Principal Design Systems Designer

About the role

Ethos Life is seeking its inaugural Principal Design Systems Designer to establish the core infrastructure for creating consistent, accessible, and high-quality user interfaces. This role will build the pipeline that transforms design concepts into shipped products, with a focus on an AI-native approach from the ground up.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Evaluate current product interfaces and design assets to pinpoint areas for standardization and improvement.
• Structure the design system's information architecture, including naming conventions, taxonomy, and component organization.
• Develop a prioritized plan in collaboration with design, engineering, and leadership to balance long-term system growth with immediate product needs.
• Create and implement a flexible token strategy for colors, typography, spacing, and motion, ensuring synchronization across Figma, code, and Storybook.
• Work with front-end engineers to build reusable components with clear interfaces and built-in accessibility.
• Manage the entire lifecycle of components, from creation and versioning to deprecation and handoffs.
• Establish a streamlined contribution process for designers, engineers, and product managers to add to the system.
• Produce documentation that is both human-readable and machine-readable, including guidelines, examples, and decision records.
• Drive adoption of the design system through iterative releases and demonstrable product impact.
• Define how AI agents can assist in auditing and maintaining the system, and identify necessary human review points.
• Shape the workflow from design or prompt to validated components in Storybook, incorporating quality and accessibility checkpoints.
• Ensure the design system is easily understood and utilized by AI agents for generating user interfaces.
• Define success metrics and track adoption, UI consistency, development efficiency, and AI-generated output quality.
• Collaborate with research and data teams to link system changes to product outcomes.

Requirements

• Proven experience owning a design system from inception to adoption within a product company, including organizational aspects.
• Deep understanding of design-to-code integration, including token pipelines, component APIs, and keeping design and code synchronized.
• Demonstrated success in driving adoption through user-friendly processes rather than strict governance.
• Solid grasp of modern front-end development concepts and comfort working closely with engineers.
• Experience establishing accessibility standards and delivering accessible components.
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted design and development tools like Cursor or Claude Code, with a clear perspective on human oversight.
• Ability to provide direction to peers and partner teams, and make well-reasoned decisions on complex tradeoffs.
• Capacity to thrive in ambiguous environments and build structure iteratively.
• Strong communication skills to align diverse stakeholders and influence without direct authority.

Nice to have

• None specified.

Skills & tools

• Figma
• Cursor
• Claude Code
• Storybook

Practical notes

• US national base salary range: $165,000 - $292,000.
• Compensation details reflect base salary only, excluding bonus, equity, or benefits.
• US benefits information available at https://www.ethoslife.com/careers/.
• Ethos Life is an equal opportunity employer.
• California Candidate Privacy Notice: https://res.cloudinary.com/getethos/image/upload/v1684458868/00_CMS/CURRENT_CRPA_Privacy_Notice_for_Job_Applicants_05-23.docx_-_Google_Docs_lr4j43.pdf
• Recruitment communication will only come from @ethos.com or @getethos.com email addresses.
• Ethos Life will not request payment or sensitive personal information during the hiring process.