Lead Product Designer - Design System Strategy, Figma


Company:	Hays Specialist Recruitment
Salary:	£600 to £750 a day
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Manchester, M1 4BT
Job type:	Contract
Posting date:	9 Oct 2026
Closing date:	16 Oct 2026

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Summary

Up to £750 per day (Inside IR35)

Manchester - Hybrid

6 Months

My client is urgently looking to hire a Lead Product Designer with experience of owning the overall Design System Strategy and scaling systems across large organisations whilst defining governance, architecture and standards, measuring usage, effectiveness and future improvements and driving adoption across Product teams, and proven experience with Figma.

Key Requirements:

Proven experience as a Lead Product Designer with expertise in owning the overall Design System Strategy

Demonstrable experience of scaling systems across large organisations

Strong working knowledge of Figma

Experience of defining governance, architecture and standards, measuring usage, effectiveness and future improvements

Ability to drive coherence, accessibility and scalability, ensuring designs are accessible and responsive

Capability to lead cross-functional collaboration and drive adoption across Product teams

Ability to define and evolve the Design System's architecture, principles, and governance

Work closely with Product Designers and Engineers, bridging the gap between Engineering and Design whilst testing and validating component behaviour

Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills (including up to C-Suite level stakeholders)

Exceptional communication skills, with ability to confidently converse with technical and non-technical audiences

Working knowledge of Scaled Agile Frameworks (SAFe)

Flexible approach towards hybrid working

Nice to have:

Immediate availability

Demonstrable experience with AI tooling

Research experience, content design, service design

Proven experience in a large, complex organisation in a heavily regulated organisation

If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.

If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.

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