Senior UX Designer - Design System

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer - Design System

Company: Aize

Location: Lysaker, Norway

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: UX/Product Design - Design Systems

Date Posted: 2026-08-21

Experience Level: Senior (5-10 years)

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive the evolution and adoption of Aize's design system, translating complex product problems into reusable patterns and components.

• Champion consistency, accessibility, and quality across Aize's digital twin experience by strengthening the connection between design tools, tokens, and implementation.

• Collaborate closely with product teams, engineers, and the design system lead to ensure seamless integration and effective utilization of system elements.

• Contribute to the strategic direction of the design system, considering AI-assisted workflows and future scalability of design solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is deeply embedded within the product development lifecycle, focusing on creating scalable, reusable design solutions. It requires a strong systems-thinking approach and a deep understanding of how design systems impact both user experience and development efficiency. The emphasis on "turning recurring product problems into shared patterns" highlights a proactive approach to design operations.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design System Development: Identify recurring design challenges within product teams and translate them into robust, well-documented patterns, components, and guidelines.

• System Ownership & Partnership: Take ownership of design system initiatives from conception to adoption, working collaboratively with the design system lead, product managers, and software engineers.

• Figma to Implementation Bridge: Enhance the connection between Figma, design tokens, and Storybook to ensure accurate and consistent implementation of design system elements in production.

• Quality Assurance & Consistency: Proactively identify and address inconsistencies, accessibility gaps, and quality issues across the product, determining whether solutions should be handled locally or at the system level.

• AI & Future-Proofing: Explore and integrate how the design system can support AI-assisted workflows and ensure patterns are understandable and reusable by both humans and machines.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with designers and engineers to make trade-offs visible, ensuring design intent is accurately translated into the final product.

• Feedback & Iteration: Utilize critiques, reviews, and rapid feedback loops to test design system components and approaches early and often, fostering shared understanding and alignment.

• Tooling & Documentation: Treat tooling, documentation, and AI as integral parts of the design system, leveraging them to facilitate the application of good design decisions at scale.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a proactive, systems-level approach to design, moving beyond individual feature design to architecting reusable solutions. The focus on bridging design and development through tools like Figma, tokens, and Storybook is critical for a design system role. The inclusion of AI-assisted workflows indicates a forward-thinking approach to design operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience in UX design and design systems is paramount. A background in Graphic Design, Interaction Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field is beneficial.

Experience: 5-10 years of experience in UX design, with a significant focus on building, maintaining, and scaling design systems. Proven experience working with product teams to drive adoption and understanding of design system principles.

Required Skills:

• Systems Thinking: Ability to identify underlying patterns and design solutions that transcend individual screens or flows.

• Design System Expertise: Proven experience in creating and managing design systems, including component design, pattern definition, and governance.

• Figma Proficiency: Advanced skills in Figma for component creation, variant management, prototyping, and system organization.

• Design Tokens: Understanding and experience with design tokens for managing design attributes (color, typography, spacing) and enabling theming and cross-platform consistency.

• Storybook Integration: Familiarity with Storybook for documenting, testing, and showcasing UI components.

• Accessibility Standards: Deep knowledge of WCAG guidelines and practical experience implementing accessible design patterns.

• Interaction Design: Strong ability to design intuitive and effective user interactions.

• Visual Hierarchy & UI Design: Skill in establishing clear visual hierarchy and creating aesthetically pleasing, functional user interfaces.

• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions and influence stakeholders across design and engineering.

• Pragmatism: Ability to make informed trade-offs and balance ideal system design with practical implementation constraints.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with AI-assisted design tools or workflows.

• Understanding of front-end development principles (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to better collaborate with engineers.

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

• Familiarity with complex data visualization or 3D asset management interfaces.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required skills emphasize a blend of strategic design thinking, technical proficiency with design tools and systems, and strong interpersonal abilities. The emphasis on "systems thinker" and "working on design systems where the hard part was not only creating components, but helping teams use shared patterns" points to the need for someone who understands the adoption lifecycle of a design system, not just its creation.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Studies: Showcase at least 2-3 comprehensive case studies detailing your involvement in design system projects. These should clearly articulate the problem, your approach, the system components/patterns you designed, and the impact on product teams and users.

• Component & Pattern Examples: Include specific examples of UI components and design patterns you've created, demonstrating your understanding of modular design, reusability, and scalability.

• System Documentation Samples: Provide samples of design system documentation, illustrating how you articulate guidelines, usage instructions, accessibility considerations, and rationale for components and patterns.

• Figma File Samples: If possible, provide anonymized samples of Figma files that showcase your organization, component libraries, and system structure.

• Cross-functional Collaboration Evidence: Highlight instances where you successfully collaborated with engineers and product managers to implement and adopt design system elements.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Demonstrate how you have analyzed existing workflows and designed new, optimized processes for design system creation, maintenance, and adoption.

• Implementation & Automation: Show examples of how you've worked to ensure design system elements are implemented accurately, potentially through tooling or automation strategies.

• Measurement & Performance Analysis: Detail how you have measured the success and impact of design system initiatives, using metrics related to adoption, efficiency, consistency, and user satisfaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior UX Designer focused on a design system, the portfolio is critical. It needs to showcase not just visual design skills, but the ability to think systematically, document thoroughly, and drive adoption. The emphasis on "helping teams use shared patterns in complex product work" means case studies should highlight challenges and solutions related to integration and collaboration, not just the creation of isolated components.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior UX Designers with 5-10 years of experience, specializing in Design Systems, in the Oslo/Lysaker region of Norway, a competitive salary range would typically fall between 700,000 NOK and 950,000 NOK annually. This estimate considers the cost of living in Norway, the demand for specialized design talent, and the seniority of the role.

Benefits:

• Financial Security: Pension contributions, comprehensive insurance coverage, and support for work-related travel expenses.

• Health & Wellbeing: Access to an on-site private health clinic, covered check-ups, and an on-site gym.

• Work-Life Balance: Hybrid work model, flexible working hours, and generous vacation perks, potentially including access to company cabins.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for learning and skill-sharing through dedicated Guilds, training programs, and courses, with support for personal passions.

• Productivity Tools: Provision of a MacBook or Windows laptop, free phone plan, and home broadband.

• Workplace Amenities: Subsidized lunch, occasional social events, and celebrations.

• Inclusive Environment: A culture that encourages individuality and allows employees to "do things your way and be who you are."

Working Hours: The role is full-time, with an expectation of approximately 40 hours per week. The company offers flexible working hours, allowing for adaptability around core business needs and personal schedules, which is beneficial for deep work and collaborative sessions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimation is based on general knowledge of the Norwegian tech market and senior-level design roles. Specific figures can vary significantly based on the exact scope of responsibilities, individual experience, and Aize's internal compensation structure. The benefits package is extensive and tailored towards employee wellbeing and professional growth, which is common for tech companies in Norway.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Aize operates within the Software and Energy sectors, specifically focusing on building digital twin software for complex oil and gas facilities. This industry context means the product deals with intricate data, long lifecycles, and critical decision-making processes where clarity and reliability are paramount.

Company Size: Aize is a growing technology company, likely employing between 50-250 individuals, indicated by the typical range for companies with dedicated careers pages and structured hiring processes on platforms like Teamtailor. This size suggests a dynamic environment with opportunities for impact, but also a need for established processes and systems to ensure scalability.

Founded: Founded in 2017, Aize is a relatively young company, suggesting a fast-paced, innovative, and evolving culture. This means the design system is likely still maturing, offering a significant opportunity for a Senior UX Designer to shape its future.

Team Structure:

• Design System Team: The role sits within a dedicated Design System team, which includes a Product Manager, Software Development Manager, a Lead Designer, engineers, and QA specialists. This cross-functional setup is ideal for robust design system development and implementation.

• Reporting: The Senior UX Designer will likely report to the Lead Designer or a Design Manager within the Design System team.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Close collaboration with various product teams across Aize is essential. This involves understanding their needs, challenges, and integrating system components into their specific workflows.

Methodology:

• Problem-Driven Design: The design system's evolution is shaped by real product needs and team challenges, rather than purely theoretical exercises.

• Iterative Development: Emphasis on rapid feedback loops, critiques, and continuous refinement of system components and guidelines.

• Tooling Integration: A focus on ensuring the design system functions seamlessly across design tools (Figma), token management, and development environments (Storybook).

Company Website: https://careers.aize.io

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's focus on complex industrial software implies a need for design systems that prioritize clarity, precision, and robustness. The relatively young age of the company suggests a culture that is adaptable and open to new approaches, which is ideal for shaping a design system. The dedicated design system team structure indicates a mature approach to design operations within the organization.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior-level position, indicating a significant level of autonomy, responsibility, and expected contribution. A Senior UX Designer in a design system role is expected to not only execute but also to strategize, mentor, and influence the direction of design practices across the organization. They are key players in ensuring design quality and efficiency at scale.

Reporting Structure: The role is part of a dedicated Design System team, reporting to a Lead Designer or Design Manager. This structure allows for focused work on the design system while still being integrated into the broader design organization. Collaboration extends to product managers and engineers within the team and across various product development groups.

Operations Impact: The Senior UX Designer's work directly impacts the efficiency of product teams by reducing redundant design and development efforts. By creating a coherent and user-friendly experience through the design system, they enable Aize to deliver more reliable and understandable software to its clients, directly influencing client satisfaction and adoption rates, and indirectly supporting sales and revenue by enhancing product quality.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design System Leadership: Potential to grow into a Design System Lead role, taking on more strategic responsibilities, team management, and architectural decisions for the system.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in areas like design system governance, accessibility, performance optimization, or AI integration within design.

• Cross-functional Expertise: Develop a strong understanding of product management and software engineering processes, becoming a more holistic product design leader.

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

• Industry Influence: Contribute to the broader design community by sharing insights on design system development and adoption.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a clear path for specialization within the growing field of design systems. The "Senior" title implies a significant level of autonomy and influence, with opportunities to shape processes and mentor others. The impact is measured not just in design quality but also in development efficiency and product consistency, aligning with core operations principles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Aize offers a hybrid work environment. This means employees are expected to work from the office some days of the week, likely for collaborative sessions, team meetings, and focused work that benefits from in-person interaction, while also having the flexibility to work remotely.

Office Location(s): The primary office is located in Lysaker, Norway, specifically at John Strandruds Vei 10, 1366 Lysaker. Lysaker is a well-connected business district near Oslo, offering good public transport links and amenities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Spaces: The office likely features modern, open-plan areas designed to foster collaboration among cross-functional teams, including designers, engineers, and product managers.

• Tools & Technology: Employees are provided with a MacBook or Windows laptop, ensuring they have the necessary hardware to effectively use design tools like Figma, and access to relevant software and systems.

• Team Interaction: The hybrid model and dedicated team structure encourage regular interaction, both in person and virtually, allowing for dynamic teamwork and knowledge sharing.

Work Schedule: The role involves full-time work (approx. 40 hours/week) with flexible hours. This flexibility is crucial for accommodating deep work sessions needed for design system tasks, as well as for balancing personal commitments with team collaboration requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work model is standard for many tech companies, balancing in-person collaboration with remote flexibility. The location in Lysaker suggests a professional business environment. The emphasis on providing good hardware and flexible hours supports the productivity needs of a design system role.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your application and portfolio to assess alignment with the role's requirements, particularly design system experience and systems thinking.

• Hiring Manager/Team Interview: A conversation with the hiring manager or lead designer to discuss your experience, approach to design systems, and cultural fit. This may include behavioral questions and a deeper dive into your portfolio.

• Design Challenge/Workshop: A practical exercise, potentially a take-home challenge or an in-person/virtual workshop. This could involve analyzing a product problem, proposing design system solutions, or critiquing existing components. The focus will be on your process, problem-solving skills, and how you articulate design rationale.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with engineers, product managers, or other stakeholders from product teams to assess your collaboration skills and ability to work effectively in a cross-functional environment.

• Final Interview: A discussion with senior leadership or the broader design system team to confirm fit and discuss final details.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Systems: Prioritize case studies that demonstrate your ability to think systemically, solve recurring problems, and drive adoption of design system elements.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Clearly articulate the "why" behind your design decisions. Explain the challenges, your thought process, and the rationale for chosen patterns and components.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your design system work (e.g., adoption rates, reduction in design debt, efficiency gains for product teams).

• Document Thoroughly: Showcase your ability to create clear, comprehensive documentation for design system components, including usage guidelines, accessibility notes, and design principles.

• Figma & Tooling: Be prepared to walk through your Figma files and discuss how you leverage tools like tokens and Storybook.

• Tailor to Aize: Research Aize's product and industry. Try to frame your portfolio examples in a way that shows you understand their challenges and how a design system can address them.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Design Systems: Brush up on core design system principles, common challenges in adoption, and best practices for component design and documentation.

• Practice Problem Framing: Be ready to analyze a given product scenario, identify recurring issues, and propose systemic solutions.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Prepare to discuss the trade-offs involved in design system decisions (e.g., flexibility vs. consistency, speed vs. perfection).

• Collaborative Mindset: Demonstrate an understanding of how to work effectively with engineers and product managers to ensure successful implementation and adoption.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to thoroughly assess both technical design skills and the crucial soft skills needed for a design system role, particularly collaboration and communication. The portfolio is the central piece, and candidates should focus on showcasing their systems thinking and impact on product development efficiency.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for design system creation, component building, prototyping, and documentation. Advanced proficiency is expected.

• Design Tokens: Experience with managing and implementing design tokens (e.g., via JSON, Style Dictionary, or Figma plugins) is crucial for maintaining consistency across platforms and environments.

• Storybook: Used for documenting, developing, and showcasing UI components in a shareable and interactive format. Familiarity with its structure and usage is important.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not explicitly mentioned as a direct tool for this role, an understanding of how design system usage and impact can be tracked (e.g., via analytics platforms, user surveys, or internal metrics) is beneficial. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the core design system role, but an awareness of how design systems integrate with broader product development pipelines and potentially marketing/sales enablement tools could be advantageous. Other Potential Tools:

• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, familiarity with other prototyping tools might be useful.

• Version Control: Understanding of version control concepts (like Git) may be helpful for collaborating with engineering on component libraries.

• Collaboration Platforms: Tools like Slack, Jira, Confluence for team communication and project management.

📝 Enhancement Note: The tech stack is heavily focused on the design and development workflow for scalable UI. Figma, design tokens, and Storybook are the foundational elements for modern design system work. Understanding how these tools connect and facilitate communication between design and engineering is key.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Grounded: Emphasizes practicality, realism, and a focus on solving real-world problems for engineers, planners, and schedulers within the oil and gas industry. This means design system solutions must be pragmatic and address tangible user needs.

• Human: Focuses on user-centricity and empathy, ensuring that despite the complexity of the software, the experience remains intuitive and accessible to people. This extends to how the team collaborates and supports each other.

• Unstoppable: Reflects a drive for continuous improvement, innovation, and overcoming challenges. In the context of a design system, this means a commitment to evolving the system, driving adoption, and tackling complex design problems with persistence.

• Data-Driven Approach: While not explicitly stated as a value, the role's emphasis on identifying recurring problems, solving them systemically, and measuring impact suggests a data-informed approach to design decisions.

• Efficiency & Optimization: The core purpose of a design system is to drive efficiency, so a value placed on process optimization and reducing rework is inherent to the role and team.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: The team is structured to encourage close collaboration between design, product management, and engineering. This involves open communication, shared ownership, and a collective approach to problem-solving.

• Feedback & Iteration Culture: The team values regular critiques, feedback loops, and iterative development to ensure that design decisions are well-vetted and align with product goals and technical feasibility.

• Knowledge Sharing: Through Guilds and team interactions, there's an emphasis on sharing knowledge, best practices, and learnings across the organization, fostering a continuous learning environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values are directly relevant to a design system role. "Grounded" and "Human" speak to the need for practical, user-focused solutions for complex industrial software. "Unstoppable" highlights the drive required to build and scale a design system. The collaborative and iterative style is essential for effective design system development.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Design System Adoption: A significant challenge in any design system role is ensuring consistent adoption and usage by diverse product teams. This requires strong communication, advocacy, and ongoing support.

• Balancing Consistency & Flexibility: Finding the right balance between enforcing strict consistency and allowing product teams the flexibility they need to innovate and meet specific user needs is a perpetual challenge.

• Technical Debt in Design: As products evolve, the design system must also evolve to address new use cases and technical realities, which can involve refactoring or deprecating existing components.

• Bridging Design & Development Gaps: Ensuring that design intent is accurately translated into code and that developers have the resources they need to implement components effectively.

• Scaling with Growth: As Aize grows, the design system will need to scale to accommodate new features, products, and potentially new platforms, requiring foresight and adaptability.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Strategy: Opportunity to deepen expertise in design system architecture, governance models, and scaling strategies.

• AI in Design: Explore emerging trends in AI-assisted design workflows and how they can be integrated into the design system.

• Cross-Disciplinary Skills: Gain deeper insights into product management, software development processes, and data analysis related to design impact.

• Leadership & Mentorship: Develop leadership skills by mentoring junior team members and potentially leading specific design system initiatives.

• Industry Conferences & Certifications: Access to opportunities for professional development through industry events, workshops, and relevant certifications.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges listed are standard for senior design system roles. The growth opportunities are well-defined and align with career progression paths in specialized design fields, emphasizing both technical depth and leadership potential.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you identified a recurring design problem and solved it systemically. What was your process, and what was the impact?" (Focus on your systems thinking, problem-framing, and outcome measurement.)

• "How do you approach balancing the need for design consistency with the need for product teams to innovate and customize?" (Prepare to discuss your framework for making trade-offs and defining governance.)

• "Walk me through your process for designing a new component for a design system. What factors do you consider from initial concept to final documentation and adoption?" (Detail your workflow, including research, ideation, prototyping, accessibility, and developer handoff.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of Aize and the oil and gas industry, what do you see as the biggest design challenges for your digital twin software, and how can a design system help address them?" (Showcase your research and industry understanding.)

• "How do you foster collaboration and drive adoption of a design system within cross-functional teams?" (Prepare examples of your communication and advocacy strategies.)

• "How have you measured the success or impact of a design system you've worked on?" (Be ready to discuss relevant metrics and your approach to data collection.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the solution (components, patterns, guidelines), the process, and the measurable impact.

• Highlight Systems Thinking: Emphasize how your solutions addressed underlying patterns and were designed for scalability and reusability.

• Showcase Documentation: Present examples of your design system documentation, demonstrating clarity, completeness, and adherence to best practices.

• Interactive Figma Walkthrough: Be prepared to share your screen and walk through key Figma files, showcasing your component organization, variants, and system structure.

• Discuss Trade-offs: Be ready to explain the rationale behind key design decisions, including any compromises made and why.

• Connect to Aize: Whenever possible, relate your portfolio examples back to the challenges and context of Aize's product and industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice focuses on showcasing the unique skills required for a Senior UX Designer in a design system role: systems thinking, collaboration, and a deep understanding of component-based design and its impact on product development.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior UX Designer - Design System position:

• Submit Your Application: Navigate to the Aize careers page and submit your application through the provided link.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most impactful design system case studies. Ensure they clearly demonstrate your systems thinking, problem-solving approach, component design, documentation skills, and quantifiable impact. Tailor your selection to highlight experiences relevant to complex software and cross-functional collaboration.

• Optimize Your Resume: Highlight your years of experience, specific design system responsibilities, proficiency with tools like Figma, Storybook, and design tokens, and any experience with industrial software or complex data visualization. Use keywords from the job description.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio case studies. Be ready to articulate your process, design rationale, and the impact of your work. Prepare to discuss your approach to driving adoption and collaborating with engineering teams.

• Research Aize: Understand Aize's mission, product (digital twin for oil and gas), and company values. Consider how your experience and approach to design systems align with their "Grounded, Human, Unstoppable" ethos and the specific challenges of their industry.

⚠️ 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.