Design Systems Lead

The Design Systems Lead oversees the ongoing development of Discovery Education’s design systems and helps streamline the process from design to development.

This role sits at the intersection of design and engineering, responsible for unifying our existing systems (Atlas and Nebula) into a scalable architecture while modernizing how our teams design, prototype, and deliver product experiences.

By aligning designers and engineers around shared infrastructure, this role improves collaboration, reduces duplication, and enables faster, more consistent product development across our ecosystem.

In This Role You Will:

Design System Architecture & Governance
• Audit and evaluate existing design systems (Atlas and Nebula) to identify overlaps, gaps, and opportunities for consolidation.
• Lead the evolution toward a unified, scalable design system architecture supporting multiple products and platforms.
• Define standards for component governance, lifecycle management, and system documentation.
• Implement a clear governance model (standards, contribution workflow, component lifecycle, documentation expectations, and ownership) to drive consistency and adoption.
• Establish flexible system structures that allow components to adapt across products and experiences.
• Own and maintain a unified design system direction (roadmap and decision-making) that consolidates and/or rationalizes Atlas and Nebula over time.

Design–Engineering Integration
• Serve as the primary liaison between design and engineering teams for design system development.
• Partner with engineers to ensure components translate efficiently from design into production code.
• Align design and development workflows to reduce duplication and improve implementation quality.
• Establish and maintain a design-to-engineering workflow that supports efficient implementation (libraries, tokens, specs, and collaboration practices).

Workflow Modernization & Tooling
• Research and implement tools that improve design system development and front-end collaboration.
• Explore emerging technologies, including AI-assisted design and development tools, to improve efficiency and scalability.
• Introduce processes that enable faster prototyping and reduce friction between design and engineering teams.

Product Collaboration
• Participate in product kickoff discussions with Product Design, Product Management, Curriculum, and Engineering.
• Evaluate new initiatives through the lens of design system scalability and platform consistency.
• Determine which patterns and components should become part of the shared system versus remaining product-specific.
• Create enablement mechanisms that drive adoption (guidance, office hours, training) and build strong working rhythms with product teams.

Measurement & Continuous Improvement
• Track design system adoption and metrics across teams and products.
• Measure the impact of system implementation through metrics such as development efficiency, component reuse, design consistency, and team satisfaction.
• Continuously refine system governance and workflows based on product and organizational needs.
• Report regularly on outcomes (adoption, reuse, consistency, and delivery efficiency) and drive continuous improvement based on feedback and data.

Core Competencies for Success:
• Manages complexity: Makes sense of overlapping systems (Atlas/Nebula), competing platform needs, and technical constraints to define a scalable design-system architecture and governance model.
• Collaborates: Builds strong partnerships across Product Design, Engineering, Product Management, and Curriculum to align on standards, drive adoption, and reduce duplication.
• Communicates effectively: Translates between design and engineering—creating clear documentation, decision records, and guidance that enables consistent implementation.
• Tech savvy: Applies strong design system and front-end workflow knowledge (tokens, accessibility, tooling) to modernize practices and improve implementation quality.
• Drives results: Establishes measurable goals for system adoption and impact (reuse, consistency, efficiency, satisfaction) and iterates based on data and stakeholder feedback.

Credentials and Experience:
• 8+ years of experience in design systems, front-end (or design technology), or design-to-engineering workflows, with demonstrated impact on shipped products.
• Proven ability to lead the strategy, architecture, and governance of a multi-product design system (standards, component lifecycle, documentation, contribution model, and adoption).
• Strong cross-functional influence with the ability to align designers, engineers, and product partners around shared standards, tradeoffs, and roadmap priorities.
• Deep knowledge of design system foundations, including design tokens, accessibility standards, responsive patterns, and modern design tools (e.g., Figma libraries, prototyping), plus familiarity with front-end frameworks and version control workflows.
• Experience defining success metrics (adoption, reuse, quality, delivery efficiency) and using data and feedback to iterate on system direction and team workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and enable others (designers and engineers) through documentation, office hours, playbooks, and training to scale best practices across teams.
• Comfortable operating with autonomy in ambiguous problem spaces, breaking down complex work, communicating recommendations, and driving decisions with senior stakeholders.
• Legal right to work in the United States.

This role is designed to be remote.

The hiring range for this position is between $157,450 - $174,900 annually, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for an Annual Bonus.