Design Systems Lead

Perplexity

Design Systems Lead at Perplexity owning design systems and bridging design with engineering. Bootstrap intuitive semantic token systems across multiple platforms and maintain high visual quality across different surfaces.

Posted 7/10/2026full-timeSan Francisco • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $220,000 - $280,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

BootstrapReact

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Bootstrap and own an intuitive semantic token system that works across multiple platforms and frameworks
Own the design system repo on GitHub: the source of truth for components, tokens, and standards, including versioning, release management, and a clear changelog
Set and uphold a high bar for visual design quality across every surface the system touches
Navigate the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices, and encode them into the system
Define and run the contribution model and governance: review and shepherd inbound contributions from product feature teams, keeping quality and consistency high as the system grows
Keep design and engineering in sync, bridging Figma and code so the system stays coherent end-to-end
Own clear, first-class documentation so teams can adopt components and tokens on their own, and drive adoption across the org through onboarding, office hours, and hands-on support
Bake in accessibility (WCAG) and theming (including dark mode) as defaults, not afterthoughts
Maintain a system roadmap, balancing net-new work, migrations, and deprecations against feature-team needs
Bring new AI tooling into the design systems workflow and help shape how we build systems in an AI-native way
Operate with autonomy in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment

Requirements

What you’ll need

Extensive experience owning design systems at large organizations
A true 50/50 design-engineer, equally credible in visual craft and in code
An impeccable eye for visual design
Deep understanding of the nuanced differences between mobile, web, and React UI best practices
Strong product sensibilities to help evaluate and integrate contributions from various product feature teams
Fluency in Figma, but primarily living in GitHub where you own the repo
Experience designing and maintaining semantic design tokens and scalable component APIs
A track record of driving adoption through excellent documentation and cross-functional partnership
Working knowledge of accessibility standards (WCAG) and how to build them into a system
Readiness to work with new AI tooling and genuine comfort with ambiguity

Benefits

Comp & perks

Equity
Health
Dental
Vision
Retirement
Fitness
Commuter and dependent care accounts

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

Design System ManagementComponent API DesignVersioning and Release ManagementMobile UI Best PracticesWeb UI Best PracticesReact UI Best PracticesDocumentation ExcellenceAI Tooling IntegrationCross-Functional CollaborationGovernance and Contribution Model

Soft Skills

Autonomy in Ambiguous EnvironmentsStrong Product Sensibilities