Principle UX Designer, Design Systems What you will do.- Lead the technical design and continued evolution of AXS components, patterns, tokens, templates, and system foundations.
- Translate complex product and experience needs into solutions that are reusable, accessible, scalable, and practical to implement.
- Own complex component and pattern architecture, including variants, states, behaviors, responsive considerations, and composition.
- Establish a high bar for interaction, visual, and systems design quality across the library.
- Lead design reviews and help the team make sound decisions when requirements, use cases, or technical constraints compete.
- Partner closely with front-end engineers to keep design and code aligned, resolve implementation questions, and ensure the system works as intended.
- Create and maintain clear documentation, usage guidance, specifications, and examples that help designers and developers use the system correctly.
- Identify gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities to simplify the system before they become larger problems.
- Design foundations that support modern workflows, including semantic tokens, system-accurate prototyping, automated documentation, and AI-assisted design and development.
- Help teams apply the system to real product and marketing experiences without creating one-off solutions that weaken it over time.
- Coach designers in component thinking, pattern design, accessibility, and the practical application of design-system standards.
- Explore tools and workflows that improve the team's efficiency while protecting quality, accessibility, and brand integrity.
- Remain close to the work, stepping into the most difficult design problems and helping bring them through delivery.
What we'd like to see.- Significant UX and product design experience, including deep experience building or evolving enterprise design systems, component libraries, or scaled pattern ecosystems.
- Expert knowledge of reusable system design, including components, variants, properties, tokens, patterns, templates, and documentation.
- Strong visual and interaction design craft, with excellent judgment across typography, layout, hierarchy, behavior, responsiveness, and content patterns.
- Experience designing complex components and accounting for states, edge cases, accessibility requirements, and implementation constraints.
- Strong command of Figma, including variables, modes, component architecture, library management, prototyping, and modern design-system workflows.
- Experience working closely with engineers to evaluate feasibility, clarify intended behavior, and maintain alignment between design and code.
- A practical understanding of front-end concepts and how design decisions translate into production experiences. This does not need to be a developer role, but technical fluency is important.
- Deep knowledge of accessibility and an ability to incorporate it into system architecture rather than treating it as a final review step.
- Experience producing documentation and usage guidance that is clear, current, and genuinely useful.
- The confidence to make a recommendation, explain the reasoning behind it, and adjust when stronger evidence or constraints emerge.
- The ability to bring structure to ambiguous problems without overcomplicating the solution.
- A collaborative, low-ego approach to design leadership. This role needs someone who can raise the bar while bringing others along.
- A portfolio demonstrating relevant design-system work, complex component thinking, and the ability to move from detailed design decisions to scalable solutions.
A bonus if you have.- Experience with semantic token architecture, theming, or systems supporting multiple brands, products, or templates.
- Experience connecting Figma libraries to engineering environments such as Storybook.
- Experience with design-system documentation platforms, automated documentation, or workflows that help design and code stay synchronized.
- Working knowledge of AI-assisted design and development workflows, including where they accelerate work and where human judgment remains essential.
- Experience supporting both product applications and marketing or content-heavy web experiences.
- Experience building systems within a highly regulated environment where accessibility, compliance, consistency, and risk management matter.
- Experience teaching system concepts or coaching designers and developers in how to use a design system effectively.
- Academic, professional, or life experience outside traditional UX that adds something distinctive to how you solve problems.
Organization.- DS+P sits within the larger user experience organization in Financial Advisor Services Digital & Analytics.
- You'll collaborate with UX designers, product teams, engineers, content specialists, marketers, and other partners across Vanguard.
Location.- Hybrid work based in Malvern, PA or Charlotte, NC
- On-campus expectations align to team norms and enterprise guidance.
- Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays on campus.
- Mondays and Fridays remote.
SponsorshipVanguard is not offering visa sponsorship for this position.
