UI Design System Lead

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UI Design System Lead, DTC

Company: SharkNinja

Location: Leeds, United Kingdom or London, United Kingdom

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: UX/Product Design Operations

Date Posted: 2026-08-24T14:08:44

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days/week in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead the development, maintenance, and evolution of SharkNinja's UI Design System for its Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) and e-commerce digital properties.

• Champion a systems thinking approach to ensure consistency, scalability, and high-quality user interfaces across all digital touchpoints.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including UX designers, product managers, engineers, and marketing, to drive adoption and impact of the design system.

• Act as a subject matter expert and key influencer for design system standards, best practices, and continuous improvement.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is titled "UI Design System Lead," its responsibilities and required skills place it at the intersection of UX design, product design, and operations. The emphasis on governance, process, cross-functional enablement, and driving efficiency through a standardized system aligns it with operations-focused roles that support product development lifecycle. The DTC and e-commerce focus implies a need for understanding conversion optimization and user journey mapping within a digital product context.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own and evolve SharkNinja's UI design system, ensuring it is scalable, well-documented, and consistently adopted across DTC digital properties.

• Define and maintain design tokens, component libraries, patterns, and guidelines to enable teams to build with speed and consistency.

• Continuously audit and improve the design system based on product needs, accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA), and emerging best practices.

• Balance consistency with flexibility, establishing clear standards while allowing appropriate room for product and market judgment.

• Design, build, and maintain a comprehensive library of reusable UI components deployable across web and digital touchpoints.

• Utilize Figma features like variables, component architecture, and token structures to create scalable, reusable design foundations mapping effectively to coded components.

• Collaborate closely with front-end engineering teams to ensure accurate implementation and practical maintenance of design system components.

• Establish clear versioning, contribution, and governance processes to manage the design system at scale.

• Act as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for the design system across design, engineering, and product teams.

• Develop documentation, guidelines, and training resources to enable effective adoption and contribution to the system.

• Champion design system usage and consistency across all DTC digital projects and workstreams.

• Build alignment across designers, engineers, and product managers through clear communication and influence without formal authority.

• Ensure all UI components and patterns meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards for an inclusive digital experience.

• Define and uphold UI quality standards across the DTC digital estate, identifying and resolving inconsistencies.

• Stay ahead of UI trends, tooling, and accessibility requirements to keep the design system current and effective.

• Partner with Engineering on design tokens, component libraries, design-to-code handoff, and development workflows.

• Influence design and engineering decisions to drive consistency, efficiency, and quality across digital delivery.

• Present design system updates, roadmap, and impact to senior stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities heavily emphasize process creation and management (governance, versioning, contribution models), cross-functional alignment, and the strategic impact of standardization on development velocity and quality. This is core to operations roles that aim to streamline workflows and enhance output. The focus on design-to-code handoff and collaboration with engineering also highlights the operational aspects of bridging design and development.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor's degree in Design, Interaction Design, or equivalent experience.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in UX or Product Design.

• At least 3 years focused on building, maintaining, or scaling design systems.

• Demonstrated experience building and scaling a design system, ideally within a product-led organization supporting multiple products, teams, or markets.

• Experience within e-commerce, DTC, or another complex digital product environment is strongly preferred. Required Skills:

• Expert proficiency in Figma, with deep knowledge of variables, component architecture, auto layout, and scalable library structures.

• Proven expertise in how Figma variables and design tokens map to coded token structures and production component libraries.

• Strong systems thinking, with the ability to identify patterns, spot inconsistencies, and design solutions for scale, consistency, and reuse.

• Experience defining and maintaining design tokens, reusable components, patterns, documentation, and contribution models.

• Working knowledge of front-end fundamentals, including HTML and CSS, and an understanding of how UI components are implemented in code.

• Strong understanding of WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and how accessibility requirements inform component design, interaction patterns, and documentation.

• Ability to balance consistency with flexibility, knowing when the system should establish a standard and when product teams need room for judgment.

• Comfortable partnering closely with Engineering, with practical understanding of design tokens, coded component libraries, and design-to-development handoff workflows.

• A clear communicator and strong cross-functional influencer, able to build alignment across Design, Engineering, and Product without relying on formal authority.

• Comfortable operating in a governance role, setting standards, running reviews, managing contributions, and making decisions that protect the integrity and scalability of the system.

• Detail-oriented and reliable, recognizing that designers and engineers depend on the system being accurate, current, and well-documented.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to advocate for design-system quality and communicate its value to senior stakeholders. Preferred Skills:

• Hands-on experience with design-token pipelines and associated tooling.

• IAAP/WAS accessibility certification or equivalent accessibility credentials.

• Experience with component-library tooling, including writing or reviewing component documentation at the code layer.

• Familiarity with Git and how design-system changes move through development, review, release, and versioning workflows.

• Experience working with Engineering to establish or evolve design-to-code workflows and shared component governance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "design-to-code workflows," "component libraries," and "governance" points to the operational aspect of this role. The requirement for understanding HTML/CSS and how components are implemented in code suggests a need for technical fluency beyond pure design, bridging the gap between design and development operations. The "AI at SharkNinja" section in the company description hints at potential future integrations or a forward-thinking approach to technology, which could be relevant for a design system lead.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of 2-3 comprehensive design system projects, demonstrating a clear lifecycle from initial concept to implementation and ongoing maintenance.

• For each project, clearly articulate the problem statement, your specific role and contributions, the design system's architecture, and key components developed.

• Include detailed examples of how the design system improved efficiency, consistency, and quality for product teams.

• Provide evidence of collaboration with engineering teams, including examples of design-to-code handoff processes and component implementation.

• Highlight specific contributions to accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA) within the design system.

• Demonstrate proficiency with Figma, including advanced features like variables, component variants, and auto layout.

• Showcase experience with design tokens and their mapping to front-end code. Process Documentation:

• Clearly document the governance model used for the design system, including contribution guidelines, review processes, and decision-making frameworks.

• Illustrate how versioning and release management were handled for design system updates.

• Provide examples of documentation created for the design system, including component usage guidelines, pattern definitions, and accessibility best practices.

• Detail the process for auditing and improving the design system over time based on feedback and evolving needs.

• Showcase any established workflows for design-to-development handoff and collaboration with engineering teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a role focused on a design system, a portfolio is crucial. The "Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements" section is enhanced to reflect that the candidate needs to demonstrate not just design output but the process of creating, managing, and scaling a system. This includes governance, collaboration workflows, and the operational aspects of maintaining a living system, which are key indicators of operational proficiency.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the location (Leeds/London, UK), experience level (5-10 years with 3+ years in design systems), and the strategic nature of the role, a competitive salary range is expected.

• Estimated Range: £60,000 - £90,000 per annum, depending on experience, specific location within the UK, and negotiation.

• Explanation: This range is based on market research for senior UX/Product Design roles with specialized design system experience in major UK tech hubs like London and Leeds. It accounts for the hybrid work model and the strategic impact of the role on DTC operations.

Benefits:

• Competitive health insurance plans.

• Comprehensive retirement plans.

• Generous paid time off (PTO).

• Employee Stock Purchase Options (ESPP).

• Wellness programs to support employee well-being.

• SharkNinja product discounts, offering firsthand experience with the company's offerings.

• High-impact Learning Programs designed for personal and professional growth, fostering an "Outrageously Extraordinary" mindset. Working Hours:

• Standard full-time working hours, approximately 40 hours per week.

• Hybrid work arrangement requiring 3 days per week in the office (Leeds or London), offering flexibility for remote work on the remaining days.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary estimation for the UK market is provided, acknowledging the significant cost of living differences between Leeds and London. The benefits are expanded based on typical offerings for senior tech roles and the specific mentions in the "What We Offer" section of the job description, contextualized for a design systems role. The working hours are clarified with the hybrid model details.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Consumer Goods (Lifestyle Solutions), Technology, E-commerce. SharkNinja operates globally, designing and distributing innovative lifestyle products under the Shark and Ninja brands. The company is actively building an "AI-native culture," encouraging experimentation and continuous improvement.

Company Size: Over 4,100 associates globally. This indicates a substantial organization with established processes but also room for innovation and impact, especially within the growing DTC and e-commerce segments.

Founded: Headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts. While the founding date isn't explicitly stated, the company's growth and market presence suggest a mature organization with a history of product innovation.

Team Structure:

• The UI Design System Lead will likely be part of the Digital Product or UX Design team, reporting into a Design Director or Head of Digital Product.

• This role requires close collaboration with dedicated front-end engineering teams, product managers for DTC/e-commerce platforms, and marketing teams.

• The design system function itself often operates with a "center of excellence" model, influencing and supporting multiple product teams rather than being embedded within a single one. Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: The role emphasizes measurable improvements and data to inform design system evolution.

• Systems Thinking & Standardization: A core methodology involves creating reusable components and patterns to ensure consistency and efficiency.

• Agile & Iterative Development: Implied through collaboration with engineering and product teams, suggesting an iterative approach to design system development and product releases.

• User-Centricity: Focus on creating a high-quality, accessible, and consistent user interface for consumers.

• AI-Native Culture: The company encourages experimentation with new tools and approaches, suggesting an openness to innovative methodologies.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company context is fleshed out to highlight the operational implications of its industry, size, and stated culture, particularly the "AI-native" and "Outrageously Extraordinary" ethos, which suggests a dynamic and forward-thinking environment for a design system lead. The team structure is inferred based on typical organizational models for design system roles.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a senior individual contributor position focused on a specialized area of digital product development. It sits at a lead level, requiring significant autonomy, influence, and expertise in design systems. It bridges the gap between pure design craft and the operational aspects of product development.

Reporting Structure: The UI Design System Lead will likely report into a senior design leadership role (e.g., Head of UX, Design Director) within the DTC or Digital Product organization. They will work very closely with engineering leads, product managers, and potentially marketing stakeholders.

Operations Impact: The design system directly impacts the efficiency and scalability of the entire digital product development lifecycle for SharkNinja's DTC and e-commerce platforms. By providing a robust set of reusable components and standards, this role enables faster design and development cycles, reduces redundant work, improves UI consistency, enhances accessibility, and ultimately contributes to a better customer experience and potentially higher conversion rates. This is a significant operational lever for the business.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in advanced design system methodologies, tooling, and front-end integration.

• Leadership & Influence: Grow into a recognized leader for design systems within the company, potentially managing a small team or influencing wider organizational design standards.

• Cross-Functional Mastery: Develop stronger partnerships with engineering, product, and marketing, gaining a broader understanding of the entire DTC business.

• Strategic Impact: Contribute to the long-term vision and roadmap for SharkNinja's digital presence, positioning the design system as a key strategic asset.

• Accessibility Expertise: Become a go-to expert for accessibility within the digital product space, potentially leading initiatives or training.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section frames the role within an operations context by emphasizing its impact on efficiency, scalability, and the overall product development lifecycle. Growth opportunities are aligned with specialized operational skills and leadership within a technical domain.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is designated as hybrid, requiring 3 days per week in the office. This suggests a company that values in-person collaboration and team cohesion while also offering flexibility. The office environment is likely modern and equipped to support creative and technical teams.

Office Location(s):

• Leeds, United Kingdom: A growing city with a significant tech and digital presence, offering a good balance of professional opportunities and quality of life.

• London, United Kingdom: A global hub for technology and business, providing access to a vast network of professionals and resources.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The hybrid model and emphasis on cross-functional collaboration suggest an office space designed to facilitate teamwork, brainstorming, and knowledge sharing. Expect meeting rooms, open-plan areas, and potentially dedicated spaces for design and engineering teams.

• Tools & Technology: Access to industry-standard design software (Figma), collaboration tools, and potentially a robust IT infrastructure to support design system development and integration.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities to engage directly with designers, engineers, product managers, and marketing specialists, fostering a dynamic and interactive work environment.

Work Schedule:

• Standard full-time hours (approx. 40 hours/week) apply.

• The hybrid arrangement offers flexibility, allowing for focused work at home and collaborative sessions in the office. This structure supports the need for deep work required for design system development while enabling essential in-person interaction for alignment and problem-solving.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid work arrangement is described with its implications for collaboration and work-life balance, relevant for operations professionals who often balance focused analytical work with team interaction.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will assess your resume and portfolio for relevant experience in design systems, Figma proficiency, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Portfolio Presentation & Deep Dive: A session where you present your design system projects, detailing your process, contributions, challenges, and outcomes. Expect questions about your systems thinking, governance approach, and collaboration strategies. Be prepared to discuss how you translated design concepts into scalable, reusable components and facilitated adoption.

• Technical/Skills Assessment: This might involve a practical exercise or discussion focused on Figma capabilities, design token mapping, or accessibility considerations. Questions will likely probe your understanding of design-to-code implementation.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with key stakeholders from Product, Engineering, and potentially Marketing to assess your ability to influence, collaborate, and align diverse perspectives without formal authority.

• Final Interview: Likely with senior leadership to discuss strategic alignment, cultural fit, and overall impact potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 2-3 of your most impactful design system projects. Prioritize those that demonstrate scale, successful adoption, and significant impact on efficiency or consistency.

• Showcase the "System": Don't just show final screens; illustrate the underlying system: component structure, design tokens, patterns, and documentation. Explain how the system was built and maintained.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the value of your design system work (e.g., reduction in design/development time, increase in component reuse, improvement in UI consistency scores, accessibility compliance rates).

• Highlight Collaboration: Explicitly describe how you worked with engineering and product teams. Show examples of design-to-code handoffs and how you fostered adoption.

• Address Governance: Explain your approach to design system governance, including contribution models, review processes, and how you managed change.

• Accessibility First: Clearly articulate how accessibility was integrated into the design system's foundation and components, referencing WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Challenge Preparation:

• Design System Audit: You might be asked to audit a small set of UI elements for consistency, scalability, and accessibility, then propose improvements or new components.

• Component Design Exercise: Design a new component or pattern that fits within an existing (hypothetical) system, considering its reusability, scalability, and accessibility.

• Governance Scenario: Present a scenario where different teams have conflicting needs for the design system and ask how you would resolve it.

• Figma/Token Mapping: Demonstrate how you would set up variables, components, and design tokens in Figma to support a specific use case or ensure alignment with code.

📝 Enhancement Note: The application process is detailed with a focus on the specific requirements for a design system role, emphasizing portfolio content, collaborative skills, and technical understanding relevant to operations. The interview preparation section includes concrete examples of challenges relevant to this specialized operational role.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Expert proficiency is mandatory. This includes advanced use of variables, component architecture, auto layout, variants, interactive components, and scalable library structures.

• Design Token Management Tools: Experience with tools or methodologies for defining, managing, and distributing design tokens (e.g., Specify, Style Dictionary, or direct Figma variable management).

• Documentation Platforms: Familiarity with tools for creating and hosting design system documentation (e.g., Zeroheight, Storybook, Confluence, or custom solutions).

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a primary focus for this role, understanding how design system adoption and impact are measured would be beneficial. This might involve using analytics tools (e.g., Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) to track feature usage or engagement on DTC platforms, indirectly reflecting the design system's effectiveness. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this role, but understanding the broader DTC ecosystem, which would involve CRM and marketing automation tools, can provide context. Version Control & Collaboration:

• Git: Familiarity with Git workflows for managing design system updates, collaborating with engineering, and understanding versioning is a strong plus.

• Project Management Tools: Experience with tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking design system tasks, roadmaps, and contributions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The tools section is tailored to a design system role, emphasizing Figma and related design system infrastructure. The inclusion of Git and project management tools highlights the operational and collaborative aspects of managing a design system within a development workflow.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Excellence & Quality: A commitment to high standards in design, code implementation, and accessibility, ensuring a polished and reliable digital experience.

• Collaboration & Influence: Valuing strong partnerships across Design, Engineering, Product, and Marketing, with an ability to influence decisions and build consensus without formal authority.

• Efficiency & Scalability: Driving productivity and consistent output through well-defined processes, reusable components, and a scalable design system.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Embracing the "Outrageously Extraordinary" mindset to constantly evolve the design system, adopt new tools, and push what's possible.

• User-Centricity & Inclusivity: Prioritizing the user experience and ensuring all digital touchpoints are accessible and inclusive (WCAG 2.1 AA).

• Accountability & Ownership: Taking responsibility for the design system's integrity, documentation, and adoption, acting as a trusted source of truth.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Proactive engagement with all relevant teams to gather requirements, provide support, and ensure alignment.

• Empowerment Through Standards: Enabling designers and engineers by providing them with robust tools and clear guidelines, rather than dictating every detail.

• Feedback-Driven Evolution: Actively seeking and incorporating feedback from users of the design system to drive its ongoing development.

• Transparent Communication: Maintaining clear, consistent communication about design system updates, roadmap, and impact to all stakeholders.

• Partnership with Engineering: Working hand-in-hand with developers to ensure design system components are technically feasible, accurately implemented, and maintainable.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture and values section is framed to reflect an operations-minded approach to design systems, emphasizing efficiency, scalability, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making, aligned with SharkNinja's stated ethos.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Driving Adoption: Encouraging consistent use of the design system across multiple teams and projects, overcoming resistance to change or established workflows.

• Balancing Consistency & Flexibility: Defining standards that are strict enough to ensure cohesion but flexible enough to allow for product innovation and specific team needs.

• Maintaining Scale: Keeping the design system up-to-date, well-documented, and relevant as the product portfolio and technology stack evolve.

• Bridging Design & Code: Ensuring seamless translation and implementation of design components into functional, accessible code, requiring strong collaboration with engineering.

• Measuring Impact: Quantifying the ROI and business value of the design system to secure ongoing investment and support.

• Staying Ahead of Trends: Keeping pace with rapid advancements in UI design, front-end development, accessibility standards, and design system tooling.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Design System Strategy: Deepen knowledge in strategic design system planning, governance models, and scaling best practices.

• Front-End Development Fundamentals: Enhance understanding of modern front-end frameworks and component development lifecycles.

• Accessibility Expertise: Pursue advanced accessibility certifications (e.g., IAAP/WAS) and become a subject matter expert within the company.

• Tooling Innovation: Explore and implement new tools and workflows for design system management, documentation, and automation.

• Leadership & Mentorship: Develop skills in mentoring junior designers, leading cross-functional initiatives, and influencing senior stakeholders.

• E-commerce & DTC Operations: Gain deeper insights into the operational dynamics of e-commerce platforms, conversion optimization, and customer journey mapping.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section highlights potential challenges and growth avenues that are specific to operating a design system within a large organization, connecting them to skill development and career progression in operations-adjacent fields.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach building a design system from scratch or scaling an existing one for a large DTC e-commerce platform like ours?" (Focus on phases, governance, collaboration, and initial impact.)

• "Describe a time you had to influence a team or stakeholder to adopt a new design system process or component. What was your strategy, and what was the outcome?" (Demonstrate influence, communication, and problem-solving skills.)

• "How do you balance the need for design consistency with the need for product teams to innovate and differentiate?" (Showcase understanding of flexibility within standards.)

• "Imagine a critical component in our design system is found to have an accessibility flaw. How would you manage the remediation process with engineering and communicate the impact to stakeholders?" (Assess problem-solving, prioritization, and communication under pressure.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you about SharkNinja's 'Outrageously Extraordinary' culture and its 'AI-native' approach?" (Relate your experience to their innovative mindset.)

• "How do you see a design system contributing to SharkNinja's DTC goals and overall business strategy?" (Connect your role to business objectives.)

• "How would you integrate the design system into our hybrid work environment and ensure seamless collaboration between remote and in-office team members?" (Show understanding of modern work dynamics.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Tell a Story: For each design system project, frame it as a narrative: the problem, your solution (the system's design and structure), the implementation process (collaboration with engineering), the impact (metrics), and lessons learned.

• Focus on the "Why": Clearly articulate the strategic rationale behind your design decisions and the system's architecture. Why are these components reusable? Why these design tokens?

• Demonstrate Process, Not Just Pixels: Show wireframes, user flows, component states, documentation examples, and evidence of collaboration.

• Highlight Operational Impact: Emphasize how the design system improved efficiency, reduced development time, ensured consistency, and met accessibility standards. Use data where possible.

• Be Prepared for Technical Deep Dives: Expect questions on Figma variables, design token mapping to code, accessibility implementation, and version control workflows.

Challenge Preparation:

• Figma Workshop: Be ready for a live Figma exercise where you might be asked to create components, set up variables, or structure a library efficiently.

• Design System Audit: You may be asked to review a small set of UI screens and identify inconsistencies or areas for improvement based on design system principles.

• Scenario-Based Problem Solving: Prepare for questions that present hypothetical challenges related to design system adoption, governance, or technical implementation.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section provides specific, actionable advice for preparing for interviews for a design system lead role, focusing on operations-relevant aspects like process, collaboration, and impact measurement.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this UI Design System Lead position:

• Submit your application through the provided Greenhouse link.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and portfolio to prominently showcase your experience in building, scaling, and governing design systems. Highlight specific projects with clear metrics on efficiency gains, consistency improvements, and accessibility compliance.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly outlines your proficiency with Figma, design tokens, component architecture, and front-end fundamentals (HTML/CSS). Use keywords found in the job description to align with ATS scanning.

• Interview Preparation: Practice presenting your design system case studies, focusing on the "how" and "why" of your approach, your collaborative processes with engineering, and the measurable impact of your work.

• Company Research: Familiarize yourself with SharkNinja's brands (Shark, Ninja), their DTC strategy, and their stated "Outrageously Extraordinary" and "AI-native" culture. Understand how a robust design system supports these initiatives.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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