Senior Product Designer (Design Systems)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer (Design Systems)

Company: Diligent Corporation

Location: Budapest, Hungary

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / Design Systems

Date Posted: February 25, 2026

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the evolution and scaling of a comprehensive design system, ensuring consistency and excellence across a complex enterprise platform.

• Drive end-to-end product design, from initial discovery and user research through high-fidelity execution and seamless developer handoff.

• Champion design excellence, accessibility, and ethical AI practices, integrating them into the core of the product ecosystem.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management and Engineering teams to align user needs, strategic objectives, and technical implementation for scalable solutions.

• Contribute to a systems-thinking approach, designing for cohesion, long-term evolution, and reusability across multiple product lines.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is specifically focused on Design Systems within Product Design, emphasizing the strategic importance of scalable design foundations for an enterprise SaaS platform. The hybrid work model in Budapest suggests a need for on-site collaboration at least 50% of the time.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the end-to-end design process, encompassing user research, ideation, wireframing, prototyping, high-fidelity visual design, and detailed developer handoff.

• Develop, maintain, and iterate on the company's design system within Figma, including component libraries, reusable patterns, style guides, and comprehensive documentation.

• Ensure and promote design consistency, accessibility (WCAG compliance), and scalability across all product teams by establishing and enforcing design standards.

• Foster strong partnerships with Product Managers and Engineers to ensure user needs, business goals, and technical constraints are harmoniously integrated into the design process.

• Advocate for design excellence, user-centered principles, and the ethical application of AI and emerging technologies within the product development lifecycle.

• Contribute to the strategic roadmap for the design system, identifying opportunities for improvement, innovation, and wider adoption.

• Facilitate design reviews and provide constructive feedback to other designers, ensuring adherence to system guidelines and best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a senior-level contribution to design strategy, system governance, and cross-functional leadership, extending beyond individual feature design to architectural design thinking for the product ecosystem.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong understanding of design principles, systems thinking, and user experience methodologies, typically gained through a Bachelor's degree in Design, HCI, Computer Science, or a related field, is expected.

Experience: 5+ years of progressive product design experience, with a significant focus on B2B or enterprise SaaS environments, demonstrating a proven track record of building or substantially evolving design systems at scale.

Required Skills:

• Advanced proficiency in Figma, including deep expertise in creating and managing scalable component libraries, utilizing variables, and implementing advanced features for design system management.

• Strong UX, interaction, and visual design craft, with a demonstrable systems-oriented portfolio showcasing the ability to design for scale and cohesion.

• A robust systems mindset, with the ability to think holistically about product architecture, consistency, and long-term maintainability.

• Proven ability to articulate and defend design decisions with clear rationale, demonstrating confidence in decision-making.

• Deep user empathy and a strong commitment to user-centered design principles and methodologies.

• Collaborative spirit and demonstrated experience working effectively cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and other stakeholders in fast-paced, agile environments.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with design tokens and establishing design-to-code workflows for seamless implementation.

• Familiarity with governance models and best practices for scaling and managing design systems across large organizations.

• Exposure to integrating generative AI capabilities into product experiences and understanding their UX implications.

• Experience with user research methodologies and usability testing to validate design system components and patterns.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirements emphasize hands-on contribution to design systems, suggesting that candidates should be prepared to showcase tangible examples of their work in this area, particularly within a complex enterprise context.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A dedicated section showcasing your experience with design systems, including examples of components, patterns, and style guides you have developed or significantly contributed to.

• Case studies demonstrating your end-to-end product design process, highlighting how you translated user needs and business requirements into effective solutions.

• Evidence of systems thinking applied to design challenges, illustrating how you designed for scalability, consistency, and long-term evolution.

• Examples of high-fidelity mockups and prototypes, demonstrating strong visual and interaction design craft.

Process Documentation:

• Detailed case studies that outline the discovery phase, including user research, problem definition, and requirements gathering.

• Workflow diagrams illustrating your design process from ideation to implementation, highlighting collaboration points with engineering and product.

• Demonstrations of how you've ensured accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) are embedded within the design system and individual product designs.

• Examples of how you have iterated on designs based on user feedback, data analysis, or A/B testing results.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates are expected to present a portfolio that not only demonstrates visual and interaction design skills but also a deep understanding of design systems, scalability, and cross-functional collaboration, ideally with quantifiable impact.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Designers with 5-10 years of experience specializing in Design Systems in a major European city like Budapest, the estimated gross annual salary range is likely between €55,000 - €85,000. This estimate accounts for the cost of living in Budapest, the specific expertise in design systems, and the senior level of the role.

Benefits:

• Flexible work environment fostering work-life balance.

• Global days of service, allowing employees to contribute to community initiatives.

• Comprehensive health benefits package.

• Dedicated meeting-free days to promote focused work and reduce meeting fatigue.

• Generous time off policy to support employee well-being and personal time.

• Wellness programs designed to support physical and mental health.

• Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI technologies and contribute to innovative product development.

Working Hours: A standard full-time work week, typically around 40 hours, with the flexibility to manage work schedules within a hybrid model. The company promotes a healthy work-life balance, including meeting-free days.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary is an estimation based on typical Budapest market rates for senior tech roles and the specific specialization. Benefits are directly sourced from the provided company information.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) SaaS Solutions. Diligent is a leader in its field, providing AI-driven tools to help organizations manage risk and improve governance. This context implies a need for design that is professional, reliable, and user-friendly for enterprise clients who rely on these critical functions.

Company Size: Diligent is a significant global organization with offices in multiple major cities worldwide, indicating a large employee base and complex operational structure. This size suggests opportunities for cross-functional impact and career growth within a well-established company.

Founded: Diligent was founded to create the modern governance movement. While the exact founding date isn't provided, its mission implies a history of innovation and a forward-thinking approach to business solutions.

Team Structure:

• The design team is likely part of a larger Product organization, collaborating closely with Product Management, Engineering, and potentially Marketing.

• The Senior Product Designer role will report into a Design Lead or Head of Design, with significant interaction across multiple product squads or feature teams.

Methodology:

• Diligent emphasizes AI leadership and innovation, suggesting a data-informed and forward-looking approach to product development and design.

• The company culture values curiosity, bold thinking, and experimentation, encouraging employees to ask big questions and embrace change.

• A strong focus on collaboration, with multiple global hubs and a hybrid work model, indicates a methodology that balances in-person interaction with remote flexibility.

Company Website: diligent.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The GRC SaaS industry context suggests a need for designs that convey trust, security, and efficiency. The company's emphasis on AI and innovation points to a dynamic and evolving work environment.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Product Designer role, indicating a level of expertise and autonomy. It signifies a capacity to lead design initiatives, mentor junior designers, and influence product strategy, particularly concerning the design system's architecture and adoption. The role is pivotal in ensuring design consistency and quality across the enterprise platform.

Reporting Structure: The role will likely report to a Design Manager or Lead, with close collaboration across various product development teams (Product Managers, Engineers, Researchers). This structure allows for both focused design system work and broader product contribution.

Operations Impact: The Senior Product Designer directly impacts product adoption, user satisfaction, and development efficiency by maintaining and evolving a robust design system. A well-maintained system reduces design and development debt, speeds up time-to-market for new features, and ensures a cohesive, professional user experience across Diligent's complex enterprise platform, thereby influencing client retention and overall business success.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in design systems, UI architecture, and component-based design.

• Leadership: Transition into a Design Lead or Managerial role, overseeing design teams or specific product areas.

• Strategic Influence: Contribute to higher-level product strategy discussions, influencing the direction of the platform based on design system capabilities and user needs.

• Skill Expansion: Develop advanced skills in areas like design tokens, design-to-code integration, and the application of AI in UX.

• Cross-functional Mobility: Potentially move into roles focused on UX strategy, product management, or design operations within Diligent.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path for a Senior Product Designer in Design Systems often leads to leadership roles or deep specialization in complex product ecosystems, with significant opportunities for strategic impact.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Diligent operates with a hybrid work model, indicating a blend of office-based and remote work. The office environment is designed to foster collaboration, innovation, and community among employees.

Office Location(s): The role is based in Budapest, Hungary, with expectations to work onsite at least 50% of the time if within commuting distance. Diligent also has major hubs in New York City, Washington D.C., London, Galway, Vancouver, Bengaluru, Munich, Singapore, and Sydney, facilitating global collaboration.

Workspace Context:

• The physical workspace in Budapest is likely designed to support collaboration, with meeting rooms, shared workspaces, and areas for focused work.

• Access to modern design tools and technology, including Figma and potentially other collaborative platforms, will be standard.

• Opportunities for interaction with local and global design teams, as well as product and engineering counterparts, will be frequent, fostering a dynamic and connected work environment.

Work Schedule: A standard full-time schedule (approx. 40 hours/week) with flexibility. The hybrid model allows for a balance between in-office collaboration and remote work, accommodating the needs of complex design processes and individual focus time.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model in Budapest emphasizes the importance of in-person collaboration for at least half of the work week, suggesting that candidates should be comfortable with this arrangement and located within reasonable commuting distance.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will assess your resume and portfolio against the core requirements, focusing on design systems experience and enterprise SaaS background.

• Portfolio Review & Discussion: A deeper dive into your portfolio with a design lead or senior designer. Expect to discuss specific case studies, your design process, and your contributions to design systems, emphasizing your systems thinking and Figma proficiency.

• Design Challenge/Exercise: You may be given a take-home assignment or an in-person exercise focused on design system thinking, component design, or problem-solving within a given product context.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers and Engineers to assess collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to integrate design with development.

• Final Interview: A discussion with a senior leader (e.g., Head of Design) to evaluate overall fit, strategic thinking, and alignment with company values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight Design Systems: Dedicate a significant portion of your portfolio to your design system work. Clearly articulate the problem, your solution, the impact, and your specific role.

• Showcase Figma Mastery: Demonstrate advanced Figma skills, including libraries, variables, and component architecture.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your design system contributions (e.g., reduction in design/dev time, increase in consistency score, adoption rate).

• Tell a Story: For each case study, outline the challenge, your process, your solution, and the outcome. Emphasize your thought process and decision-making.

• Accessibility First: Clearly show how accessibility was integrated into your design system and product designs.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Design Systems: Be prepared to discuss best practices for design system creation, maintenance, and governance.

• Figma Proficiency: Ensure you are comfortable with Figma's advanced features, as they will likely be tested.

• Systems Thinking: Practice articulating how you approach designing for scale, consistency, and future adaptability.

• Collaboration Scenarios: Prepare examples of how you've collaborated effectively with engineers and product managers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process will heavily scrutinize design system expertise and the ability to apply it within an enterprise SaaS context. A strong, well-documented portfolio is critical for success.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and design system management. Advanced proficiency with libraries, variables, auto layout, and component variants is essential.

• Design System Platforms: Experience with tools that support design system documentation, versioning, and collaboration (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook - although not explicitly mentioned, these are common).

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant to the core design responsibilities, but understanding the broader enterprise software landscape (including CRM and GTM tools) can provide context for the user base and business goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: Figma is the paramount tool for this role. Proficiency in its advanced features for design system management is non-negotiable. Familiarity with design system documentation platforms is also highly advantageous.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Curiosity and Boldness: Diligent encourages asking big questions and experimenting fearlessly, fostering an environment where innovation is valued.

• Collaboration: Working in global, diverse teams, with a hybrid model, emphasizes strong communication and teamwork.

• Impact and Purpose: Employees are encouraged to make an impact and contribute to building a more sustainable, equitable, and better world through their work.

• Continuous Learning: The company values individuals who are eager to keep learning and adapt to change, recognizing that the future belongs to those who evolve.

• User-Centricity: A commitment to understanding and serving users, ensuring products meet their needs effectively and ethically.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Designers are expected to work closely with Product Managers and Engineers, acting as integral parts of product development teams.

• Open Communication: A culture that supports open dialogue, feedback exchange, and shared problem-solving, especially critical in a hybrid and global environment.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of best practices, learnings, and insights, particularly around design systems and UX innovation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture appears to be dynamic, innovative, and people-focused, with a strong emphasis on collaboration and making a tangible impact. Designers are expected to be proactive, curious, and team-oriented.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Design Systems: Evolving and maintaining a design system that effectively serves multiple product teams and a complex enterprise platform requires continuous effort and strategic planning.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent adoption and adherence to the design system across diverse teams with varying priorities and technical capabilities.

• Integrating AI: Exploring and implementing AI features ethically and effectively into user experiences, while maintaining the integrity of the design system.

• Balancing Standardization and Flexibility: Finding the right balance between rigid design system rules and the need for product teams to innovate and customize.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Expertise: Deepen knowledge in areas like design tokens, system governance, and accessibility standards.

• AI in UX: Gain hands-on experience integrating AI and generative technologies into product design.

• Leadership and Mentorship: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and lead design initiatives.

• Industry Conferences and Training: Access to professional development resources to stay abreast of the latest UX and design system trends.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant opportunities to tackle complex design system challenges and grow expertise in emerging areas like AI in UX, within a supportive and forward-thinking company.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your experience building or significantly contributing to a design system. What were the key challenges, and how did you address them?" (Focus on your process, rationale, and impact).

• "How do you ensure consistency and scalability across multiple product teams using a design system? What governance strategies have you employed?" (Highlight your systems thinking and collaborative approach).

• "Walk us through a complex product design challenge you faced. How did you approach it from discovery to handoff, and what was the outcome?" (Emphasize your end-to-end process and user-centered methodology).

• "How do you approach designing for accessibility (WCAG) within a design system? Provide an example." (Demonstrate your commitment to inclusive design).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Diligent and the GRC industry?" (Research Diligent's mission, products, and recent news).

• "How do you collaborate with engineers and product managers? Describe a time you had to influence stakeholders to adopt your design recommendations." (Prepare examples of cross-functional teamwork and persuasion).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure: Organize your portfolio logically, starting with your strongest design system examples, followed by product design case studies.

• Narrative: For each project, tell a compelling story: the problem, your role, your process, the solution, and the measurable impact.

• Visuals: Use high-quality visuals, including mockups, prototypes, and system component examples. Clearly label your contributions if it was a team effort.

• Figma Showcase: Be ready to demonstrate specific Figma techniques relevant to design systems if asked.

• Conciseness: Be prepared to present your key projects within a given timeframe, focusing on the most impactful aspects.

📝 Enhancement Note: Be prepared to demonstrate deep expertise in design systems, Figma, and cross-functional collaboration. Quantifiable results and a clear, articulate design process are crucial.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the Diligent Corporation careers portal.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Ensure your portfolio prominently features your design system work, showcasing Figma proficiency, system thinking, and demonstrable impact. Include at least one detailed case study on design system development or evolution.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight your 5+ years of experience in product design, specifically mentioning B2B/enterprise SaaS and any experience with design systems or complex platforms. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your design process, your approach to systems thinking, and how you champion consistency and accessibility. Be ready to discuss specific Figma features and challenges you've overcome.

• Research Diligent: Understand Diligent's mission, product offerings (GRC SaaS, AI leadership), and company culture. Prepare thoughtful questions about the design team, their challenges, and the future of their design system.

⚠️ 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.

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