Design System Lead - VP, Hybrid at State Street in Princeton, New Jersey

Job Description:

Who we are looking for

State Street is looking for a highly-motivated, Design System Lead to join our design team. State Street designers have tremendous responsibility in defining the product and experience strategy, understanding and communicating user needs, and working with teams across multiple areas to prototype and build new digital experiences. We are looking for experienced designers who love to transform large-scale, complex problems into intuitive, simple and impactful products. We know that the success of our business depends on our ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences, and we need designers who can collaborate with engineers, product owners, and others across the business to bring them to life.

As the Design System Lead, you will be responsible for building and managing a team of designers dedicated to maintaining and evolving our design system including foundations, components, and patterns, across informational, conversational and complex product themes. You will collaborate closely with teams of designers, engineers, product leaders, global marketing, and other design system leads to ensure that our design assets and guidance are responsive to the needs of product design teams while delviering cohesive and world-class customer experiences.

This role can be performed in a hybrid model, where you can balance work from home and office to match your needs and role requirements.

What you will be responsible for

As Designer System Lead you will

• Lead a team of designers focused on developing, maintaining, and evolving a scalable design system that supports the organization's diverse portfolio of products and services with the engineering area.


• Partner with engineers to define strategies for tokenization, governance, contribution model


• Oversee API-based component design and FIGMA component construction.


• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment across design, engineering, brand and product.


• Establish best practices for creating, managing, and distributing Figma assets and ensuring consistency across our product porfolios.


• Create and oversee strategy and implementation of library ecosystem tiering, and publishing


• Advocate convergence of a unified design language


• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and integrate modern best practices into the design system.


• Conduct necessary research, audit and construction of design assets.

What we value

These skills will help you succeed in this role

• 8+ years industry experience in innovating digital product design, strong knowledge enterprise design systems


• Navigate complexity and ambiguity in a large-scale, fast-paced financial services environment to deliver solutions that meet both business and user needs.


• Agile critical thinker with passion for navigating and resolving complexity and ambiguity


• Demonstrates high level of client focus, service-mindset and ownership; running to problems and accountability as we escort designs from concept to production


• Experience/aptitude in UX design (ability so create sitemaps, wireframes, user journeys, prototypes, etc.


• Success cresting and launching products/experiences in a large production program with product owners, engineering and design


• Seeks to understand user behavior and motivations using qualitative and quantitative research methods


• Experience working with design systems and demonstrable understanding of the benefits of re-use and design standardization


• You can build consensus around your creative vision, defend decisions with research or industry best practices and guide your colleagues on executing it


• Experience in design thinking/human centered design process


• Proven ability to manage multiple stakeholders and negotiate outcomes to drive commercial value creation


• Demonstrated experience building relationships and influencing senior leadership


• Proficient in FIGMA, experience with Adobe Create Suite, and prototyping tools


• Degree or Master's degree in design, UX, industrial design, HCI or related field

Education & Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years industry experience in innovating digital product design


• Agile critical thinker with passion for navigating and resolving complexity and ambiguity


• Demonstrates high level of client focus, service-mindset and ownership; running to problems and accountability as we escort designs from concept to production


• Experience/aptitude in UX design (ability so create sitemaps, wireframes, user journeys, prototypes, etc.


• Success cresting and launching products/experiences in a large production program with product owners, engineering and design


• Seeks to understand user behavior and motivations using qualitative and quantitative research methods


• You can build consensus around your creative vision, defend decisions with research or industry best practices and guide your colleagues on executing it


• Experience in design thinking/human centered design process


• Proven ability to manage multiple stakeholders and negotiate outcomes to drive commercial value creation


• Demonstrated experience building relationships and influencing senior leadership


• Proficient in FIGMA, experience with Adobe Create Suite, and prototyping tools


• Degree or Master's degree in design, UX, industrial design, HCI or related field

Additional optional requirements

• A background designing complex financial or data applications a big plus


• Understanding of web standards, capabilities, and best practices (HTML/CSS/JavaScript)


• Motion design experience

Please provide a link to your design portfolio (or attach a PDF) with any necessary passwords

Are you the right candidate? Yes!

We truly believe in the power that comes from the diverse backgrounds and experiences our employees bring with them. Although each vacancy details what we are looking for, we don't necessarily need you to fulfil all of them when applying. If you like change and innovation, seek to see the bigger picture, make data driven decisions and are a good team player, you could be a great fit.

Why this role is important to us

Our technology function, Global Technology Services (GTS), is vital to State Street and is the key enabler for our business to deliver data and insights to our clients. We're driving the company's digital transformation and expanding business capabilities using industry best practices and advanced technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence and robotics process automation.

We offer a collaborative environment where technology skills and innovation are valued in a global organization. We're looking for top technical talent to join our team and deliver creative technology solutions that help us become an end-to-end, next-generation financial services company.

Join us if you want to grow your technical skills, solve real problems and make your mark on our industry.

About State Street

What we do. State Street is one of the largest custodian banks, asset managers and asset intelligence companies in the world. From technology to product innovation, we're making our mark on the financial services industry. For more than two centuries, we've been helping our clients safeguard and steward the investments of millions of people. We provide investment servicing, data & analytics, investment research & trading and investment management to institutional clients.

Work, Live and Grow. We make all efforts to create a great work environment. Our benefits packages are competitive and comprehensive. Details vary by location, but you may expect generous medical care, insurance and savings plans, among other perks. You'll have access to flexible Work Programs to help you match your needs. And our wealth of development programs and educational support will help you reach your full potential.

Inclusion, Diversity and Social Responsibility. We truly believe our employees' diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives are a powerful contributor to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive and reach their maximum potential while adding value to both our organization and our clients. We warmly welcome candidates of diverse origin, background, ability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and personality. Another fundamental value at State Street is active engagement with our communities around the world, both as a partner and a leader. You will have tools to help balance your professional and personal life, paid volunteer days, matching gift programs and access to employee networks that help you stay connected to what matters to you.

State Street is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.

Salary Range:
$155,000 - $230,000 Annual

The range quoted above applies to the role in the primary location specified. If the candidate would ultimately work outside of the primary location above, the applicable range could differ.

Job Application Disclosure:

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

State Street's Speak Up Line

Apply Now