Staff Product Designer, Design Systems

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Staff Product Designer, Design Systems

Company: Ethos Life

Location: Bangalore, India

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Design Systems / Product Design

Date Posted: 2026-04-16

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the strategic vision and roadmap for Ethos Life's inaugural design system, driving consistency and efficiency across all digital products.

• Architect, design, and maintain comprehensive Figma libraries, including components, styles, variables, and templates, to empower product teams.

• Collaborate closely with Front-End Engineering to translate design system assets into production-ready code components and design tokens, ensuring seamless integration.

• Establish robust governance models, documentation standards, and adoption strategies to foster widespread and effective use of the design system.

• Define and track key metrics to measure the impact and success of the design system, focusing on adoption, UI consistency, and development velocity.

📝 Enhancement Note: This is a foundational role within Ethos Life, focused on establishing a critical design infrastructure. The emphasis is on a "0 to 1" approach, meaning the candidate will be responsible for building the design system from the ground up, requiring a blend of strategic thinking, hands-on execution, and cross-functional leadership. The role demands a pragmatic approach to balancing scalability with immediate product needs and a strong ability to influence without direct authority.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Strategic Vision & Roadmap: Define the overarching vision, guiding principles, and phased roadmap for the Ethos Life design system, aligning with business objectives and product team requirements.

• System Architecture & Design: Audit existing UI patterns, identify inconsistencies, and design scalable token strategies (color, typography, spacing, elevation, motion) and a clear theming approach.

• Figma Library Development: Create, meticulously document, and maintain high-fidelity Figma libraries, ensuring components have clear interaction behaviors, states, responsive guidance, and accessibility considerations.

• Engineering Partnership & Translation: Collaborate with Design System/Front-End engineers to translate the system into reusable code components and tokens, defining effective component APIs and aligning on workflows for component lifecycle management, versioning, and deprecation.

• Governance & Adoption: Develop comprehensive, user-friendly documentation (guidelines, do/don't examples, rationale) and establish a lightweight contribution process to enable and encourage adoption by product designers and engineers.

• Enablement & Coaching: Coach and enable partner teams (Product Design, Engineering, PM) on effective design system utilization and extension, fostering a culture of collaborative design and development.

• Measurement & Iteration: Define success metrics for the design system, track adoption rates, UI consistency improvements, design/development time reduction, and accessibility enhancements, partnering with Research and Data teams to correlate system changes with business outcomes.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with Brand/Creative, Content Design, Product Design, and Engineering to ensure the design system supports narrative, conversion-driven experiences across customer journeys (e.g., discovery, application, underwriting, onboarding, policy management).

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a significant focus on process definition and implementation ("Establish the vision," "Define a scalable token strategy," "Align on workflows," "Create a lightweight contribution process," "Define what success looks like"). This indicates a need for candidates with strong operational thinking and a proven ability to build repeatable processes that scale. The emphasis on "pragmatic adoption" and "shipping iteratively" suggests a need for a candidate who can manage complex projects with phased rollouts and demonstrate tangible value quickly.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

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

Experience: 5-10 years of experience in Product Design, with a significant focus on building and scaling design systems.

Required Skills:

• Design System Expertise: Proven hands-on experience building, maintaining, and scaling design systems within Figma, including component architecture, design token strategy, and pattern definition.

• Product Design Foundation: Strong product design background with exceptional visual and interaction design craft, demonstrating a deep understanding of user-centered design principles.

• Figma Proficiency: Advanced skills in Figma, including component variants, auto layout, variables, prototyping, and library management.

• Front-End Collaboration: Strong working fluency with modern front-end concepts (e.g., tokens, components, states, responsive design, component APIs) and the ability to collaborate effectively with engineers.

• Accessibility Standards: Experience in setting and implementing accessibility standards (WCAG-informed practices, inclusive design thinking) and shipping accessible components.

• Communication & Influence: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to align diverse stakeholders, articulate design rationale, and influence without formal authority.

• Problem-Solving & Pragmatism: Ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, build structure where it doesn't exist, and apply pragmatic, iterative approaches to complex challenges.

• Portfolio: A compelling portfolio demonstrating end-to-end design system thinking, tangible real-world impact (adoption, quality, speed, consistency), and strong visual/interaction craft.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience building design token pipelines and working with tools like Storybook for component documentation.

• Familiarity with video, motion design, illustration, or iconography principles.

• Experience working within the FinTech or InsurTech industry.

• Experience with design system tooling beyond Figma (e.g., Zeroheight, Specify).

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience level (5-10 years) combined with the "0 to 1" nature of the role suggests a senior individual contributor position, often referred to as a Staff or Principal level. The "strong working fluency with modern front-end concepts" implies that while not requiring coding proficiency, the candidate must possess a deep understanding of how designs translate to code to facilitate effective collaboration with engineers.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Design System Case Studies: Detailed case studies showcasing the end-to-end process of building or significantly evolving a design system. This should include:

  • Problem Definition: Articulation of the challenges the design system aimed to solve (e.g., inconsistency, slow development, accessibility issues).
  • Strategy & Vision: Clear explanation of the design system's vision, principles, and roadmap.
  • Architecture & Components: Examples of component libraries, token structures, and pattern definitions, with rationale for design decisions.
  • Figma Implementation: Demonstrations of Figma library setup, component variants, states, and responsive design patterns.
  • Collaboration & Governance: Evidence of cross-functional collaboration with engineering, content, and product teams, and documentation/governance models implemented.
  • Impact & Metrics: Quantifiable results demonstrating adoption rates, improvements in UI consistency, efficiency gains, or accessibility enhancements.

• Component Design Examples: Showcase high-quality, well-documented UI components with clear interaction states, accessibility considerations, and responsive behavior.

• Token Strategy Examples: Illustrate examples of design token implementation for color, typography, spacing, etc., demonstrating scalability and theming capabilities.

Process Documentation:

• Design System Documentation: Examples of comprehensive design system documentation, including usage guidelines, do/don't examples, contribution processes, and decision records that are practical and user-friendly.

• Workflow Design: Documentation or case studies that highlight the design and implementation of efficient workflows for design system contribution, review, and adoption by product teams.

• Accessibility Integration: Evidence of processes established to ensure accessibility is a core consideration throughout the design system lifecycle, from initial design to component implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a "portfolio that demonstrates end-to-end design system thinking and real-world impact" and the specific mention of "adoption, quality, speed, consistency" indicates that candidates must present quantifiable achievements. This isn't just about showcasing pretty designs; it's about demonstrating the operational impact of a well-managed design system.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

Based on industry benchmarks for Staff Product Designer roles with 5-10 years of experience in design systems, particularly in a hybrid model in a major tech hub like Bangalore, India, the estimated salary range is ₹25,00,000 - ₹40,00,000 per annum. This range accounts for the senior nature of the role, the strategic impact of building a design system from scratch, and the cost of living in Bangalore.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.

• Stock Options/Equity: Potential for equity participation, aligning employee success with company growth.

• Hybrid Work Model: Flexibility to work remotely and from the office in Bangalore, fostering work-life balance.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for continuous learning, attending industry conferences, and specialized training in design systems and related technologies.

• Retirement Savings Plan: Contributions or matching for provident fund or other retirement savings schemes.

• Paid Time Off: Generous vacation, sick leave, and public holiday allowances.

• Wellness Programs: Initiatives focused on employee well-being, including access to mental health resources.

• Team Events & Socials: Opportunities for team building and networking within the company.

Working Hours:

Standard working hours are typically 40 hours per week, aligned with Indian Standard Time (IST). The company offers flexibility within this framework, acknowledging the hybrid work arrangement and the need for collaboration across different time zones if applicable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on data from various reputable salary aggregators and industry reports for senior design roles in Bangalore, India, adjusted for the specific specialization in design systems. The benefits listed are typical for established tech companies in India, with an emphasis on those relevant to a senior, hybrid role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Life Insurance Technology (InsurTech) / Financial Services Technology (FinTech). Ethos Life operates at the intersection of insurance and technology, aiming to simplify and modernize the life insurance acquisition and management process through a digital-first approach. This means the company values innovation, data-driven decision-making, and a customer-centric mindset.

Company Size: Ethos Life is a rapidly growing technology company. While the exact current size isn't specified, the "0 to 1" nature of this design system role suggests it's beyond a small startup phase but still in a growth trajectory where foundational roles are critical. This implies a dynamic, fast-paced environment with opportunities to shape processes.

Founded: Ethos was founded in 2016. This history indicates a company that has moved beyond its initial startup phase and has established market presence and product maturity, now focusing on scaling and optimizing its operations and user experience.

Team Structure:

• Design Systems Team: While this role is the first Staff Product Designer for Design Systems, it implies the formation or significant expansion of this specialized function. The designer will likely work within a broader Product Design organization.

• Reporting Structure: Typically, a Staff Designer role would report to a Design Lead, Director of Design, or VP of Product. They operate with a high degree of autonomy but within the broader product development hierarchy.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: This role is inherently cross-functional, requiring close partnership with Product Management, Engineering (especially Front-End and Design System Engineers), Brand/Creative, Content Design, and potentially Research and Data Science teams.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Ethos Life emphasizes a data-driven approach to product development and experience optimization. This role will be expected to leverage data and user insights to inform design system decisions and measure impact.

• Agile Development: The company likely operates within an agile or iterative development framework, requiring the design system to be adaptable and deliver value incrementally.

• User-Centricity: A core tenet of Ethos is democratizing access to life insurance. This translates to a focus on creating intuitive, accessible, and trustworthy user experiences for both consumers and agents.

Company Website: https://www.ethoslife.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "democratize access to life insurance" and "empower agents at scale" suggests that the design system will need to support diverse user journeys and potentially different interfaces for consumers versus internal agents or carrier partners. The "0 to 1" aspect means the candidate will be instrumental in defining how Ethos Life operationalizes its design at scale.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Staff Product Designer role, signifying a senior individual contributor position. It's a strategic role that requires deep expertise in design systems, a strong product design foundation, and the ability to influence product strategy and development processes. Staff-level designers are expected to tackle complex, ambiguous problems, drive alignment across multiple teams, and mentor junior designers.

Reporting Structure: The Staff Product Designer, Design Systems will likely report to a Director of Product Design or Head of Design. They will operate with significant autonomy, owning the strategy and execution of the design system, but will be part of a larger product and design organization. They will work closely with engineering leads and product managers.

Operations Impact: The Staff Product Designer, Design Systems has a profound impact on the operational efficiency of Ethos Life's product development lifecycle. By establishing a robust and scalable design system, they directly contribute to:

• Accelerated Development Cycles: Enabling product teams to build new features and products faster.

• Improved Product Quality & Consistency: Ensuring a cohesive and trustworthy user experience across all touchpoints.

• Reduced Technical Debt: Standardizing UI patterns and components minimizes redundant code and design effort.

• Enhanced Accessibility & Inclusivity: Embedding accessibility best practices ensures broader user reach and compliance.

• Brand Cohesion: Strengthening brand identity and trust through consistent visual and interaction design.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership in Design Systems: Grow into a lead or principal role, potentially managing a dedicated Design Systems team as Ethos Life scales.

• Strategic Influence: Deepen influence on product strategy and technical architecture by championing best practices and driving system adoption.

• Mentorship: Mentor junior designers and engineers on design system principles and best practices.

• Specialization: Develop expertise in advanced design system concepts, tooling, and governance models.

• Cross-functional Expertise: Gain deeper understanding of engineering trade-offs, product management processes, and business strategy within the InsurTech space.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Staff" title indicates a high level of individual contribution and expected leadership, particularly in defining processes and influencing strategic direction, which is critical for operations. The growth opportunities focus on deepening expertise and expanding influence within the organization, aligning with typical career paths for senior operations and design specialists.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Ethos Life operates a hybrid work model, suggesting a modern office space designed for collaboration and focused work, supplemented by remote work capabilities. The office likely includes flexible workstations, meeting rooms equipped for hybrid collaboration, and common areas to foster team interaction.

Office Location(s): The primary office location mentioned is Bangalore, India, a major technology hub. This location offers access to a skilled talent pool and a vibrant tech ecosystem. Specific office details (e.g., address, amenities) would be provided upon inquiry or during the interview process.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model encourages intentional collaboration. The office space is likely set up to facilitate brainstorming sessions, design critiques, and cross-functional team meetings, while remote tools support ongoing communication and asynchronous work.

• Operations Tools & Technology: Employees will have access to industry-standard design tools (Figma, potentially others), collaboration platforms (Slack, Jira, Confluence), and potentially specialized design system management tools. Engineering teams will have their own development environments and CI/CD pipelines.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with product designers, engineers, product managers, and brand specialists will be frequent, especially during dedicated office days. This close proximity fosters rapid iteration and problem-solving.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is 40 hours per week, with a hybrid arrangement. This means employees are expected to be available during core business hours in Bangalore (IST), with flexibility for remote work. The hybrid nature often involves designating specific days for in-office collaboration to maximize face-to-face interaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work model is a key aspect of the work environment, implying the need for strong asynchronous communication skills and self-discipline. The focus on collaboration within this model suggests that office days will be highly structured for impactful team interactions.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

1. Initial Screening (Recruiter Call): A brief conversation to assess overall fit, understand experience, and discuss role expectations.

2. Hiring Manager Interview: In-depth discussion with the hiring manager (likely a Design Lead or Director) to explore your design systems experience, strategic thinking, and approach to building foundational systems.

3. Design Portfolio Review: A dedicated session where you present your portfolio, focusing on your design system case studies. This is where you'll demonstrate your process, craft, and impact. Be prepared to discuss specific projects in detail.

4. Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Engineering, Product Management, and potentially Brand/Creative. These interviews will assess your ability to collaborate, communicate technical/design concepts, and understand cross-functional dependencies.

5. Design Challenge / System Exercise (Potential): You might be given a take-home assignment or a live exercise focused on a specific design system problem, such as designing a new component, defining token logic, or outlining a contribution process.

6. Final Interview / Offer: A final discussion, potentially with a senior leader, to confirm alignment and extend an offer.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Design Systems: Dedicate a significant portion of your portfolio to design system work. Highlight your "0 to 1" experience if possible.

• Structure Your Case Studies: For each design system project, clearly outline the problem, your approach, the solutions you designed (components, tokens, patterns), the tools and processes you used, the challenges you faced, and the measurable impact.

• Demonstrate Craft & Detail: Showcase the quality of your component design, including states, interactions, responsiveness, and accessibility.

• Explain Your Process: Articulate how you gathered requirements, collaborated with engineers, established governance, and drove adoption.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use data and metrics to demonstrate the value your design system brought to the organization (e.g., % reduction in design/dev time, increase in adoption, consistency scores).

• Figma Expertise: Be ready to walk through your Figma files, demonstrating your proficiency with libraries, components, variants, and variables.

• Accessibility Focus: Clearly articulate how you incorporated accessibility principles and standards into your system.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Ethos Life: Research the company's mission, products, and target audience. Think about how a design system can support their goals.

• Design System Fundamentals: Brush up on core concepts like component architecture, design tokens, theming, accessibility guidelines (WCAG), and governance models.

• Figma Skills: Practice building components with variants, auto layout, and potentially variables if you're familiar with them.

• Communication: Prepare to articulate your thought process clearly and concisely, especially when explaining design decisions or technical constraints.

• Pragmatism: For any hypothetical challenge, emphasize a pragmatic, iterative approach rather than an overly complex or theoretical one.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is structured to evaluate not just design skills but also strategic thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and the ability to build and operationalize complex systems. The emphasis on a "portfolio that demonstrates end-to-end design system thinking and real-world impact" is critical for this role.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for designing and building the design system, including component libraries, styles, variables, and prototyping. Advanced proficiency is expected.

• Design System Management Platforms: Tools like Zeroheight, Storybook, or similar for documenting and showcasing the design system, components, and guidelines.

• Collaboration Tools: Slack for real-time communication, Jira/Confluence for project management, issue tracking, and documentation.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Tools: Tools such as Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics to track user behavior and measure the impact of design system implementations on product performance.

• Data Visualization Tools: Potentially Tableau, Looker, or internal dashboards for presenting adoption metrics, UI consistency data, and other design system performance indicators.

• Accessibility Auditing Tools: Browser extensions or dedicated software for checking WCAG compliance (e.g., WAVE, axe).

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managed by this role, familiarity with how design systems integrate with CRM (e.g., Salesforce) and marketing automation platforms used by Ethos Life could be beneficial for understanding the broader product ecosystem.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma and the "0 to 1" nature of the role imply that the candidate will be instrumental in selecting and implementing other design system tooling if needed. The focus on "translation into reusable code components and tokens" suggests a strong alignment with front-end development workflows and tooling like Storybook.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Transformation: A drive to modernize and simplify complex processes, like life insurance, through technology and design.

• Customer-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving the needs of consumers and agents, ensuring experiences are intuitive and trustworthy.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Fostering an environment where diverse teams work together openly, share knowledge, and provide constructive feedback.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Relying on data and insights to inform strategy, measure impact, and iterate on solutions.

• Ownership & Accountability: Taking initiative, driving projects to completion, and being responsible for the outcomes of one's work.

• Pragmatism & Iteration: Balancing ambitious goals with practical execution, delivering value incrementally, and adapting to change.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: The design system role requires constant collaboration across Design, Engineering, Product Management, and Brand. The style is likely one of partnership, co-creation, and mutual respect for expertise.

• Process-Oriented Communication: Discussions often revolve around how to define, document, and maintain processes that enable speed and quality. This involves clear articulation of needs, constraints, and trade-offs.

• Feedback Loops: A culture that encourages open feedback on designs, components, and processes, with a focus on continuous improvement of both the system and team practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "democratize access" and "empower agents" suggests a value system that prioritizes impact, accessibility, and efficiency. The "0 to 1" nature of the design system role means the candidate will be actively shaping and embodying these values within their domain.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch ("0 to 1"): Establishing a design system where none currently exists requires significant effort in defining strategy, architecture, and processes, often with limited existing resources.

• Driving Adoption: Convincing and enabling multiple product teams (designers and engineers) to adopt and consistently use the new system can be a significant hurdle.

• Balancing Needs: Juggling the diverse requirements of different product teams, brand guidelines, and engineering constraints while maintaining system integrity and scalability.

• Maintaining Momentum: Ensuring the design system remains relevant, updated, and actively used as the company scales and product offerings evolve.

• Measuring ROI: Clearly articulating and quantifying the business value and return on investment of the design system to stakeholders.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Design System Expertise: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in design systems, potentially leading the discipline within the company.

• Strategic Leadership: Develop strong strategic thinking and leadership skills by defining the vision and roadmap for a critical company-wide asset.

• Cross-functional Mastery: Gain deep insights into engineering practices, product development lifecycles, and business operations within the InsurTech sector.

• Mentorship & Influence: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and engineers, and to influence product direction and technical architecture through system advocacy.

• Industry Best Practices: Stay at the forefront of design system trends, tooling, and methodologies through continuous learning and application.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge is the "0 to 1" nature of the role, which requires not just design skill but also significant project management, change management, and stakeholder influence capabilities. This is a prime opportunity for a candidate looking to make a foundational impact.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe your process for establishing a design system from scratch. What are the critical first steps, and how do you prioritize?" (Preparation: Focus on your "0 to 1" experience, outlining phases like audit, strategy, foundational elements, and iterative adoption.)

• "How do you balance the need for system consistency with the desire for product teams to innovate and move fast? What are your strategies for driving adoption?" (Preparation: Discuss your approach to creating flexible components, clear guidelines, a lightweight contribution model, and demonstrating value.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about Ethos Life's mission to democratize life insurance, and how do you see a design system contributing to that mission?" (Preparation: Research the company's mission and values. Connect design system benefits like trust, accessibility, and efficiency to their goals.)

• "How do you approach building relationships and influencing stakeholders (Product Managers, Engineers, Brand) when you don't have direct authority?" (Preparation: Share examples of cross-functional collaboration, communication strategies, and how you build consensus.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with the "Why": For each design system case study, begin by clearly articulating the problem and the business/user needs that the design system addressed.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visual examples to demonstrate your Figma work, component details, token structures, and documentation. Prepare to screen-share Figma files if requested.

• Highlight Impact: Dedicate time to discussing the quantifiable results and qualitative benefits your design system brought. Use data to support your claims.

• Explain Your Process & Decisions: Be ready to deep-dive into your design process, your rationale for specific architectural choices, and how you collaborated with engineering and other teams.

• Address "0 to 1" Experience: If you have experience building foundational systems, emphasize this aspect as it directly aligns with the role's core requirement.

• Be Prepared for Technical Questions: Anticipate questions about component APIs, theming strategies, token implementation, and how you ensure designs translate effectively to code.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation emphasizes demonstrating strategic thinking, operational process design, and the ability to influence cross-functional teams, which are core competencies for this senior operations-focused design role.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Staff Product Designer, Design Systems position at Ethos Life:

• Submit your application through the provided Greenhouse link.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and portfolio to highlight your experience in building and scaling design systems from the ground up. Emphasize your Figma proficiency, component architecture, design token strategy, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience level (5-10 years), specific achievements in design systems, and your ability to drive adoption and measure impact. Use keywords like "Design Systems," "Figma," "Product Design," "UI Design," "Accessibility," and "Design Tokens."

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice presenting your design system case studies, focusing on clear storytelling, visual aids, and quantifiable outcomes. Be ready to discuss your process, challenges, and how you'd approach building Ethos Life's system.

• Company & Role Research: Thoroughly research Ethos Life's mission, products, and company culture. Understand their "0 to 1" opportunity for design systems and prepare thoughtful questions about their vision and challenges.

⚠️ 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.