Design Systems Lead

Company Description

Spinach Experience Design is a premier UI/UX product design and software development company based in Mumbai, collaborating with clients ranging from global Fortune 500 firms to startups. With a passion for crafting digital experiences, we help businesses innovate and achieve growth through thoughtful design and technology solutions.

Operating across 8 world markets, the company excels in diverse sectors, including travel, e-commerce, healthcare, BFSI, and telecom. Core services include Design Thinking workshops, Customer Experience Design, UX/UI Research, Strategy, Design Systems, Product Management, Mobile App, and Web Development.

Role:

We are seeking a seasoned Design Systems Lead to architect, scale, and govern our design system practice across client and internal product ecosystems.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role requiring deep expertise in UI architecture, system thinking, documentation, governance models, and cross-functional collaboration.

The ideal candidate brings 5-8 years of experience in UI/UX and product design, including significant hands-on experience building and managing design systems in collaboration with engineering teams.

Responsibilities:

Design systems leadership

• Lead the creation, evolution, and governance of scalable design systems.
• Ensure design systems are modular, accessible, and engineering-friendly.
• Collaborate closely with developers to ensure accurate and efficient design handoff and implementation.
• Audit and refine existing systems to improve consistency, performance, and scalability.

AI-Augmented Design & System Acceleration

• Explore integration of AI tools within Figma workflows to organise files, standardise structure, and automate hygiene checks.
• Develop AI-assisted workflows for documentation, governance tracking, and system scaling.
• Identify opportunities to reduce system build time without compromising structural integrity.
• Create scalable templates for system onboarding and adoption.
• Leverage AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Figma AI, Tokens Studio, automation workflows) to increase speed and reduce repetitive manual work.
• Build and maintain a structured Prompt Library to support:
• Component documentation generation
• Token definitions
• UX copy scaffolding
• Accessibility audits
• Variant logic documentation

Dev-Integrated System Architecture & Shipping Velocity

• Architect design systems that are tightly aligned with frontend component libraries (React / Next.js preferred).
• Ensure 1:1 parity between Figma components and coded components, reducing translation gaps.
• Define token structures that sync cleanly with engineering variables (design tokens CSS variables theme architecture).
• Collaborate with engineers to build reusable, production-ready component libraries (Storybook or equivalent).
• Establish workflows for versioning, release cycles, and deprecation of components.
• Drive automation between design and development wherever possible (token syncing, documentation export, component mapping).

UI execution & collaboration

• Work closely with UX designers to translate wireframes and flows into high-fidelity UI.
• Collaborate with researchers, product managers, and engineers to align design intent with feasibility.
• Balance creativity with usability, accessibility, and performance constraints.
• Provide clear rationale for visual decisions rooted in design principles and user impact.

Quality & governance

• Maintain documentation for visual standards, components, and usage guidelines.
• Stay up to date with evolving UI trends, tools, and best practices, and apply them thoughtfully.
• Define contribution workflows and approval processes.
• Conduct periodic audits to reduce inconsistencies and technical debt.
• Monitor adoption metrics and system health.
• Establish documentation standards for scalable learning and onboarding.
• Improve versioning, backup discipline, and structural hygiene across files.

Qualifications

• Bachelors degree in Design, Visual Communication, or a related field.
• 5 - 8+ years of experience in UI / visual design for digital products.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in UI design, design systems, and art direction for apps and websites.
• Proven experience designing complex, scalable digital interfaces.
• Deep understanding of typography, colour theory, layout systems, and visual hierarchy.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions clearly.
• High attention to detail and a strong sense of visual quality.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Required skill-set

• Expert proficiency in Figma (components, variants, libraries, tokens).
• Strong experience with design system creation and maintenance.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) and responsive design.
• Understanding of developer workflows and handoff best practices.
• Experience working closely with engineering teams on implementation.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience working in a design agency, product studio, or digital consultancy.
• Familiarity with motion design and interaction design principles.
• Experience contributing to or leading multi-brand or multi-product design systems.
• Exposure to design system documentation and governance models.
• Experience using AI-assisted design tools to accelerate visual exploration, ideation, exploration, and production workflows.
• Familiarity with integrating AI into design system workflows (e.g. generating variants, tokens, iconography, or visual patterns).

What we offer:

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Opportunities for professional growth and development.
• A collaborative and supportive work environment.
• The chance to work on challenging and impactful projects.

You may even apply directly by emailing your resume and portfolio to careers@spinachexperience.design