Design System Lead - 17754

Position Title:

Platform Design Systems Lead

Location:

Vienna, VA; Winchester, VA; Pensacola, FL; San Diego, CA - Hybrid or Remote

Clearance Requirements:

None specified

Position Status:

Contract

Pay Rate:

$53.00 - $55.00 per hour

Position Description:

Seneca Resources is seeking an experienced Platform Design Systems Lead to drive the strategy, governance, adoption, and continuous improvement of design-system practices for a large-scale digital product platform.

This is a platform-level leadership role that sits at the intersection of UX/UI design, design systems, front-end engineering, product management, accessibility, documentation, and technology delivery. The successful candidate will help translate enterprise design-system standards into practical platform-level patterns, reusable components, design tokens, documentation, implementation guidance, and governance practices.

The Platform Design Systems Lead will partner closely with designers, front-end engineers, product teams, accessibility specialists, enterprise design-system stakeholders, and leadership to create consistent, scalable, accessible, and high-quality digital experiences.

This role is ideal for a design-systems professional who understands both design and technology and can effectively bridge the gap between design intent and engineering implementation. While front-end development experience is valuable, the primary focus is on platform leadership, governance, adoption, technical enablement, documentation, CI/CD awareness, and cross-functional collaboration rather than day-to-day feature development.

Key Responsibilities:

Platform Design Systems Strategy & Leadership

• Define and evolve the platform design-system roadmap in alignment with product objectives, platform priorities, accessibility requirements, and enterprise design-system standards.

• Lead adoption of approved design patterns, components, design tokens, documentation, and contribution practices across the platform.

• Represent platform requirements, constraints, risks, and opportunities in enterprise design-system discussions.

• Provide strategic recommendations regarding design-system priorities, technical gaps, adoption barriers, governance, and delivery improvements.

• Help establish scalable processes that improve design consistency, development efficiency, accessibility, and product quality.

Design Systems Governance & Collaboration

• Partner with UX/UI designers, front-end engineers, product managers, accessibility teams, enterprise design-system teams, and organizational leadership.

• Establish and maintain platform-level governance, contribution models, intake processes, decision criteria, and ownership practices.

• Facilitate collaboration between design and engineering teams to improve design-to-development handoffs.

• Identify and resolve gaps between enterprise design-system standards and platform-specific implementation needs.

• Escalate enterprise-impacting design-system questions and decisions to appropriate stakeholders.

Technical Enablement & Engineering Partnership

• Apply working knowledge of HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Vue, and modern component architectures to evaluate implementation feasibility.

• Partner with front-end engineering teams to ensure components, patterns, and tokens are reusable, accessible, performant, scalable, and technically viable.

• Support design-system CI/CD and release processes, including build, testing, versioning, documentation, dependency management, and deployment.

• Identify technical gaps within component libraries, token pipelines, documentation systems, and design-to-code workflows.

• Translate design-system standards into practical implementation guidance, examples, prototypes, and reusable development patterns when needed.

Documentation & Team Enablement

• Develop and maintain design-system documentation using platforms such as Storybook and Zeroheight.

• Document component usage, design tokens, accessibility requirements, contribution processes, and design-to-development standards.

• Create training materials, workshops, office hours, and enablement resources to improve adoption.

• Help product teams understand when to use enterprise standards versus platform-specific guidance.

• Promote consistent design-system practices across multiple product teams and disciplines.

Quality, Accessibility & Continuous Improvement

• Conduct or coordinate regular platform audits covering design consistency, component usage, code alignment, accessibility, documentation quality, and design-system adoption.

• Apply WCAG and inclusive design principles to improve digital experiences.

• Use audit findings, adoption metrics, stakeholder feedback, and industry trends to prioritize improvements.

• Identify opportunities to reduce design and development rework while improving consistency and delivery speed.

• Stay current with emerging trends in design systems, design tokens, accessibility, front-end development, component libraries, documentation, and digital product delivery.

Required Skills/Education:

• 10+ years of overall professional experience, with at least 5+ years of relevant experience in design systems, product design, design operations, front-end engineering, UX/UI, or a related digital product discipline.

• Demonstrated experience leading, governing, implementing, or significantly contributing to design-system adoption across a product, platform, or large-scale digital environment.

• Working knowledge of HTML, CSS/SCSS, JavaScript/TypeScript, and modern component frameworks such as React or Vue.

• Understanding of design tokens, theming systems, component libraries, reusable UI patterns, and component architecture.

• Experience collaborating with front-end engineering teams and evaluating technical feasibility without requiring day-to-day feature development.

• Understanding of CI/CD, software release processes, versioning, testing, dependency management, documentation, and deployment workflows.

• Strong knowledge of UX/UI design principles, accessibility, inclusive design, and WCAG standards.

• Experience with Figma and design-system documentation tools such as Storybook and/or Zeroheight.

• Strong stakeholder management, facilitation, communication, leadership, and change-management skills.

• Ability to translate complex technical and design concepts into clear recommendations and actionable guidance for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience partnering with engineering teams on component libraries, design-token pipelines, CI/CD, release governance, or documentation automation.

• Hands-on experience developing front-end prototypes or implementation examples using JavaScript/TypeScript, React, Vue, HTML, or CSS/SCSS.

• Experience operating within a hybrid enterprise and platform-level design-system model.

• Experience with mobile or cross-platform design systems, including React Native, SwiftUI, Jetpack Compose, or similar technologies.

• Background in design operations, design tooling, UX governance, documentation strategy, or platform design-system management.

• Experience supporting accessibility audits, design-system quality reviews, adoption measurement, or contribution-model improvements.

• Contributions to open-source design systems, UI libraries, component libraries, or reusable internal platform libraries.

About Seneca Resources

At Seneca Resources, we are more than just a staffing and consulting firm-we are a trusted career partner. With offices across the U.S. and clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to government organizations, we provide opportunities that help professionals grow their careers while making an impact.

When you work with Seneca, you're choosing a company that invests in your success, celebrates your achievements, and connects you to meaningful work with leading organizations nationwide. We take the time to understand your goals and match you with roles that align with your skills and career path.

Our consultants and contractors enjoy competitive pay, comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k) retirement plans, and the support of a dedicated team who will advocate for you every step of the way.

Seneca Resources is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all qualified individuals are encouraged to apply.