UI Design System Lead

About Us

SharkNinjais a global product design and technology company with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positivelyimpactpeoples lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trusted global brands Shark and Ninja the company has a proventrack recordof bringing disruptive innovation to market and developing one consumer product after another has allowedSharkNinjato enter multiple product categories driving significant growth and market share gains. Headquartered in Needham Massachusetts with more than4100associates the companys products are sold at key retailers online and offline and through distributors around the world.

AI at SharkNinja

At SharkNinja were building an AI-native culture. Were not waiting for the future; were creating it. Our people are expected to experiment boldly adopt new tools and continuously raise whats possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers. If you believe the best way to do your job hasnt been invented yet youll fit right in.

UIDesign SystemLead DTC

Leeds or London (3 days/week in office)

About the role

SharkNinja is a seeking a highly skilled UX Design System Lead that will be responsible for building maintaining and evolving SharkNinjas design system across the DTC and ecommerce digital estate. This role sits at the intersection of design technology and product ensuring a consistent scalable and high-quality user interface across all digital touchpoints. The ideal candidate is a hands-on design leader who combines deep UI craft with a systems thinking mindset and the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering product and marketing teams.

This is an opportunity to help set the UX standard for a growing global ecommerce business whileremainingclose to the craft and measurable customer experience.

Ultimately youwill empower our designers and engineers with a high-leveragesingle sourceof truth that multiplies output and streamlines the entire development lifecycle. You are the keeper of shared standards the person who makes it easier for every designer and engineer to ship better work.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Design System Ownership

• Own and evolve SharkNinjas UI design system ensuring it is scalable well-documented and adopted consistently across DTC digital properties.
• Define and maintain design tokenscomponentlibrariespatternsand guidelines that enable teams to build with speed and consistency.
• Continuously audit and improve the design system based on product needs accessibility standards and emerging best practices.
• Balance consistency with flexibility establishing clear standards while leavingappropriate roomfor product and market judgment.

Component & Pattern Development

• Design build and maintain a comprehensive library of reusable UI components that can be deployed across web and digital touchpoints.
• Use Figma variables component architectureand token structures to create scalable reusable design foundations that map effectively to coded components.
• Collaborate closely with front-end engineering teams to ensure design system components are accurately implemented in code and practical tomaintain.
• Establish clear versioningcontributionand governance processes to manage the design system at scale.

Cross-Functional Enablement

• 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 that enable teams to adopt and contribute to the system effectively.
• 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 relying on formal authority.

Quality & Accessibility

• Ensure all UI components and patterns meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and deliver an inclusive digital experience.
• Apply accessibility requirements to component behavior interaction patterns visualdesignand documentation.
• Define and uphold UI quality standards across the DTC digital estate working with teams to identify and resolve inconsistencies.
• Stay ahead of UI trends tooling and accessibility requirements to keep the design system current and effective.

Collaboration & Influence

• Work closely with UX Product Engineering and Marketing teams to ensure the design system supports the needs of the broader digital organisation.
• Partner with Engineering on design tokens component libraries design-to-codehandoffand 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.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• A mature well-adopted design system that enables teams to build consistently and efficiently across SharkNinjas DTC digital estate.
• Measurable improvements in design and development speed through reusable components clear guidelines and efficient workflows.
• High levels of accessibility compliance and UI consistency across all digital touchpoints.
• A design system recognised internally as a strategic enabler of digital delivery and a trustedsingle sourceof truth.

ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS

• 5 years of experience in UX or Product Design with at least 3years focused on buildingmaintainingor scaling design systems.
• Demonstrated experience building and scaling a design system ideally within a product-ledorganisationsupporting multiple productsteamsor markets.
• Expert proficiency in Figma with deep knowledge of variablescomponentarchitecture autolayoutand scalable library structures.
• Proven expertise in how Figma variables and design tokens map to coded token structures and productioncomponentlibraries.
• Strong systems thinking with the ability to identify patterns spot inconsistencies and design solutions for scaleconsistencyand reuse.
• Experience defining and maintaining design tokens reusable components patternsdocumentationand 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 interactionpatternsand 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 librariesand 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 recognising that designers and engineers depend on the system beingaccuratecurrentand well-documented.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to advocate for design-system quality and communicate its value to senior stakeholders.
• Experience within ecommerce DTC or another complex digital product environment is strongly preferred.
• Bachelors degree in Design Interaction Design or equivalent experience.

Additionalnice to have:

• Hands-on experience with design-token pipelines and associated tooling.
• IAAP/WAS accessibility certification or equivalent accessibility credentials would be a distinct advantage.
• Experience with component-library tooling including writing or reviewingcomponentdocumentation at the code layer.
• Familiarity with Git and how design-system changes move through development reviewreleaseand versioning workflows.
• Experience working with Engineering to establish or evolve design-to-code workflows and sharedcomponentgovernance.

#LI-HYBRID