Lead Product Designer (Design Systems)

TL;DR

Lead Product Designer (Design Systems): Defining and driving the long-term vision for a scalable design system with an accent on component architecture, design tokens, and AI-assisted development workflows. Focus on building machine-readable foundations that connect design tooling with code generation to accelerate product development across the organization.

Location: Must be based in or able to work from New York City (Hybrid)

Compensation: $190,000 – $210,000 + Equity

Company

hirify.global is a fintech startup modernizing co-branded credit card programs through advanced payments infrastructure and intelligent underwriting.

What you will do

• Define and drive the long-term roadmap for the design system, balancing immediate product needs with platform investments.
• Partner with Product Design, Engineering, and AI teams to ensure components are scalable, maintainable, and production-ready.
• Establish governance and contribution models to enable product teams to move faster without sacrificing quality.
• Evolve the system toward machine-readable, AI-consumable foundations connecting design and code.
• Mentor a small team of designers and lead complex initiatives from strategy through execution.
• Contribute hands-on to component architecture, documentation, and design patterns.

Requirements

• 8+ years of product design experience with significant design systems ownership.
• Proven success building and scaling design systems across multiple product teams.
• Deep understanding of component architecture, design tokens, and accessibility standards.
• Strong product judgment for prioritizing high-impact work and managing trade-offs.
• Experience partnering closely with frontend engineers to ship adopted and trusted components.
• Must be comfortable working in a fast-moving startup environment in New York City.

Nice to have

• Experience with modern frontend technologies, Storybook, and design token infrastructure.
• Background in AI-assisted design, code generation, or agent-driven workflows.
• Experience in design engineering or highly technical product environments.
• History of building systems in high-growth startup environments.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive compensation and equity packages.
• Fully covered, high-quality healthcare including dependent coverage.
• 20 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers.
• Flexible paid time off.
• Access to industry-leading technology and resources to foster innovation.