UI Design System Lead

About Us Shark Ninja is a global product design and technology company, with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positively impact people’s lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trusted, global brands, Shark and Ninja, the company has a proven track record of bringing disruptive innovation to market and developing one consumer product after another has allowed Shark Ninja to enter multiple product categories, driving significant growth and market share gains.

Headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts with more than 4,100 associates, the company’s products are sold at key retailers, online and offline, and through distributors around the world. AI at Shark Ninja At Shark Ninja, we’re building an AI-native culture. We’re not waiting for the future; we’re creating it. Our people are expected to experiment boldly, adopt new tools, and continuously raise what’s possible to create meaningful impact for our consumers.

If you believe the best way to do your job hasn’t been invented yet, you’ll fit right in.

UI Design System Lead, DTC Leeds or London (3 days/week in office) About the role Shark Ninja is a seeking a highly skilled UX Design System Lead that will be responsible for building, maintaining and evolving Shark Ninja's design system across the DTC and ecommerce digital estate. This role sits at the intersection of design, technology and product, ensuring a consistent, scalable and high-quality user interface across all digital touchpoints.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on design leader who combines deep UI craft with a systems thinking mindset and the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering, product and marketing teams. This is an opportunity to help set the UX standard for a growing global ecommerce business while remaining close to the craft and measurable customer experience. Ultimately, you will empower our designers and engineers with a high-leverage single source of truth that multiplies output and streamlines the entire development lifecycle.

You are the keeper of shared standards, the person who makes it easier for every designer and engineer to ship better work. RESPONSIBILITIES Design System Ownership  Own and evolve Shark Ninja's UI design system, ensuring it is scalable, well-documented and adopted consistently across DTC digital properties.  Define and maintain design tokens, component libraries, patterns and guidelines that enable teams to build with speed and consistency.  

Continuously audit and improve the design system based on product needs, accessibility standards and emerging best practices.  Balance consistency with flexibility, establishing clear standards while leaving appropriate room for product and market judgment. Component & Pattern Development  Design, build and maintain a comprehensive library of reusable UI components that can be deployed across web and digital touchpoints.  Use Figma variables, component architecture and token structures to create scalable, reusable design foundations that map effectively to coded components.  

Collaborate closely with front-end engineering teams to ensure design system components are accurately implemented in code and practical to maintain.

Establish clear versioning, contribution and governance processes to manage the design system ss-Functional Enablement  Act as the primary point of contact and subject matter expert for the design system across design, engineering and product teams.  Develop documentation, guidelines and training resources that enable teams to adopt and contribute to the system effectively. Champion design system usage and consistency across all DTC digital projects and work streams.

Build alignment across designers, engineers and product managers through clear communication and influence without relying on formal authority.

Quality & Accessibility  Ensure all UI components and patterns meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards and deliver an inclusive digital experience. Apply accessibility requirements to component behavior, interaction patterns, visual design and documentation.  Define and uphold UI quality standards across the DTC digital estate, working…