Lead Product Designer - Design Systems

Lead Product Designer - Design Systems - West London | Hybrid (3 days on-site) | Permanent

I'm working with a major UK media and entertainment business on a Lead Product Designer hire to own their design system. The system sits underneath their flagship website and consumer app, used by millions of customers. The role owns where the system goes next, who's in the team, and how it gets adopted across the wider org. You will be part of a wider mission of building a world class design function, and you’ll be in at the start!

This isn't a "build it and they will come" job. The honest brief from the hiring manager: they're not looking for someone who delivers a beautiful Figma library, hands over a set of recommendations, and walks off. They want a builder. A changemaker. Someone who has pushed a system through governance, fought for adoption with product and engineering, and can point to the actual outcomes - faster ship cycles, fewer one-off components, better accessibility, real engineering hours saved, a measurable lift in consistency or speed.

If your strongest answer to "what changed because of your work?" is a list of recommendations, this won't be the one.

What you'll own

• The strategic direction of the system - architecture, scalability, contribution model, the lot.
• Token libraries covering spacing, colour, type and structure that work cleanly across responsive web and native.
• Component engineering in partnership with frontend so Figma and production code stay in parity, not drift apart.
• Governance, version control and review cycles that protect quality without strangling contribution.
• WCAG 2.2 baked into every pattern, motion principle and component, not bolted on at the end.
• A small team of product designers - 1:1s, development plans, growth in tokenisation, accessibility and documentation.
• The conversation with senior stakeholders about why design system maturity is a business lever, not a design vanity project.

What the client is looking for

• Proven delivery of large-scale design systems across responsive web and native applications.
• Expert-level Figma: component libraries, token structures, conditional prototyping.
• A real partnership with engineers on component implementation and governance pipelines.
• Comfortable with usability research (Usertesting, Stravito) and behavioural analytics (Adobe Analytics, Contentsquare).
• WCAG 2.2 second nature.
• The communication and storytelling chops to stand up in front of senior stakeholders and tell the story of what you've built and what it actually changed.

Where the client is open

Backgrounds, we’re open, interested in seeing talent from other large brands, across any sector – it’s the impact you’ve had we’re looking to evidence. Scale-up’s, Government can do great work if you can evidence cutting through and making change land. SaaS counts if you can evidence actual UI and system change rather than "I wasn't allowed to touch it." Agency or consultancy counts if you've moved client-side and made something stick. The bar is the impact, not the logo on the CV.

The setup

Customer Experience function inside a major UK media and entertainment business, supporting CX strategy and design quality across the portfolio. The role will be based in West London - 3 days on-site, 2 from home.

Get in touch

For more information please share your CV!