SharkNinja
UI Design System Lead
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About Us
SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company, with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positively impact people’s lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trusted, global brands, Shark and Ninja, the company has a proven track record of bringing disruptive innovation to market and developing one consumer product after another has allowed SharkNinja to enter multiple product categories, driving significant growth and market share gains. Headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts with more than 4,100 associates, the company’s products are sold at key retailers, online and offline, and through distributors around the world.
AI at SharkNinja
At SharkNinja, we’re building an AI-native culture. We’re not waiting for the future; we’re creating it. Our people are expected to experiment boldly, adopt new tools, and continuously raise what’s possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers. If you believe the best way to do your job hasn’t been invented yet, you’ll fit right in.
UI Design System Lead, DTC
Leeds or London (3 days/week in office)
About the role
SharkNinja is seeking a highly skilled UX Design System Lead that will be responsible for building, maintaining, and evolving SharkNinja's design system across the DTC and ecommerce digital estate. This role sits at the intersection of design, technology, and product, ensuring a consistent, scalable, and high-quality user interface across all digital touchpoints. The ideal candidate is a hands-on design leader who combines deep UI craft with a systems thinking mindset and the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering, product, and marketing teams.
This is an opportunity to help set the UX standard for a growing global ecommerce business while remaining close to the craft and measurable customer experience.
Ultimately, you will empower our designers and engineers with a high-leverage single source of truth that multiplies output and streamlines the entire development lifecycle. You are the keeper of shared standards, the person who makes it easier for every designer and engineer to ship better work.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Design System Ownership
- Own and evolve SharkNinja's UI design system, ensuring it is scalable, well-documented, and adopted consistently across DTC digital properties.
- Define and maintain design tokens, component libraries, patterns, and guidelines that enable teams to build with speed and consistency.
- Continuously audit and improve the design system based on product needs, accessibility standards, and emerging best practices.
- Balance consistency with flexibility, establishing clear standards while leaving appropriate room for product and market judgment.
Component & Pattern Development
- Design, build, and maintain a comprehensive library of reusable UI components that can be deployed across web and digital touchpoints.
- Use Figma variables, component architecture, and token structures to create scalable, reusable design foundations that map effectively to coded components.
- Collaborate closely with front-end engineering teams to ensure design system components are accurately implemented in code and practical to maintain.
- Establish clear versioning, contribution, and governance processes to manage the design system at scale.
Cross-Functional Enablement
- Act as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for the design system across design, engineering, and product teams.
- Develop documentation, guidelines, and training resources that enable teams to adopt and contribute to the system effectively.
- Champion design system usage and consistency across all DTC digital projects and workstreams.
- Build alignment across designers, engineers, and product managers through clear communication and influence without relying on formal authority.
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Quality & Accessibility
- Ensure all UI components and patterns meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and deliver an inclusive digital experience.
- Apply accessibility requirements to component behavior, interaction patterns, visual design, and documentation.
- Define and uphold UI quality standards across the DTC digital estate, working with teams to identify and resolve inconsistencies.
- Stay ahead of UI trends, tooling, and accessibility requirements to keep the design system current and effective.
Collaboration & Influence
- Work closely with UX, Product, Engineering, and Marketing teams to ensure the design system supports the needs of the broader digital organization.
- Partner with Engineering on design tokens, component libraries, design-to-code handoff, and development workflows.
- Influence design and engineering decisions to drive consistency, efficiency, and quality across digital delivery.
- Present design system updates, roadmap, and impact to senior stakeholders.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
- A mature, well-adopted design system that enables teams to build consistently and efficiently across SharkNinja's DTC digital estate.
- Measurable improvements in design and development speed through reusable components, clear guidelines, and efficient workflows.
- High levels of accessibility compliance and UI consistency across all digital touchpoints.
- A design system recognized internally as a strategic enabler of digital delivery and a trusted single source of truth.
ATTRIBUTES & SKILLS
- 5+ years of experience in UX or Product Design, with at least 3 years focused on building, maintaining, or scaling design systems.
- Demonstrated experience building and scaling a design system, ideally within a product-led organization supporting multiple products, teams, or markets.
- Expert proficiency in Figma, with deep knowledge of variables, component architecture, auto layout, and scalable library structures.
- Proven expertise in how Figma variables and design tokens map to coded token structures and production component libraries.
- Strong systems thinking, with the ability to identify patterns, spot inconsistencies, and design solutions for scale, consistency, and reuse.
- Experience defining and maintaining design tokens, reusable components, patterns, documentation, and contribution models.
- Working knowledge of front-end fundamentals, including HTML and CSS, and an understanding of how UI components are implemented in code.
- Strong understanding of WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and how accessibility requirements inform component design, interaction patterns, and documentation.
- Ability to balance consistency with flexibility, knowing when the system should establish a standard and when product teams need room for judgment.
- Comfortable partnering closely with Engineering, with practical understanding of design tokens, coded component libraries, and design-to-development handoff workflows.
- A clear communicator and strong cross-functional influencer, able to build alignment across Design, Engineering, and Product without relying on formal authority.
- Comfortable operating in a governance role, setting standards, running reviews, managing contributions, and making decisions that protect the integrity and scalability of the system.
- Detail-oriented and reliable, recognizing that designers and engineers depend on the system being accurate, current, and well-documented.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to advocate for design-system quality and communicate its value to senior stakeholders.
- Experience within ecommerce, DTC, or another complex digital product environment is strongly preferred.
- Bachelor's degree in Design, Interaction Design, or equivalent experience.
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Additional nice to have:
- Hands-on experience with design-token pipelines and associated tooling.
- IAAP/WAS accessibility certification or equivalent accessibility credentials would be a distinct advantage.
- Experience with component-library tooling, including writing or reviewing component documentation at the code layer.
- Familiarity with Git and how design-system changes move through development, review, release, and versioning workflows.
- Experience working with Engineering to establish or evolve design-to-code workflows and shared component governance.
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Our Culture
At SharkNinja, we don’t just raise the bar—we push past it every single day. Our Outrageously Extraordinary mindset drives us to tackle the impossible, push boundaries, and deliver results that others only dream of. If you thrive on breaking out of your swim lane, you’ll be right at home.
What We Offer
We offer competitive health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, employee stock purchase options, wellness programs, SharkNinja product discounts, and more. We empower your personal and professional growth with high impact Learning Programs featuring bold voices redefining what’s possible. When you join, you’re not just part of a company—you’re part of an outrageously extraordinary community. Together, we won’t just launch products—we’ll disrupt entire markets.
At SharkNinja, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vital to our global success. Valuing each unique voice and blending all of our diverse skills strengthens SharkNinja’s innovation every day. We support ALL associates in bringing their authentic selves to work, making an impact, and having the opportunity for career acceleration. With help from our leadership, associates, and our community, we aim to have equity be a key component of the SharkNinja DNA.
Learn more about us:
SharkNinja Candidate Privacy Notice
For candidates based in all regions, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
For candidates based in China, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
For candidates based in Vietnam, please refer to this Candidate Privacy Notice.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other class protected by legislation, and local law. SharkNinja will consider reasonable accommodations consistent with legislation, and local law. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, please contact SharkNinja People & Culture at accommodations@sharkninja.com.
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