Product Designer, Design Systems

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer, Design Systems

Company: General Intuition & Medal

Location: New York City, NY, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / Design Systems

Date Posted: 2026-06-02

Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the development, scaling, and maintenance of a robust design system from its foundational elements to production-ready components.

• Drive the systems-first approach to product design, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and scalability across consumer-facing digital products on a leading gaming clips platform.

• Collaborate intimately with engineering teams to translate design system components accurately into code, bridging the gap between design and development.

• Champion best practices in UX patterns, accessibility, and platform-specific design across desktop and mobile interfaces for a rapidly growing user base.

• Foster a deep understanding and integration of gaming culture into design decisions, enhancing the user experience for millions of gamers.

📝 Enhancement Note: The role of Product Designer, Design Systems at Medal emphasizes a hands-on, foundational approach. While the provided description mentions experience with consuming design systems, the explicit requirement for building, scaling, and maintaining them from the ground up suggests a senior-leaning mid-level or true senior role, demanding proactive ownership and strategic thinking beyond just implementation. This is a core focus for operations-minded designers.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and evolve a comprehensive design system, including defining component libraries, establishing design tokens, and implementing robust documentation.

• Develop and maintain Figma libraries with advanced features like component architecture, variables, and auto layout, ensuring seamless synchronization with production code.

• Collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, and other designers to understand product requirements and integrate design system updates effectively.

• Conduct audits of existing product interfaces to identify inconsistencies and opportunities for design system application and improvement.

• Create and maintain detailed documentation for design system components, guidelines, and best practices to enable efficient adoption by product teams.

• Ensure design system components adhere to accessibility standards (WCAG) and platform-specific best practices for both desktop and mobile experiences.

• Stay abreast of emerging design trends, technologies, and user behaviors within the gaming and social media landscape to inform design system evolution.

• Facilitate workshops and training sessions to educate product teams on leveraging the design system effectively.

• Champion the adoption and adherence to the design system across the organization, acting as a key advocate for design consistency and efficiency.

• Contribute to the overall product strategy by providing insights on how the design system can enable faster iteration and improved user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities heavily lean into the operational aspects of design. Building and scaling a design system from the ground up requires meticulous process definition, change management, and cross-functional alignment—all hallmarks of effective operations. The emphasis on Figma expertise, component architecture, and synchronization with production code highlights the need for a designer who understands the lifecycle of design assets and their impact on development velocity and product quality.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 4+ years of experience designing consumer-facing digital products, with a strong emphasis on building and scaling design systems.

Required Skills:

• Proven experience (4+ years) in designing consumer-facing digital products, ideally for social or creator-driven platforms.

• Systems-first mindset with hands-on experience building, scaling, and maintaining design systems from the ground up.

• Strong grasp of design system fundamentals: design tokens, component libraries, versioning, and documentation.

• Deep expertise in Figma, including advanced component architecture, variables, auto layout, and maintaining living libraries in sync with production.

• Demonstrated experience working closely with engineers to ensure accurate translation of design system components into code.

• Proficiency in designing for both desktop and mobile platforms, understanding platform-specific UX patterns and accessibility best practices.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions and technical considerations to cross-functional teams.

• A keen interest in gaming culture, understanding the unique language, social dynamics, and user behaviors within gaming communities. Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing for communities, content creation, or real-time interaction products (e.g., Discord, Twitch, TikTok).

• Familiarity with front-end development principles and how design systems integrate with frameworks like React or Vue.js.

• Experience with design system governance and contribution workflows.

• Portfolio showcasing a strong understanding of scalable design patterns and practical application of design systems.

• Experience with user research and usability testing to inform design system iterations.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "systems-first mindset" and "hands-on experience building, scaling, and maintaining design systems from the ground up" are critical indicators of the level of ownership and operational rigor expected. This goes beyond simply using a design system; it requires understanding its architecture, governance, and lifecycle management, which aligns with process-oriented roles in operations. The emphasis on Figma's advanced features and engineering collaboration highlights the technical depth required.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase at least one significant project where you were instrumental in building or scaling a design system from scratch.

• Demonstrate how you defined and implemented design tokens, component libraries, and documentation standards.

• Provide examples of your Figma expertise, including complex component architectures, variable usage, and auto layout strategies.

• Illustrate your collaboration process with engineering teams, highlighting how you ensured design-to-code fidelity and managed system updates.

• Include case studies that detail your approach to ensuring accessibility and platform-specific UX patterns within a design system.

• Present work that reflects an understanding of consumer-facing products, ideally within social, creator, or gaming contexts. Process Documentation:

• Detail your methodology for establishing design system governance, including contribution workflows and version control.

• Explain your process for maintaining design system libraries in sync with production releases.

• Document your approach to user research and feedback integration for continuous design system improvement.

• Outline your strategies for communicating and advocating for the design system across product teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Design Systems role, the portfolio is paramount and must demonstrate not just design output, but the process behind creating and managing a scalable system. This includes showing how components are architected, how tokens are managed, and crucially, how the system is documented and maintained in sync with development. This focus on process, documentation, and cross-functional integration is highly transferable to operations roles.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 - $220,000 USD per year. This range reflects the competitive market for experienced Product Designers specializing in Design Systems in a high-cost-of-living area like New York City, considering the company's funding and growth stage.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary and meaningful equity.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.

• 401(k) plan.

• Wellness and fitness perks, including a Wellhub membership and mental health resources.

• Generous paid parental leave, fertility, and maternal health benefits.

• Ample paid time off (PTO) policy.

• Daily meals and commuter benefits provided at the NYC HQ.

• Learning and development stipend for professional growth.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, typically 40 hours per week, with an expectation of being on-site in the NYC office five days a week.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range of $180,000 - $220,000 USD for a Product Designer, Design Systems in New York City is within the expected market rate for a mid-level to senior individual contributor with specialized skills and experience in building foundational design systems. This range accounts for the high cost of living in NYC, the company's significant seed funding ($133M), and the critical nature of design systems for scaling consumer products. The benefits package is comprehensive, aligning with industry standards for well-funded tech startups.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Social Media / Gaming Technology / Consumer Internet. Medal operates at the intersection of gaming, social media, and content creation, aiming to become the dominant platform for capturing and sharing gaming moments.

Company Size: While specific current employee count isn't provided, the mention of a $133M seed round from prominent VCs (General Catalyst, Khosla) suggests a growth-stage startup, likely ranging from 50-200 employees, with plans to scale rapidly.

Founded: Medal was founded with a mission to design products that make sharing, discovering, and connecting around gaming moments seamless and fun, aiming to build the next generation of gaming communities.

Team Structure:

• The Design Systems team likely operates as a specialized unit within the broader Product Design department, potentially reporting to a Head of Design or Design Lead.

• Close collaboration is expected with Product Management and Engineering teams to ensure design system components are well-defined, implemented accurately, and adopted effectively.

• The "in-person" requirement suggests a highly collaborative environment where designers, PMs, and engineers work closely together at the NYC HQ. Methodology:

• A systems-first approach to product development, emphasizing consistency, scalability, and efficiency through a robust design system.

• Data-driven decision-making, leveraging user data and analytics to inform product design and system improvements.

• Iterative development processes, with a focus on rapid prototyping, user feedback, and continuous improvement.

• Strong emphasis on user experience and engaging with gaming culture to create authentic and resonant products for their target audience.

Company Website: https://medal.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Medal's positioning as a "creator-powered" and "community-focused" platform means that the design system must not only support product development but also enable creators and foster community interaction. The company's significant funding and focus on rapid growth imply an environment where established processes and scalable solutions are highly valued, making a strong design system a critical operational asset.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a foundational individual contributor focused on building and scaling a critical operational asset – the design system. It requires deep expertise in design systems and Figma, with a strong emphasis on hands-on execution, collaboration, and problem-solving. It's a pivotal role for establishing design consistency and efficiency.

Reporting Structure: The Product Designer, Design Systems will likely report to a Design Lead or Head of Design. They will work closely with Product Managers and Engineering Leads on specific product initiatives and platform development.

Operations Impact: The design system directly impacts operational efficiency by reducing redundant design and development efforts, accelerating feature delivery, and ensuring brand consistency. It serves as a scalable foundation for product growth, enabling the company to launch new features and iterate faster while maintaining a high-quality user experience for millions of users.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in design systems, becoming a go-to authority on component architecture, accessibility, and design tokens.

• Leadership: Potentially grow into a Design Systems Lead or Manager role, overseeing a team and setting the strategic direction for the system.

• Product Impact: Influence the direction of the Medal platform by ensuring the design system enables innovative and engaging user experiences.

• Cross-functional Development: Gain deeper insights into engineering workflows and product strategy through close collaboration.

• Industry Influence: Contribute to the broader design community by sharing best practices and insights on building scalable design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The career path for a Design Systems specialist often involves deepening technical expertise, managing the operational aspects of the system, or moving into product leadership where design systems are a key enabler. The emphasis on "building from the ground up" suggests a high degree of ownership and potential for significant impact, which can accelerate career progression.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is explicitly on-site, requiring 5 days a week in the company's NYC HQ. This indicates a preference for in-person collaboration and a structured work environment.

Office Location(s): New York City HQ, specifically in the Flatiron district, suggesting a vibrant, accessible urban workspace.

Workspace Context:

• A highly collaborative environment where designers, product managers, and engineers work in close proximity to drive product innovation.

• Access to modern design tools and technologies, with a strong emphasis on Figma as the primary design platform.

• Opportunities for direct interaction with the core product team, fostering a shared understanding of goals and challenges.

• The office environment likely supports focused work sessions as well as spontaneous brainstorming and problem-solving.

Work Schedule: Full-time (approximately 40 hours per week), with an expectation of consistent presence at the NYC office. While dedicated hours are standard, the nature of startup environments can sometimes necessitate flexibility to meet project deadlines, though the emphasis here is on structured, in-office collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for 5 days in the office in NYC signifies a commitment to a highly collaborative and integrated team structure. For operations-focused roles, this often translates to more efficient communication, faster decision-making, and a stronger sense of team cohesion. The mention of daily meals and commuter benefits further enhances the on-site work experience.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with a recruiter to assess basic qualifications, experience alignment, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Exercise: Presentation of your portfolio, focusing on design system projects, followed by a potential design challenge. This might involve critiquing an existing system or outlining how you'd approach building a new component.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers and Engineering Leads to discuss your approach to collaboration, system implementation, and understanding of technical constraints.

• Final Interview: Conversation with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Design, VP of Product) to discuss strategic vision, leadership potential, and overall fit within the company culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight System Building: Clearly articulate your role and impact in building, scaling, or maintaining design systems. Use case studies that demonstrate foundational work, not just consumption.

• Figma Deep Dive: Be prepared to walk through your Figma files, explaining your component architecture, variable usage, auto layout strategies, and how you manage complex libraries.

• Process & Collaboration: Emphasize your process for defining tokens, components, and documentation. Showcase how you collaborate with engineers to ensure design-to-code fidelity and manage system updates.

• Gaming Culture Integration: If possible, include examples that show an understanding of or integration with gaming culture, social platforms, or creator tools.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, provide metrics or qualitative evidence of how your design system work improved efficiency, consistency, or product quality.

Challenge Preparation:

• Be ready to discuss how you would approach building or improving a design system for a platform like Medal.

• Prepare to articulate your understanding of design tokens, component states, and accessibility standards.

• Practice explaining complex design concepts and technical considerations clearly and concisely.

• Research Medal's current product and identify potential areas where a robust design system could enhance user experience and development efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "systems-first mindset" and "building from the ground up" means the portfolio review will heavily scrutinize the candidate's ability to architect and manage a design system as an operational tool. Expect questions about governance, contribution models, and how the system scales with product complexity. Demonstrating an understanding of the operational lifecycle of a design system is key.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Deep expertise required for component architecture, variables, auto layout, and library management. This is the core design tool.

• Design System Management Tools: Potentially tools for documentation (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook integration), versioning, and collaboration.

• Prototyping Tools: Figma's native prototyping capabilities, and potentially others for more complex interactions.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Platforms: Familiarity with tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or similar to understand user behavior and inform design system decisions.

• User Feedback Tools: Experience with platforms for collecting and analyzing user feedback (e.g., UserTesting.com, Hotjar, in-app surveys).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly a designer's tool, understanding how design systems integrate with development workflows and potentially CMS platforms for content management (if applicable to design system documentation) can be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma, component architecture, variables, and auto layout, combined with the need to keep libraries in sync with production, highlights a highly technical and process-oriented design role. Proficiency in these areas is crucial for ensuring the design system functions as a scalable and efficient operational backbone for product development.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Systems Thinking: A core value is approaching design challenges with a focus on scalability, consistency, and reusability through a strong design system.

• Collaboration & Ownership: Taking ownership of the design system and working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure its success and adoption.

• User-Centricity & Gaming Culture: Deeply understanding and empathizing with the gaming community to create authentic and engaging experiences.

• Efficiency & Quality: Driving efficiency in product development through a well-maintained design system while upholding high standards of design quality and accessibility.

Collaboration Style:

• Partnership with Engineering: A close, symbiotic relationship with engineers to ensure design system components are technically feasible and accurately implemented.

• Cross-functional Alignment: Working seamlessly with Product Management to align design system development with product roadmaps and user needs.

• Open Communication: Fostering an environment of open feedback and discussion to continuously improve the design system and product.

• Advocacy and Education: Actively promoting the use of the design system and educating teams on its capabilities and best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "systems-first mindset" and the need to work closely with engineers points to a culture that values operational discipline, process adherence, and strong cross-functional partnerships. This is crucial for the success of a design system, which relies heavily on consistent implementation and adoption across teams.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch: Establishing a comprehensive design system for a rapidly growing platform presents challenges in defining scope, prioritizing components, and gaining initial adoption.

• Maintaining Consistency: Ensuring the design system remains in sync with evolving product needs and a fast-paced development cycle requires robust processes and constant vigilance.

• Cross-functional Adoption: Overcoming potential resistance or inertia from teams unfamiliar with or hesitant to adopt a new design system requires strong advocacy and clear communication of benefits.

• Balancing Generality and Specificity: Creating components that are versatile enough for various use cases while specific enough to provide meaningful design solutions.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Design Systems Expertise: Becoming a subject matter expert in advanced design system principles, tooling, and governance.

• Technical Skill Enhancement: Gaining a more profound understanding of front-end development principles and how design systems integrate with code.

• Product Strategy Influence: Contributing to the strategic direction of the Medal platform by leveraging the design system to enable new product capabilities.

• Mentorship: Potential to mentor junior designers or contribute to building out the broader design function within Medal.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge lies in operationalizing the design system—making it a living, breathing asset that drives efficiency and consistency. This requires continuous process refinement, proactive stakeholder management, and a deep understanding of the product development lifecycle, all of which are core to operations.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your approach to building a design system from the ground up. What are the key phases, considerations, and potential pitfalls?" (Focus on process, governance, and initial setup.)

• "How do you ensure a design system stays in sync with production code, especially in a fast-paced environment? What mechanisms do you put in place?" (Highlight collaboration with engineering, versioning, and release cycles.)

• "Imagine a new social feature is requested for Medal. How would you use the design system to approach its design and ensure consistency?" (Demonstrate understanding of system utilization and scalability.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Medal's mission and the gaming clips platform space?" (Show genuine interest and research into the company and industry.)

• "How do you approach incorporating gaming culture into design system components and guidelines?" (Connect your understanding of the culture to practical design applications.)

• "Describe a time you had to advocate for the adoption of a design system or a best practice. How did you approach it, and what was the outcome?" (Illustrate your communication and influence skills.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio around key design system projects. For each, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role, the solutions you implemented (components, tokens, architecture), the process, and the resulting impact (efficiency, consistency, user experience).

• Figma Walkthrough: Be prepared for a live demo of your Figma files. Showcase your component architecture, use of variables, auto layout, and how you structure your libraries for scalability and maintainability.

• Quantify Outcomes: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the value of your work. This could include reduced design time, faster development cycles, improved UI consistency scores, or positive user feedback related to UI.

• Engineering Collaboration: Detail your collaboration process with engineers. Show examples of how you handed off designs, communicated technical requirements, and worked together to resolve implementation issues.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation for this role should focus on demonstrating a strong operational mindset. This means articulating not just design skills but also process definition, collaboration strategies, and the ability to manage a complex, evolving system that impacts multiple teams and the overall product development velocity.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-aligned design position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link, ensuring your resume and portfolio are up-to-date and highlight relevant design systems experience.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to prominently feature your experience building, scaling, and maintaining design systems from the ground up. Include specific case studies that detail your process, Figma expertise, and collaboration with engineering.

• Resume Optimization: Emphasize keywords related to "Design Systems," "Figma," "component architecture," "design tokens," "scalability," "consistency," and "collaboration with engineers." Quantify achievements where possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, system thinking, and how you ensure design-to-code fidelity. Be ready to discuss your approach to building a design system and its operational impact.

• Company Research: Understand Medal's mission, target audience (gamers), and the competitive landscape. Consider how a robust design system supports their growth and community-building goals.

⚠️ 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.