Ancestry

Lead Product Designer, Systems

Ancestry$130K — $150K *
Consumer Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5-7 years of experience in product, systems, or platform design in complex consumer products.
  • Strong expertise in interaction design, design patterns, and scalable frameworks.
  • Proven ability to design across multiple surfaces and identify reusable patterns.
  • Exceptional portfolio demonstrating strong interaction and visual design skills.
  • Experience collaborating with product managers and engineers on design systems.
  • Excellent communication and facilitation skills for aligning diverse teams.
  • Ability to work effectively in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

  • Define and evolve interaction patterns and design principles for consistency across products.
  • Identify fragmentation and create scalable design systems and shared solutions.
  • Engage with product teams to shape early ideas and improve design execution.
  • Collaborate with research teams to ensure design solutions meet real user needs.
  • Develop foundational flows, frameworks, and prototypes for complex experiences.
  • Work with design, engineering, and content teams for practical implementation of systems.
  • Connect individual experiences into a cohesive system of design patterns.
  • Foster alignment on core user experience principles across teams.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Opportunities for bonuses and equity participation.
  • Emphasis on pay transparency and equity in compensation.
  • Flexible working arrangements in a small, innovative team.
  • Collaboration across various teams to influence product design and direction.
Full Job Description
We9re looking for a Lead Product Designer to join our Vision team - a small, highly flexible group that partners across the organization to shape the future of our product experience. This team helps define the foundational design systems, patterns, and experience principles that enable cohesive, high-quality experiences across Ancestry. This role is focused on systems design at scale. You9ll work across product areas to identify fragmentation, clarify interaction patterns, and design the building blocks that teams use to create consistent, intuitive experiences. Rather than owning any single area, you9ll help ensure that every experience feels like part of a connected whole. You9ll report directly to the Head of Design and collaborate closely with peers across product, design, engineering, research, content, and science. Together, you9ll help ensure that teams move faster with greater clarity while maintaining a high bar for craft and coherence. What you9ll do b7 Define and evolve core interaction patterns, components, and design principles that ensure consistency across Ancestry9s product ecosystem. b7 Identify fragmentation and opportunity areas across teams, and translate them into scalable design systems and shared solutions. b7 Embed within product teams to shape early thinking, unblock design challenges, and elevate execution quality. b7 Partner closely with research and customer insights teams, including direct conversations with customers, to ground system decisions in real user needs and ensure patterns reflect real-world behavior. b7 Create foundational flows, frameworks, and prototypes that clarify complex cross-product experiences. b7 Partner closely with design, engineering, and content teams to ensure systems are practical, adopted, and maintained. b7 Bring structure to ambiguity by connecting individual experiences into a cohesive system of patterns and behaviors. b7 Drive alignment across teams on how core experiences should look, feel, and behave. b7 Influence product direction through systems thinking, facilitation, and cross-functional partnership. Who you are b7 Significant experience in product, systems, or platform design within complex consumer products. b7 Strong systems thinker with deep expertise in interaction design, design patterns, and scalable frameworks. b7 Skilled at designing across surfaces and identifying reusable patterns that scale across products and experiences. b7 Exceptional interaction and visual design craft, with a portfolio demonstrating strong systems thinking and executional quality. b7 Comfortable operating as a lead individual contributor - setting direction while remaining deeply hands-on in the work. b7 Experienced in partnering closely with product managers and engineers to build and evolve shared design systems. b7 Strong communicator and facilitator, able to align diverse teams around shared principles, patterns, and decisions. b7 Highly adaptable and pragmatic - able to balance ideal states with "good enough for now" solutions to maintain speed and momentum. b7 Focused on enablement over control: reducing friction, unblocking teams, and helping others move faster. b7 Comfortable working in ambiguity and across competing priorities in complex, multi-team environments. Bonus: Experience with consumer subscription products, social experiences, storytelling products, creator tools, or products centered around memories, identity, and connection. Compensation Ancestry values pay transparency and equity. As a signatory of the ParityPledge in Support of Women and the ParityPledge in Support of People of Color, we are pleased to share the base salary range for this position: $130,000 - $150,000 with eligibility for bonus, equity, and comprehensive benefits including health, dental, and vision. Actual salary will depend on location and experience. We will provide detailed compensation data for a specific location during the recruiting process. *Note: Disclosure as required by sb19-085(8-5-20) and sb1162(1-1-23).

About Ancestry

Ancestry is a genealogy company that provides online access to historical records, family trees, and DNA testing services. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah. Ancestry has a database of over 20 billion historical records and has helped millions of people discover their family history. The company offers a variety of subscription plans that provide access to different types of records and features. Ancestry also offers DNA testing services that can help people discover their ethnic origins and connect with relatives they may not have known about. Ancestry is one of the largest genealogy companies in the world.
Learn more about Ancestry
Size
1,300 employees
Industry
Founded
1983

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