Senior Product Designer, Design Systems

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer, Design Systems

Company: Ondo Finance

Location: Remote (US)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Design / Product Operations

Date Posted: 2026-11-04T17:59:43

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Fully Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the end-to-end ownership and strategic development of two core design systems: Institutional and Consumer, ensuring their comprehensive adoption across all web and mobile products.

• Drive the evolution of the design systems' expressive layer, defining visual language, motion principles, and interaction details that enhance user experience and product craft for both institutional and consumer users.

• Ensure strict adherence to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards across all system components, integrating accessibility criteria into the design and verification process.

• Foster a culture of efficiency and speed by reducing one-off components and shortening design-to-build cycles, enabling product teams to ship faster through effective system utilization.

• Establish scalable documentation and governance models that empower engineers, product managers, and AI agents to build effectively from the system independently, minimizing reliance on direct designer involvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a critical "building role" within a small, senior team at a rapidly growing fintech company. The emphasis on "high ownership and low ego" suggests a collaborative environment where individual contribution and initiative are highly valued. The direct involvement in Figma and with engineers "every day" highlights a hands-on, collaborative approach to design systems development, moving beyond theoretical frameworks to tangible component and token creation. The target outcomes clearly indicate a focus on measurable impact, system adoption, and efficiency gains, which are key metrics in operations-centric roles.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• End-to-end ownership of the Institutional and Consumer design systems, encompassing components, design tokens, theming, patterns, and the underlying Figma libraries for both web and mobile platforms.

• Provide essential support to the marketing team's design system to ensure brand consistency and seamless design-to-code integration.

• Define and implement the expressive layer of the design systems, including visual language, motion principles, and interaction details that imbue products with a sense of craft and vitality beyond mere functional correctness.

• Design and deliver the full spectrum of system elements, from primitive atoms to complex organisms and page templates, with a focus on polished interaction details, rigorous visual hierarchy, typography, and layout suitable for financial trading interfaces.

• Collaborate closely with UI engineers to ensure precise mapping of design tokens and components to the production component library, maintaining parity between Figma and code.

• Define and implement mobile-specific design system strategies, including platform-appropriate interactions, responsive and adaptive behaviors, and rules for parity between web and native surfaces.

• Uphold and enforce WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards, ensuring color contrast, keyboard navigation, motion, and screen-reader semantics are inherent to components.

• Develop and maintain clear, actionable documentation, including usage guidelines, do/don't examples, and contribution guides accessible to designers, engineers, and AI agents.

• Implement and manage system governance across product teams, including contribution and review processes, versioning, deprecation strategies, adoption tracking, and forums for system change proposals.

• Proactively audit the design system for gaps, inconsistencies, and drift across products, prioritizing and driving necessary fixes.

• Integrate AI tooling into daily workflows, utilizing agents, markdown guideline files, and MCP integrations to enhance design and engineering processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a deep dive into the technical and procedural aspects of design system management, which aligns with operational excellence. Tasks like "Define how the system works on mobile," "Hold the system to WCAG 2.2 AA," "Run governance across teams," and "Audit the system proactively" are indicative of operational process ownership and continuous improvement, crucial for a Senior Design Systems role. The explicit mention of AI tooling integration points towards a forward-thinking approach to operational efficiency within the design and development lifecycle.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

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

Experience:

• Minimum of 6 years of experience in product design.

• At least 3 years of dedicated experience in building and scaling design systems.

• Proven experience managing design systems across multiple products and platforms, including both web and native mobile applications. Required Skills:

• Advanced proficiency in Figma, including variables, modes, auto layout, component properties, and large-scale library management.

• Strong UI design craft, with expertise in visual hierarchy, typography, layout, and polished interaction details.

• A well-defined point of view on motion design and visual expression, with the judgment to apply restraint when necessary.

• Ability to design and implement scalable components and design tokens, including theming capabilities (e.g., light/dark modes, multi-brand support).

• Solid understanding of how design system elements translate into front-end component libraries (e.g., React, React Native, Swift, Kotlin) and token pipelines.

• Proven track record of close, day-to-day collaboration with engineers, moving beyond traditional handoff processes.

• Strong knowledge of accessibility standards, with a demonstrated ability to ship WCAG 2.2 AA compliant components.

• Experience in developing clear documentation and running cross-team design governance processes (contribution, review, adoption).

• Fluency in utilizing AI tooling within design and engineering workflows, including agents, markdown guideline files, and MCP integrations.

• Familiarity with design-to-code tooling such as Code Connect, token pipelines, or Storybook.

• Systems thinking approach with meticulous attention to detail, capable of understanding both overarching patterns and granular pixel-level execution. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with crypto, onchain, or tokenized-asset products.

• Background in fintech, exchanges, or trading platforms, with specific experience designing for trading surfaces (dense data tables, real-time state changes, numeric typography, color semantics for financial data).

• Familiarity with crypto and digital-asset products or tokenized assets and markets.

• Experience establishing motion and interaction standards within a design system.

• Working proficiency in Mandarin Chinese.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirements emphasize a blend of deep design system expertise and practical, collaborative engineering partnership. The "systems thinker with sharp attention to detail" descriptor is crucial for operations roles, highlighting the need for someone who can manage complexity and ensure consistency. The explicit mention of AI tooling fluency and design-to-code workflows indicates a modern, efficient operational approach.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase comprehensive design systems work, including detailed examples of components, design tokens, and theming implementations.

• Present clear documentation, including usage guidelines, contribution guides, and accessibility considerations for system elements.

• Demonstrate the strategic reasoning and decision-making process behind system design choices, highlighting impact and scalability.

• Include case studies that illustrate the evolution of the design system, its adoption across products, and measurable improvements in efficiency or user experience. Process Documentation:

• Provide examples of well-defined contribution models and review processes for design system updates, showcasing how governance is managed.

• Illustrate how design system parity is maintained between design (Figma) and code (component libraries), with examples of tracking mechanisms or synchronization tools.

• Showcase documentation that details platform-specific considerations, particularly for mobile responsiveness and native interactions within the system.

• Include examples of how accessibility standards (WCAG 2.2 AA) are integrated into the design and development lifecycle of system components.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are heavily skewed towards demonstrating process ownership and system management, which are core to operations roles. The emphasis on "reasoning behind decisions," "adoption across products," "governance," and "parity between design and code" points to the need for candidates who can not only design but also operationalize and maintain complex systems.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

For a Senior Product Designer, Design Systems role in the US, a competitive salary range is estimated between $150,000 - $200,000 annually, with potential for additional compensation in the form of future token rights and/or equity. This estimate is based on industry benchmarks for senior-level design system specialists in the fintech and blockchain sectors, considering the company's funding, investor backing, and the critical nature of this role in a fully remote, growth-stage organization.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance plans.

• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, allowing for adaptable vacation scheduling.

• Future token rights and/or equity, providing ownership and upside potential.

• Remote-first work environment with a global team, fostering flexibility and work-life balance.

• Opportunity to be an early team member and influence company vision, culture, and design practices.

• Collaboration with a high-caliber team composed of alumni from leading technology and finance institutions. Working Hours:

The role is expected to align with standard full-time working hours, approximately 40 hours per week. Given the fully remote nature and global team distribution, there may be flexibility in scheduling, with an expectation of availability for critical meetings and cross-functional collaboration during core business hours relevant to US time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is derived from industry data for senior design system professionals in comparable tech/fintech companies in the US. The inclusion of "future token rights and/or equity" is a significant compensation component for a crypto-native company like Ondo Finance. The benefits package emphasizes flexibility and ownership, reflecting a modern remote work culture.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Fintech, Blockchain, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Investment Products. Ondo Finance operates at the intersection of traditional finance and cutting-edge blockchain technology, aiming to provide institutional-grade investment products and services. This industry context means a high degree of innovation, a fast-paced environment, and a focus on security, compliance, and scalability.

Company Size: Ondo Finance is a growth-stage company, indicated by its backing from prominent investors and its status as a "leader in the space." While not explicitly stated, the mention of a "small, senior team" for this role suggests the company is building out its core functions with experienced professionals. This implies opportunities for significant impact and direct influence on processes and strategy.

Founded: Founded by alumni from Goldman Sachs Digital Assets Team. This background suggests a strong foundation in traditional finance rigor combined with a forward-thinking approach to digital assets. The company is well-capitalized, indicating stability and ambition for growth.

Team Structure:

• The design team is described as "small, senior," implying a flat hierarchy and high individual contribution.

• This role will operate within a cross-functional environment, working closely with UI engineers, product managers, and potentially marketing teams.

• The "high ownership and low ego" culture suggests a team that values individual accountability, collaboration, and mutual respect, essential for effective operations. Methodology:

• The company's mission to provide "institutional-grade" services onchain points to a methodology grounded in precision, reliability, and robust processes.

• The focus on design systems indicates a commitment to scalable, efficient, and consistent product development.

• Expect a data-driven approach to product development and system adoption, with measurable outcomes guiding decisions.

Company Website: https://ondo.finance/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's deep roots in traditional finance (Goldman Sachs alumni) combined with its focus on blockchain and tokenized assets suggest a unique operational culture that blends rigorous financial discipline with the agile, innovative spirit of the crypto space. This duality is crucial for understanding how design systems function within such a context, requiring both precision and adaptability.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is classified as "Senior," indicating a level of experience and autonomy expected to lead significant initiatives. As a Senior Product Designer focused on Design Systems, the individual will be responsible for strategic direction, execution, and governance of critical design infrastructure. This level implies mentorship capabilities and the ability to influence product development processes across multiple teams.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly detailed, the description "join a small, senior team" suggests a relatively flat reporting structure. The Senior Product Designer will likely report to a Head of Design, Design Lead, or a similar senior leadership position within product or engineering. The emphasis on "high ownership" means significant autonomy in day-to-day work and project direction.

Operations Impact: The design systems owned by this role are fundamental to Ondo Finance's product development velocity and quality. By ensuring consistency, efficiency, and accessibility, the Senior Product Designer directly impacts the speed at which new features and products can be launched, the overall user experience across institutional and consumer offerings, and the company's ability to scale its technology. This role is pivotal in operationalizing design excellence and ensuring brand integrity across a growing product suite.

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization & Leadership: Opportunity to deepen expertise in design systems, potentially becoming a lead or principal designer in this specialized area.

• Cross-Functional Influence: Gain broader experience influencing product strategy and engineering practices through the design system.

• Fintech & Crypto Domain Expertise: Develop specialized knowledge in the rapidly evolving fintech and crypto sectors, a highly valuable and in-demand skill set.

• Mentorship: Potential to mentor junior designers and engineers on design system principles and best practices.

• Company Growth: As an early team member, there's significant potential to grow with the company, taking on more responsibility and leadership as Ondo Finance scales.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "building role" aspect signifies that this position offers a unique opportunity to shape the operational foundation of design at Ondo Finance. The growth path is intrinsically linked to the company's expansion and the maturation of its design systems, offering a blend of technical depth and strategic influence.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Ondo Finance operates on a "fully remote" model, with team members distributed across the U.S. and potentially other countries. This means the work environment is decentralized, emphasizing asynchronous communication and digital collaboration tools.

Office Location(s): While the team is distributed, the company is US-based. This may imply a need for team members to be located within specific US time zones for certain collaborative activities, though the primary model is remote.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The remote nature necessitates a strong reliance on digital collaboration tools (e.g., Figma, Slack, video conferencing) to foster interaction and maintain team cohesion.

• Operations Tools & Technology: Access to and proficiency with industry-standard design and collaboration software, particularly Figma, will be paramount. The role also involves leveraging AI tooling, indicating a commitment to adopting advanced technologies for workflow enhancement.

• Team Interaction: Regular virtual syncs, design reviews, and engineering partnership sessions will be key to staying connected and driving projects forward. The "low ego" culture suggests an open and supportive environment for virtual interactions.

Work Schedule: As a fully remote role, there's likely a degree of flexibility in working hours. However, the need for "high ownership" and close collaboration with engineers and product teams implies a requirement for responsiveness and availability during core business hours relevant to the team's primary operating regions (likely US time zones).

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first approach requires a high degree of self-discipline and proactive communication. The "workspace context" emphasizes the digital tools that are central to operations in a distributed team, making proficiency in these tools as critical as design skills themselves.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Initial Screening: A brief call to assess overall fit, experience, and understanding of design systems.

2. Portfolio Review & Deep Dive: A session focused on reviewing the candidate's portfolio, discussing specific design system projects, their strategic rationale, and technical implementation details. This is where the candidate's ability to articulate process and impact will be evaluated.

3. Systems Challenge/Exercise: A practical exercise, likely involving Figma, to assess skills in component creation, token application, or problem-solving within a design system context. This might also involve demonstrating proficiency with AI tooling or design-to-code workflows.

4. Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with UI engineers and Product Managers to assess collaboration style, communication skills, and ability to work effectively within a team.

5. Final Interview: A discussion with senior leadership to evaluate strategic thinking, cultural fit, and long-term vision for the design systems.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Show, Don't Just Tell: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the design decisions made, the process followed, and the measurable outcomes or impact.

• Focus on Design Systems: Prioritize examples that showcase your experience building, scaling, and governing design systems. Include components, tokens, documentation, and case studies on adoption and impact.

• Demonstrate Process & Governance: Highlight how you've managed contributions, enforced standards (especially accessibility), and maintained parity between design and code.

• Technical Depth: Be prepared to discuss your understanding of how design systems translate to front-end code (React, React Native, etc.) and your experience with design-to-code tools.

• Accessibility & Expression: Clearly articulate your approach to accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) and how you've infused visual expression and motion into your systems.

• AI Tooling Integration: If possible, showcase how you've used AI tools to enhance design system workflows.

Challenge Preparation:

• Figma Mastery: Be ready to demonstrate advanced Figma skills, including variables, auto layout, component properties, and library management.

• Problem-Solving: Anticipate scenarios where you might need to address inconsistencies, propose new components, or define interaction patterns.

• Communication: Practice articulating your thought process clearly and concisely, explaining your design decisions and their operational implications.

• Code Awareness: Be prepared to discuss how your design decisions would be implemented in code and the challenges engineers might face.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process and portfolio review are heavily focused on operationalizing design. Candidates need to demonstrate not just design talent but also the ability to build, maintain, and govern complex systems, which involves process thinking, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the design-to-development lifecycle.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The central tool for design system creation, component management, library organization, and collaboration. Advanced proficiency with variables, modes, auto layout, and component properties is essential.

• AI Tooling: Fluency with AI agents, markdown guideline file generation, and MCP integrations for enhancing design and engineering workflows.

• Design-to-Code Tools: Familiarity with tools like Code Connect, token pipelines, and potentially Storybook for bridging the gap between design and development.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Adoption Tracking Tools: Mechanisms (potentially custom-built or integrated into other systems) to measure the coverage and usage of design system components across products.

• Performance Monitoring: Tools to track the efficiency gains and speed improvements resulting from design system adoption.

CRM & Automation:

• Collaboration Platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams, or similar for communication and asynchronous workflows.

• Project Management: Tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking design system tasks, contributions, and bug fixes.

• Documentation Platforms: Confluence, Notion, or internal wikis for housing design system guidelines and governance processes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes tools that enable efficient, scalable, and collaborative design operations. Figma is core, but the integration of AI tooling and design-to-code solutions highlights a modern approach to operationalizing design systems and ensuring alignment with engineering.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Precision & Craft: A commitment to high-quality design, meticulous attention to detail, and polished execution, especially critical for financial products.

• Efficiency & Scalability: Driving operational excellence through well-defined processes, reusable components, and automated workflows to enable faster product delivery.

• Collaboration & Ownership: A culture where individuals take responsibility for their work, collaborate effectively across teams, and contribute to a shared vision with a "low ego" approach.

• Innovation & Adaptability: Embracing new technologies (like AI tooling) and evolving best practices to stay at the forefront of fintech and blockchain design.

• Accessibility & Inclusivity: Ensuring all products are usable by a wide range of users, adhering to strict accessibility standards as a core design principle.

Collaboration Style:

• Engineering Partnership: A deep, day-to-day collaboration with UI engineers to ensure seamless translation of designs into code and maintain system parity.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Working closely with Product Managers, Marketing, and other stakeholders to ensure the design system meets broader business and product needs.

• Open Feedback Loops: Fostering an environment where constructive feedback is shared openly and regularly, particularly within design reviews and governance forums.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively documenting and sharing best practices, guidelines, and learnings related to the design system to empower other teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values and collaboration style reflect a mature, operations-focused design team. The emphasis on "precision," "efficiency," "scalability," and "collaboration" are hallmarks of effective operational teams in the tech industry.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Scaling Systems: Ensuring the design systems remain robust, manageable, and consistently adopted as the company and its product offerings grow rapidly.

• Maintaining Parity: Keeping Figma libraries and front-end component libraries perfectly synchronized, especially with frequent updates and new feature development.

• Cross-Team Adoption: Driving consistent use and contribution from diverse product teams with varying levels of design system maturity and understanding.

• Balancing Expression and Standardization: Defining an expressive visual and motion language that feels unique and alive, while still adhering to the strict constraints and consistency required for financial platforms.

• Integrating Emerging Technologies: Effectively incorporating AI tooling and other new technologies into established design system workflows without disrupting productivity.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deepening Design Systems Expertise: Becoming a recognized expert in design systems, potentially leading to Principal or Staff Designer roles.

• Fintech & Crypto Domain Specialization: Gaining in-depth knowledge of the unique design challenges and opportunities within the crypto and tokenized asset space.

• Leadership & Mentorship: Developing leadership skills by guiding the direction of the design systems and mentoring junior team members.

• Process Improvement: Contributing to and refining the operational processes for design system development, governance, and adoption.

• Industry Exposure: Potential to represent Ondo Finance at industry events or contribute to design system communities.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges highlight the operational complexities of managing design systems at scale in a fast-paced, innovative environment. The growth opportunities are directly tied to mastering these challenges and expanding one's influence within the company and the broader industry.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your philosophy for building and scaling a design system. What are the key operational considerations for ensuring long-term success and adoption?" (Focus on governance, contribution models, and cross-functional alignment.)

• "Walk me through a time you had to drive adoption of a design system across multiple teams. What were the biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?" (Highlight your process, communication, and problem-solving skills.)

• "How do you balance the need for design system consistency with the desire for product teams to innovate and express unique brand identities?" (Discuss flexibility, theming, and contribution guidelines.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Ondo Finance's mission and market position, what do you see as the primary design system challenges and opportunities for us?" (Research Ondo's products, competitors, and the fintech/crypto space.)

• "How would you approach building a design system that serves both institutional and consumer-facing products, given their potentially different user needs and expectations?" (Discuss modularity, theming, and tailored patterns.)

• "Describe your experience working with engineers. How do you ensure a smooth, collaborative workflow between design and development, especially when dealing with complex components and code translation?" (Emphasize partnership, clear documentation, and shared understanding.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio to clearly showcase your design system projects. For each, detail the problem, your specific contributions, the process, key decisions, and measurable outcomes.

• Highlight Process & Governance: Explicitly demonstrate your understanding and experience with design system governance, contribution models, accessibility standards, and maintaining design-to-code parity.

• Showcase Technical Acumen: Be prepared to discuss your Figma skills, tokenization strategies, and how your designs translate into front-end code. Mention your experience with relevant tools like Storybook or design-to-code integrations.

• Quantify Achievements: Whenever possible, use metrics to illustrate the impact of your design systems work (e.g., reduction in design/development time, increase in component usage, improvement in accessibility scores).

• Address AI Integration: If you have experience, be ready to discuss how you've leveraged AI tools to streamline design system workflows.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating operational rigor, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of how design systems function as a core operational asset for a technology company. Candidates should be ready to discuss process, governance, and cross-functional collaboration in detail.

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📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer, Design Systems position:

• Submit your application through the provided application link on Greenhouse.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and portfolio to specifically highlight your experience with design systems, including examples of components, tokens, documentation, and governance. Emphasize your work on both web and mobile platforms, and any experience relevant to fintech or crypto.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 6+ years of design experience, with at least 3 years focused on design systems. Quantify your achievements where possible, using keywords such as "design systems," "Figma," "design tokens," "accessibility," "WCAG 2.2 AA," "component libraries," "design-to-code," and "AI tooling."

• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design system philosophy, your approach to collaboration with engineers, and how you've driven adoption and governance. Be ready to walk through specific case studies from your portfolio that demonstrate your ability to build and scale complex systems.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Ondo Finance, its products, mission, and its position in the fintech and blockchain space. Understand their target markets (institutional and consumer) and consider how your design system approach would cater to these distinct user groups.

⚠️ 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.