Job Title: Design Systems Lead
Location: Manchester
Working Pattern: Hybrid, 3 days in the office and 2 days remote
Salary: £60,000 - £75,000
Domain: Digital Investment Platform / Financial Services
Experience Required: Extensive experience in interaction or UI design, including proven design system leadership

Company Overview

Our client is a leading UK-based digital investment platform, supporting over 500,000 customers and managing assets under administration approaching £75 billion. Operating nationwide, the business provides a flat-fee investment service, giving customers access to a wide range of UK and international investment options including shares, funds, trusts and ETFs.

With nearly 30 years in the market, the organisation has built a reputation for resilience, innovation and customer-first thinking. The UX function plays a central role in shaping digital experiences across the platform, and the Design Systems Lead will be instrumental in driving consistency, scalability and quality across all digital products.

The Role

This is a pivotal, hands-on leadership role responsible for owning and evolving version 2 of the organisation’s Design System. Sitting within the UX Operations team and working closely with the DesignOps Lead, Product Manager and Engineering partners, you will take full ownership of the Design System and drive its adoption across the business.

The role balances strategic vision with practical delivery. You will build, refine and govern the Design System while ensuring it is scalable, accessible, well-documented and widely adopted. You will act as an internal evangelist, championing best practice and bringing teams together around a shared design language.

This position requires a strong personality and the ability to influence senior stakeholders, manage differing perspectives within a team of 14 to 15 designers, and stand confidently behind design decisions grounded in research and data.

Key Responsibilities

Design System Ownership and Governance

• Own the ongoing evolution and maintenance of the Design System (V2 and beyond).
• Define and document principles, components, patterns and guidelines.
• Establish governance processes to ensure quality, consistency and alignment with brand, accessibility and technical standards.
• Build and manage a prioritised backlog of Design System improvements in collaboration with the delivery squad.

Collaboration and Integration

• Partner closely with UX Designers, Product Managers and Engineers to embed the Design System across all products and micro-apps.
• Align design outputs between Figma, component libraries and live implementations.
• Conduct audits to identify inconsistencies and improvement opportunities.

Adoption, Rollout and Evangelism

• Lead the rollout and adoption of the Design System across teams and wider business areas, including Marketing and CRO.
• Facilitate workshops and training sessions to upskill designers and increase confidence in usage.
• Communicate progress, updates and future plans clearly to stakeholders.
• Use storytelling and evidence to demonstrate the value of the Design System.

User Research and Validation

• Conduct testing on components and patterns to validate usability and effectiveness.
• Use research, insight and data to inform UI decisions and justify change.
• Run sessions with internal users of the Design System to identify pain points and improvement areas.

Documentation and Enablement

• Work with DesignOps to ensure documentation is clear, accessible and practical.
• Prepare materials for regular Design System updates and meetings.
• Support the team in understanding design tokens and their application within the system.

Key Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Extensive experience in interaction or UI design, with demonstrable Design System leadership.
• Expert-level proficiency in Figma.
• Strong UI background with exceptional attention to detail.
• Experience pushing adoption of a mature or evolving Design System across teams.
• Solid understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript and how these inform design decisions.
• Experience working in Agile environments.
• Proven leadership, mentoring and facilitation skills.
• Confident workshop delivery and stakeholder management.

Desirable:

• Experience integrating Design Systems with Storybook or similar component libraries.
• Experience driving adoption and change within large or complex organisations.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards such as WCAG and inclusive design practices.

Remuneration and Benefits

• Salary between £60,000 and £75,000 depending on experience.
• Hybrid working model, 3 days in the Manchester office and 2 days remote.
• Competitive benefits package including pension contribution, private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection and staff discounts.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Additional wellbeing and flexible benefits options.

Culture and Fit

This role requires a collaborative and confident individual who can balance strong opinions with openness to challenge. You will be working within a sizeable UX team where contribution and alignment are key. The ability to influence, bring people on board and create shared ownership of the Design System is essential.

As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff.
Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.