Product Designer, Design Systems

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer, Design Systems Company: Onebrief Location: United States Job Type: FULL_TIME Category: Design Systems & UI/UX Operations Date Posted: December 04, 2025 Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (5-10 years implied) Remote Status: Remote Solely

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the evolution and champion the adoption of the Onebrief Design System (ODS) as a scalable and accessible foundation for all user interfaces across the Onebrief platform.
• Serve as the primary design owner embedded within the Frontend Platform team, fostering close collaboration with engineers, designers, and product managers to ensure a unified and production-grade user experience.
• Drive the transformation of the ODS from a source of technical debt into a modern, integrated system that effectively bridges design and engineering workflows, enhancing consistency and efficiency.
• Proactively identify and address design-engineering drift by auditing, refactoring, and establishing clear UI standards, enabling product teams to ship features with greater consistency and quality.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is strategically positioned within the "Operations" umbrella due to its critical function in standardizing and optimizing the design and development process for the entire Onebrief platform. A Design Systems Specialist is instrumental in operationalizing design, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and a consistent user experience, which are core tenets of operational excellence in a technology organization. The emphasis on bridging design and engineering, reducing technical debt, and driving adoption aligns directly with operational objectives.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own and maintain a scalable component library and design token framework, ensuring synchronization between Figma and code, and actively driving adoption across all product teams.
• Reduce design-engineering drift by conducting thorough audits, refactoring the existing system, and collaboratively setting UI standards with engineering and design leads.
• Enhance platform readability and accessibility, particularly for users on constrained hardware, by optimizing typography, density, focus states, interactive targets, and contrast ratios, defining a field-representative viewport and device matrix with clear acceptance criteria.
• Evolve the ODS to effectively support windowless, low-luminance environments by proposing a contrast-safe theme and a semantic token architecture that seamlessly supports both light and low-luminance/dark modes.
• Partner closely with the broader design organization to maintain visibility into in-flight work, provide expert guidance on ODS usage, and proactively translate emerging design patterns into documented components and tokens.
• Implement a lightweight intake process, conduct regular office hours, and maintain a transparent backlog for ODS requests and enhancements.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation and educational materials, ensuring usage guidelines are current, hosting workshops, and clearly communicating changes and deprecations to stakeholders.
• Strengthen the overall quality of the design system by expanding Storybook coverage, implementing visual regression testing across various themes and constrained viewports, and integrating contrast and readability checks into the Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline.
• Lead the modernization roadmap for the ODS, evaluating and recommending tools and workflows that advance Onebrief's product vision and operational efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities outlined are highly operational in nature, focusing on process standardization, system optimization, cross-functional collaboration, and quality assurance. The emphasis on "owning" the system, "reducing drift," "improving readability and accessibility," "strengthening quality," and "leading the modernization roadmap" directly reflects an operational leader's mandate to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure consistent output across a complex technology product.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating practical application of design system principles and UI/UX expertise is paramount. Emphasis on continuous learning and understanding of technical constraints is expected.

Experience:

• 5-10 years of demonstrated experience in designing, building, and scaling robust design systems within fast-paced, cross-functional technology environments.
• Proven track record of reducing design-engineering drift and fostering system adoption across multiple product teams.
• Experience working with complex software platforms, ideally within regulated or mission-critical domains.

Required Skills:

• Design Systems Expertise: Deep understanding of design system architecture, component libraries, and best practices for scalability and maintainability.
• Figma Proficiency: Advanced skills in Figma, including mastery of tokens, component variants, libraries, auto layout, and complex workflows.
• Token Design & Management: Demonstrated experience shipping themeable, token-driven UI systems, including semantic token design and migration strategies (e.g., using Figma Tokens or equivalent).
• Accessibility Standards: Expertise in accessibility (WCAG 2.2 compliance), particularly for low-vision users on small and legacy screens, covering contrast, legibility, type scale, spacing, focus states, and input target sizing.
• Frontend Technologies: Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks and their implications for design systems.
• Storybook: Hands-on experience with Storybook for component documentation, testing, and visual regression.
• CSS Variables & Style Dictionary: Practical knowledge of CSS variables and Style Dictionary or similar pipelines for token implementation.
• Collaboration & Communication: Strong ability to partner effectively with product managers, engineers, and fellow designers, providing clear, empathetic communication and community management for the design system.
• Documentation & Education: Skilled in creating clear usage guidelines, conducting workshops, and managing change logs and deprecation notices.
• Quality Assurance: Experience implementing visual regression testing and integrating quality checks (e.g., contrast/readability) into CI pipelines.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with military, government, or highly regulated domain software.
• Familiarity with CSS preprocessors and build tools.
• Knowledge of UI animation principles and implementation within design systems.
• Experience with A/B testing design variations to measure impact.
• Understanding of performance implications of UI design choices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Required Skills" section has been expanded to reflect the operational nuances of a design systems role. The emphasis on "token design & management," "accessibility standards," "frontend technologies," "Storybook," and "CSS variables" highlights the technical and process-oriented aspects crucial for operationalizing design. The preference for "military, government, or highly regulated domain software" suggests the company's operational context and the need for designers who understand stringent requirements.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Studies: Showcase at least one comprehensive design system project, detailing its architecture, token strategy, component library, and adoption process.
• Accessibility Focus: Demonstrate specific examples of how accessibility principles were integrated into a design system or UI components, with measurable outcomes or improvements.
• Token-Driven UI: Provide examples of themeable interfaces built using design tokens, illustrating adaptability across different modes (light/dark, low-luminance) and potentially demonstrating migration strategies.
• Collaboration & Impact: Include examples of cross-functional collaboration, illustrating how you partnered with engineering and product to drive system adoption and reduce design-engineering drift, with quantifiable results where possible.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Evidence of designing and documenting workflows for design system contribution, intake, and maintenance.
• System Implementation: Showcase how design tokens and components were translated into production-ready code, highlighting collaboration with engineering teams on implementation strategies.
• Measurement & Analysis: Examples of how system performance, adoption, and impact were measured and reported, including metrics for consistency, efficiency, and accessibility.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section is tailored to a design systems role, emphasizing the operational aspects of design. The "Portfolio Essentials" focus on demonstrating the ability to build and manage a standardized, scalable, and accessible system, which is a core operational function. "Process Documentation" highlights the candidate's understanding of documenting and implementing operational processes for design system management.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 - $255,555 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
• 401(k) plan with company match.
• Generous paid time off (PTO) and holidays.
• Stock options in a rapidly growing, well-funded company.
• Professional development budget for conferences, courses, and learning resources.
• Home office stipend for remote work setup.
• Opportunities for impactful work supporting national security and mission-critical operations.

Working Hours: Standard full-time (40 hours per week) with flexibility to accommodate remote work and distributed teams, encouraging asynchronous communication where possible.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is directly provided in the input data. The benefits have been inferred based on typical offerings for a well-funded, remote-first technology company in the US, with a focus on elements appealing to experienced professionals in specialized roles, such as professional development and impact-driven work. The working hours are inferred from the "FULL_TIME" employment type and the "Remote Solely" arrangement, suggesting a need for flexibility.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software, AI, Collaboration Tools, Defense Technology. Onebrief operates at the intersection of cutting-edge AI and workflow software with the critical needs of military and government operations, positioning it in a unique and high-impact sector.

Company Size: Valued at $1.1B, with a team spanning veterans and technologists from leading software companies. While specific employee count isn't provided, the funding and valuation suggest a growth-stage company likely employing 100-500 professionals, balancing agility with established operational processes.

Founded: 2019. This indicates a relatively young but rapidly scaling company, likely still refining its operational processes while benefiting from experienced leadership and significant investment.

Team Structure:

• The Design Systems Specialist will be embedded with the Frontend Platform team, working closely with engineers and product managers. This structure promotes deep integration and direct influence on core platform development.
• Reporting likely to a Design Lead, Head of Design, or Director of Engineering, with a dotted line to product management for alignment on roadmap priorities.
• Cross-functional collaboration is a cornerstone, involving designers, frontend engineers, backend engineers, product managers, and potentially QA specialists to ensure the design system is robust, adopted, and technically sound.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on improving readability, accessibility, and performance through empirical measurement and user feedback.
• Agile & Iterative Development: The company's growth stage suggests an iterative approach to product development and design system evolution, prioritizing rapid feedback loops and continuous improvement.
• Ownership & Accountability: A culture that emphasizes taking ownership, seeking excellence, and playing to win, fostering a proactive and results-oriented environment.

Company Website: https://onebrief.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context has been synthesized from the provided description. The industry positioning highlights the unique operational challenges and opportunities. The team structure emphasizes the integrated nature of this role, crucial for operationalizing design systems. The methodology reflects a blend of modern tech practices with the rigor demanded by the company's customer base.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role represents a mid-to-senior level specialization within the design function, focusing on the operationalization of UI/UX standards. It is a critical "individual contributor" role with significant influence over platform consistency, developer efficiency, and user experience quality. The scope extends beyond individual feature design to establishing foundational principles and reusable assets that impact the entire product development lifecycle.

Reporting Structure: The Design Systems Specialist will be embedded within the Frontend Platform team, indicating a close working relationship with engineering leads and product managers. This structure typically involves reporting to a Design Manager, Head of Design, or Director of Engineering, with clear lines of communication to stakeholders across product, design, and engineering.

Operations Impact: The core impact of this role is operational efficiency and product quality. By standardizing UI components and design tokens, the Design Systems Specialist directly reduces redundant design and development efforts, accelerates feature delivery, and ensures a consistent, accessible, and high-quality user experience across the Onebrief platform. This operational excellence translates to faster time-to-market, reduced technical debt, and improved customer satisfaction, particularly critical for a product serving mission-critical operations.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization Deepening: Opportunity to become the definitive expert in design systems, potentially leading to roles like Principal Design Systems Designer or Architect.
• Leadership & Mentorship: As the system matures, opportunities to mentor other designers and engineers on design system best practices, potentially leading a dedicated design systems team in the future.
• Cross-Functional Impact: Exposure to core product strategy and engineering architecture, allowing for growth into broader product design leadership or platform strategy roles.
• Industry Influence: Potential to contribute to the broader design systems community through talks, articles, or open-source contributions, enhancing professional reputation and network.

📝 Enhancement Note: This analysis focuses on the operational aspects of career growth. The "Operations Impact" section explicitly links the role's design system responsibilities to core operational goals like efficiency, speed, and quality. The "Growth Opportunities" are framed in terms of deepening operational expertise and potential leadership within the company's evolving structure.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Onebrief operates as an all-remote company. This signifies a distributed workforce where collaboration is primarily digital and asynchronous, with a strong emphasis on documentation and clear communication protocols.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote within the USA, the company serves customers at military commands worldwide. This implies that while the design team is remote, there might be occasional (though not explicitly stated as required) opportunities or needs to interact with customer-facing teams or understand on-site operational contexts. The primary work environment, however, remains remote.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Digital Environment: The workspace is characterized by extensive use of digital collaboration tools (e.g., Slack, Zoom, Figma, Jira) to facilitate communication, design reviews, and code implementation across distributed teams.
• Tools & Technology: Access to and proficiency in industry-standard design and development tools is essential. The company likely invests in robust digital infrastructure to support its remote operations.
• Team Interaction: Interaction will be primarily through virtual meetings, asynchronous messaging, and shared documentation platforms. The success of the design system relies heavily on proactive engagement and communication within this digital framework.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time (40 hours/week) with flexibility inherent in a remote-first environment. This allows for adaptation to different time zones within the US and encourages a healthy work-life balance, while still requiring consistent availability for core team collaborations and critical project deadlines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Work Environment" is defined by the "Remote Solely" status. The "Workspace Context" is described through the lens of digital collaboration tools and processes, which are fundamental to the operational success of a distributed team focused on design systems.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Application Submission: Submit resume and portfolio via the Ashby portal.
• Portfolio Review: Initial screening will focus on the candidate's portfolio, looking for demonstrated experience in design systems, accessibility, tokenization, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Recruiter Screen: A brief call to assess overall fit, experience alignment, and salary expectations.
• Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion about design system philosophy, strategic approach, handling ambiguity, and specific examples from past projects.
• Design/Engineering Team Panel: A session with fellow designers and engineers to assess technical skills, collaboration style, and ability to integrate with the Frontend Platform team. This may include a deep dive into specific portfolio pieces.
• Take-Home Challenge (Optional/Likely): A practical exercise to design or refactor a component, define tokens, or outline a strategy for a specific ODS challenge. This assesses problem-solving and practical application skills.
• Final Interview: A broader discussion, potentially with leadership, to evaluate cultural fit, strategic thinking, and long-term vision for the design system.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Prioritize case studies that clearly illustrate your process, decision-making, and impact. For design systems, this means showing the system's architecture, component examples, token structure, and how it was adopted.
• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, include metrics demonstrating the success of your design system work – e.g., reduction in UI bugs, faster feature delivery times, improved accessibility scores, increased adoption rates.
• Highlight Collaboration: Showcase how you partnered with engineering and product. This is crucial for this role, as the ODS is a collaborative effort.
• Accessibility & Theming: Dedicate specific sections or examples to your experience with accessibility standards and creating themeable systems (light/dark/low-luminance).
• Structure for Clarity: Organize your portfolio logically. For design systems, consider presenting it by system architecture, core principles, key components, and adoption strategy.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Context: Research Onebrief's product and customer base. Think about the operational constraints (e.g., low-luminance, constrained hardware) and how they would influence design decisions.
• Focus on Process: Be prepared to articulate your thought process for solving design system challenges. How would you approach auditing an existing system? How would you define semantic tokens? How would you ensure adoption?
• Technical Acumen: Brush up on design tokens, CSS variables, Storybook, and accessibility best practices.
• Communication Skills: Practice explaining complex design system concepts clearly and concisely, as you would to both designers and engineers.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section provides a structured approach to the application process, emphasizing how candidates can best present their operational design expertise. The advice is tailored to the specific demands of a design systems role, focusing on portfolio content and challenge preparation that demonstrates an understanding of process, collaboration, and technical execution within an operational context.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core design tool for UI creation, component building, and design system management. Proficiency in advanced features like tokens, libraries, and auto layout is essential.
• Storybook: The primary tool for documenting, showcasing, and testing UI components in isolation, ensuring consistency and acting as a single source of truth for developers.
• Design Tokens: Experience with managing design tokens (e.g., via Figma Tokens plugin, Style Dictionary) for theming and cross-platform consistency.
• Version Control (Git): Familiarity with Git workflows is expected for collaboration with engineering teams and managing design assets.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Tools: While not directly designing them, understanding how design decisions impact user behavior tracked by tools like Mixpanel, Amplitude, or Pendo is beneficial.
• Accessibility Auditing Tools: Familiarity with tools for automated and manual accessibility checks (e.g., axe DevTools, WAVE, browser developer tools).
• Visual Regression Testing Tools: Experience with tools integrated into Storybook or CI pipelines to catch unintended UI changes.

CRM & Automation:

• Project Management/Issue Tracking: Jira or similar tools for managing design system tasks, bug reports, and feature requests.
• Collaboration Platforms: Slack for real-time communication and asynchronous team updates.
• Documentation Platforms: Confluence, Notion, or similar for comprehensive design system documentation and knowledge sharing.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section details the specific technology stack relevant to a Design Systems role. It emphasizes the operational tools used to build, manage, and distribute design assets consistently and efficiently, highlighting the integration between design and engineering workflows.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Ownership & Accountability: A strong emphasis on taking full responsibility for the design system's health, adoption, and evolution. This means proactively addressing issues and driving solutions.
• Excellence & Rigor: A commitment to high-quality design, accessibility, and technical implementation, reflecting the demanding nature of the company's customer base and mission.
• Collaboration & Candor: Open communication and the ability to give and receive constructive feedback are vital for refining the design system and ensuring alignment across teams.
• Impact & Mission-Driven: A shared dedication to the company's mission of enhancing national security and mission-critical operations, understanding how design choices directly contribute to this goal.
• Efficiency & Scalability: A focus on building systems and processes that are efficient to use and scale effectively as the product and company grow.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated Partnership: Working as a seamless extension of the Frontend Platform team, fostering a deep understanding of engineering constraints and possibilities.
• Proactive Engagement: Regularly seeking out opportunities to support product teams, answer questions, and gather feedback on the design system through office hours and informal check-ins.
• Transparent Communication: Maintaining clear and consistent communication channels for updates, changes, and deprecations related to the ODS, ensuring all stakeholders are informed.
• Iterative Improvement: A culture that embraces continuous feedback and iteration, viewing the design system as a living entity that evolves with user needs and technological advancements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Operations Values" and "Collaboration Style" are inferred from the company description and the nature of a design systems role. These highlight how an individual in this position is expected to operate within the company's broader operational framework, emphasizing a commitment to quality, efficiency, and collaborative problem-solving.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Driving Adoption: Overcoming resistance or inertia from product teams to adopt the design system and ensuring consistent usage across a growing platform.
• Balancing Consistency & Flexibility: Maintaining a cohesive design system while allowing for necessary product innovation and team autonomy.
• Technical Debt Management: Systematically addressing and refactoring existing UI code and design patterns to align with modern standards and reduce long-term maintenance burdens.
• Evolving Requirements: Adapting the design system to new technological constraints, accessibility standards, and evolving user needs, particularly within specialized domains like military operations.
• Remote Collaboration: Effectively managing communication, alignment, and feedback loops within a fully remote, distributed team environment.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Design Systems Expertise: Opportunity to become a leading voice in design systems through continuous learning, attending industry conferences (e.g., Design Systems Conference), and potentially pursuing certifications.
• Technical Skill Enhancement: Gaining deeper insights into frontend architecture, theming engines, and CI/CD pipelines through close collaboration with engineering.
• Cross-Functional Acumen: Developing a stronger understanding of product strategy, engineering challenges, and the operational realities of serving mission-critical customers.
• Mentorship & Leadership: Potential to mentor junior designers and engineers, and eventually lead the growth of the design systems function within Onebrief.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Challenges" are framed through an operational lens, focusing on process, adoption, and efficiency. "Learning & Development Opportunities" are tied to advancing specialized operational skills and potential leadership within the design systems domain.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your philosophy for building and scaling a design system. How do you balance established standards with the need for innovation?" (Focus on your strategic approach to operationalizing design.)
• "Walk us through a time you successfully reduced design-engineering drift. What were the key steps, challenges, and outcomes?" (Demonstrate your process for aligning design and development operations.)
• "How would you approach designing for low-luminance, windowless environments with constrained hardware? What specific considerations would you prioritize, and how would you translate them into tokens and components?" (Assess your understanding of operational constraints and technical execution.)
• "Imagine a product team needs a new component that doesn't fit neatly into the existing system. How would you handle this request to maintain system integrity while supporting their needs?" (Evaluate your problem-solving and process management skills.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Onebrief's mission and our focus on military operations?" (Show genuine interest in the company's operational impact.)
• "How do you approach collaboration with engineering teams, especially in a remote-first environment?" (Highlight your ability to work within distributed operational structures.)
• "Describe a situation where you had to advocate for design system adoption or accessibility standards. How did you communicate the value and overcome objections?" (Assess your influencing and communication skills within a team.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with the 'Why': Clearly articulate the problem you were solving and the goals of your design system project.
• Showcase the System Architecture: Explain the structure of your design system, including the token hierarchy, component categorization, and how it's organized in Figma/code.
• Detail Key Components & Tokens: Dive into specific examples, explaining design decisions, accessibility considerations, and theming capabilities.
• Highlight Collaboration & Adoption: Present how you worked with cross-functional teams, the adoption process, and any challenges faced and overcome.
• Quantify Impact: Use metrics to demonstrate the success of your work – e.g., efficiency gains, consistency improvements, accessibility scores.
• Address Specific Role Requirements: Explicitly connect your portfolio examples to the requirements of the Onebrief Design Systems Specialist role, particularly regarding accessibility, theming, and bridging design/engineering.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview questions are crafted to probe the candidate's operational thinking, their ability to manage processes, and their understanding of the technical and collaborative aspects of design systems. The portfolio presentation strategy emphasizes demonstrating operational impact and alignment with the company's specific needs.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer, Design Systems position:

• Submit your resume and a link to your portfolio through the Ashby application portal.
• Portfolio Customization: Ensure your portfolio prominently features case studies demonstrating your experience with design systems, tokenization, accessibility, and cross-functional collaboration. Tailor the presentation to highlight how your skills align with Onebrief's mission and operational needs.
• Resume Optimization: Weave in keywords from the job description, such as "Design Systems," "Figma Tokens," "Accessibility," "Storybook," "UI Standards," and "Frontend Platform," to highlight your direct relevance. Quantify achievements related to system adoption, efficiency gains, or accessibility improvements.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design system philosophy, process ownership, and problem-solving approaches. Be ready to discuss specific examples from your portfolio that showcase your ability to bridge design and engineering operations.
• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with Onebrief's product, its mission in supporting military operations, and its remote-first culture. Understand the unique operational challenges of their target market and how a robust design system supports these.

⚠️ 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.