AKQA.

• Design System Expertise: Deepening expertise in design systems, governance, and cross-functional adoption can position the candidate for specialized roles in Design Operations or as a Design System Architect.

• Client Relationship Management: Developing strong client relationships through effective communication and delivery can lead to increased responsibility and strategic influence.

• Mentorship and Team Development: The experience of mentoring designers and guiding a team contributes to leadership development, a key aspect of career progression in design.

📝 Enhancement Note: While this is a freelance role, the "Design Lead" title and the scope of responsibilities (managing a complex design system for a major brand) indicate a significant opportunity for professional growth and impact. The role is inherently "operations-focused" through its management of the design system as a core operational asset for product development.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as "Remote (United States only)" with specific mention of "regularly scheduled onsite client visits and meetings" in Seattle, WA. This indicates a hybrid arrangement where the primary work location is remote, but in-person collaboration with the client is a requirement. AKQA itself may have office spaces, but this freelance role is structured around remote work with necessary client interactions.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote, candidates based in or willing to travel to Seattle, WA, are preferred due to the requirement for onsite client visits and meetings.

Workspace Context:

• Remote Autonomy: The role offers the flexibility of remote work, allowing for self-directed work and management of one's own schedule within the 40-hour work week.

• Collaborative Tools: Expect to utilize digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, Figma, project management software) extensively for team communication and design reviews.

• Client Interaction: Regular engagement with the client's team will be a key part of the environment, requiring adaptability and strong interpersonal skills.

• Design System Focus: The work environment will be heavily centered around Figma and the processes involved in maintaining and evolving a large-scale design system.

Work Schedule:

• Full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.

• The contract spans from ASAP through December 23, 2026, indicating a substantial project duration.

• While remote, the need for "regularly scheduled onsite client visits and meetings" in Seattle implies a need for availability and flexibility to travel to that location periodically.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature, with required onsite visits, is a crucial detail. Candidates must be prepared for a blend of remote autonomy and in-person collaboration, particularly with the client. This also suggests that candidates in or near Seattle will have a logistical advantage.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your resume and portfolio to assess experience, skills, and fit for a design leadership role focused on design systems.

• Portfolio Presentation: A session where you present your portfolio, focusing on relevant projects that showcase your design system expertise, leadership capabilities, and creative direction. Be prepared to discuss your process, challenges, and outcomes.

• Team/Client Interviews: Interviews with AKQA team members and potentially client stakeholders to assess collaboration style, communication skills, strategic thinking, and ability to lead.

• Figma/Technical Assessment: Potential hands-on exercise or discussion to evaluate your advanced Figma skills and understanding of component management and library architecture.

• Final Round: Discussion to confirm fit, salary expectations, and contract terms.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select projects that most strongly demonstrate your experience with large-scale design systems, team leadership, and UI design for complex digital products.

• Highlight Design System Evolution: For each relevant project, clearly explain your role in establishing, scaling, or evolving the design system. Detail the components, patterns, and processes you implemented.

• Showcase Figma Proficiency: Explicitly mention and demonstrate advanced Figma techniques used, such as complex auto-layout, variants, nested components, and library management.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your design system implementations and leadership – e.g., reduction in design/development time, increased consistency, improved user satisfaction.

• Tell a Story: Frame your projects as narratives, outlining the problem, your creative and strategic approach, your leadership actions, and the tangible results.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be ready to discuss how you would approach evolving or establishing a design system for a large consumer brand.

• Prepare to articulate your philosophy on design governance, consistency vs. flexibility, and collaboration between design and development.

• Practice presenting your work concisely and persuasively, anticipating questions about your decision-making process and leadership style.

• Research AKQA and WPP to understand their values and approach to design and client work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio review will be paramount. Candidates should prepare to deeply dive into their design system projects, demonstrating not just the "what" but the "how" and "why" behind their decisions, with a strong emphasis on Figma's capabilities.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Essential and required. Expert proficiency is expected for advanced component and library management, auto-layout, variants, and collaborative design.

• Design System Platforms: While not explicitly stated, familiarity with tools that support design system documentation, versioning, and distribution (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook, front-end code repositories) would be beneficial.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary focus of the role, understanding how design decisions impact user analytics (e.g., conversion rates, engagement metrics) is valuable. Experience with tools like Google Analytics or Amplitude could be a plus for understanding user behavior driven by design. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant to this design leadership role, but awareness of how design systems integrate with broader product development workflows and potentially CMS or PIM systems might be advantageous.

📝 Enhancement Note: Figma is the absolute core tool for this role. Candidates must demonstrate mastery beyond basic usage, focusing on advanced features critical for building and maintaining robust, scalable design systems.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Creative Excellence: A commitment to pushing boundaries and delivering distinctive, high-quality design work.

• Collaboration: Fostering an environment where designers, strategists, and developers work together seamlessly.

• Innovation: Embracing new ideas, technologies, and approaches to design.

• Accountability: Taking ownership of work, delivering on commitments, and driving projects to completion.

• User-Centricity: Designing with a deep understanding of user needs and behaviors.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Actively working with UX, strategy, and engineering to ensure design systems are practical, scalable, and aligned with product goals.

• Mentorship and Support: Creating a supportive environment where designers can grow and develop their skills, with the lead acting as a coach and advocate.

• Open Communication: Encouraging candid feedback, constructive criticism, and transparent dialogue within the design team and with stakeholders.

• Process-Oriented: Valuing well-defined processes for design system management, collaboration, and quality assurance to ensure efficiency and consistency.

📝 Enhancement Note: AKQA's culture is described as "entrepreneurial and collaborative." For this role, the emphasis will be on collaborative leadership within the design team and effective cross-functional partnerships, all while upholding AKQA's commitment to creative excellence and innovation.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Managing Scale: Evolving and maintaining a design system for a "globally recognized consumer brand" with a "massive and deeply loyal customer base" presents significant scalability and complexity challenges.

• Balancing Consistency and Innovation: Ensuring strict adherence to design system standards while still allowing for creative exploration and adaptation to new trends can be a delicate balance.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Gaining and maintaining buy-in and consistent adoption of the design system across multiple product teams and departments requires strong stakeholder management and communication.

• Remote Collaboration: Effectively leading and inspiring a remote design team and collaborating with distributed client teams requires robust communication strategies and tools.

• Project Timeline: Working within a defined freelance period (ASAP through December 23, 2026) requires rapid integration and immediate impact.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Strategy: Gaining experience in governing and scaling a design system for an enterprise-level client.

• Client Relationship & Presentation Skills: Honing skills in presenting complex design strategies and solutions to high-profile clients.

• Leadership Development: Enhancing team leadership and mentorship capabilities within a dynamic agency environment.

• Exposure to a Major Brand: Deepening understanding of design challenges and opportunities within a leading global consumer brand.

• Agency Workflow Experience: Gaining insight into the operational processes and client dynamics of a top-tier digital agency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenges revolve around the scale and complexity inherent in working with a major consumer brand's digital ecosystem and managing a comprehensive design system within a defined project scope. The growth opportunities are significant, particularly in specialized design operations and leadership.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to evolving and scaling a design system for a large, complex digital product with millions of users. What are the key considerations?" (Focus on governance, documentation, collaboration, and versioning.)

• "How do you ensure consistency and quality across a team of designers working on different product areas, all contributing to a shared design system?" (Discuss leadership, review processes, and tools.)

• "Walk me through a time you had to present a significant design system update or proposal to a client. What was your strategy, and what was the outcome?" (Prepare a concise case study emphasizing communication and strategic rationale.)

• "What are the biggest challenges in balancing design system adherence with the need for creative innovation and unique product experiences?" (Discuss flexibility, pattern variation, and how to manage exceptions.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about AKQA and this specific project for [Client Brand Name - if known/guessable]?" (Research AKQA's work, values, and the client's industry.)

• "How do you foster a collaborative and high-performing environment within a remote design team?" (Provide examples of communication strategies, feedback mechanisms, and team-building activities.)

• "Describe your experience working with cross-functional teams (UX, engineering, product). How do you ensure alignment and buy-in for design system initiatives?" (Focus on communication, empathy, and shared goals.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Prioritize Design System Projects: Dedicate the most time to showcasing your work on design systems. Explain the "why" behind your architectural decisions, component structure, and governance model.

• Demonstrate Figma Mastery: Be ready to show specific examples of complex components, auto-layout usage, variants, and how you managed libraries for scalability.

• Quantify Your Impact: Use numbers and data to illustrate the benefits of your work – e.g., time saved, reduction in bugs, increased consistency scores.

• Explain Your Leadership Role: Clearly articulate your contributions as a leader, mentor, and collaborator, not just an individual contributor.

• Be Concise and Engaging: Structure your presentation logically, keeping it engaging and relevant to the requirements of the role. Allow ample time for Q&A.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should heavily focus on articulating a clear, strategic approach to design systems, demonstrating advanced Figma skills, and showcasing leadership in a collaborative, cross-functional environment. Be prepared to discuss the specific challenges of working with a large consumer brand.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations position:

• Submit your application through the AKQA careers portal linked via Greenhouse.

• Tailor your Resume: Highlight your 6+ years of UI design/art direction experience, with specific emphasis on design systems, Figma expertise, and team leadership. Use keywords from the job description like "design systems," "Figma," "UI design," "creative direction," and "scalability."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio prominently features 2-3 strong case studies on design systems. Detail your process, your role, the Figma techniques used, and the impact. Be ready to walk through it confidently.

• Prepare for a Presentation: Anticipate a portfolio review where you will present your work. Practice articulating your design process, leadership approach, and how you manage design systems.

• Research AKQA and the Client: Understand AKQA's approach to design and digital services. If the client is identifiable, research their brand and digital presence to show you've done your homework.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.