Design System Lead - 17334

Position Title: Design System Lead

Location: Vienna, VA / Winchester, VA / Pensacola, FL (Hybrid OR Remote)

Clearance Requirements: None

Position Status: Contract

Pay Rate: $36 - $42 per hour

Position Description:

We are seeking an experienced Platform Design Systems Lead to drive the strategy, governance, and adoption of a scalable design system across a modern digital platform. This is a leadership role focused on creating consistent, accessible, and reusable user experiences by partnering closely with Product, UX Design, Engineering, and Accessibility teams.

As the platform design systems expert, you will establish best practices for design tokens, component libraries, documentation, and design-to-development workflows while ensuring alignment with enterprise standards. This position is ideal for someone who enjoys influencing cross-functional teams, improving delivery processes, and enabling designers and developers to build high-quality digital products efficiently.

This is not a hands-on software engineering role. Instead, it requires strong technical fluency with modern front-end technologies to effectively collaborate with engineering teams, evaluate implementation feasibility, and guide platform-wide design system adoption.

Key Responsibilities:

Platform Strategy & Leadership

• Lead the platform design system roadmap aligned with product objectives, user experience goals, accessibility standards, and enterprise design guidelines.
• Drive adoption of reusable UI components, design tokens, patterns, and documentation across product teams.
• Identify opportunities to improve design consistency, scalability, and development efficiency.
• Provide strategic recommendations to leadership on design system maturity, risks, governance, and implementation priorities.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with UX Designers, Product Managers, Front-End Engineers, Accessibility Specialists, and other stakeholders to deliver consistent digital experiences.
• Facilitate collaboration between design and engineering teams to improve design-to-development workflows.
• Establish governance processes, contribution models, and documentation standards.
• Represent platform needs and collaborate with enterprise design system teams to ensure alignment with broader standards.

Technical Partnership

• Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure UI components and design tokens are scalable, reusable, accessible, and technically feasible.
• Support CI/CD, versioning, release management, and documentation processes for design system assets.
• Identify gaps in component libraries, documentation, implementation practices, and developer workflows.
• Create implementation guidance, lightweight prototypes, and technical documentation to improve adoption.

Documentation & Enablement

• Develop and maintain comprehensive documentation using tools such as Storybook and Zeroheight.
• Create onboarding materials, training sessions, workshops, and best-practice guides.
• Document component usage, accessibility requirements, design tokens, contribution workflows, and implementation standards.
• Enable product teams to confidently adopt and contribute to the platform design system.

Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Conduct regular audits for design consistency, accessibility compliance, component quality, and documentation accuracy.
• Monitor industry trends in design systems, UX, accessibility, and front-end technologies.
• Use feedback, analytics, and audit findings to continuously improve platform maturity and developer experience.

Required Skills/Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).
• 5+ years of experience in one or more of the following:
• Design Systems
• Product Design
• UX/UI Design
• Design Operations
• Front-End Engineering
• Demonstrated experience leading or driving design system adoption for enterprise or large-scale digital products.
• Strong understanding of:
• Design Systems
• Component Libraries
• Design Tokens
• UI Patterns
• Design Governance
• Working knowledge of:
• HTML
• CSS / SCSS
• JavaScript / TypeScript
• React, Vue, or similar component frameworks
• Experience collaborating with engineering teams to evaluate implementation feasibility.
• Understanding of CI/CD processes, version control, release management, dependency management, and documentation workflows.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards, including WCAG, inclusive design principles, and usability best practices.
• Experience with Figma, Storybook, Zeroheight, or similar design system documentation tools.
• Strong communication, facilitation, stakeholder management, and leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience building or supporting enterprise design systems.
• Experience with component library architecture and design token pipelines.
• Experience with React Native, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, or other cross-platform technologies.
• Knowledge of documentation automation and platform governance.
• Experience conducting accessibility reviews and design system audits.
• Background contributing to open-source design systems or reusable UI libraries.
• Experience creating front-end prototypes or implementation examples.

About Seneca Resources

At Seneca Resources, we are more than just a staffing and consulting firm, we are a trusted career partner. With offices across the U.S. and clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to government organizations, we provide opportunities that help professionals grow their careers while making an impact.

When you work with Seneca, you're choosing a company that invests in your success, celebrates your achievements, and connects you to meaningful work with leading organizations nationwide. We take the time to understand your goals and match you with roles that align with your skills and career path. Our consultants and contractors enjoy competitive pay, comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plans, and the support of a dedicated team who will advocate for you every step of the way.

Seneca Resources is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.