Design System Lead

Job Overview

At Sun Life Canada, you will lead the design system and digital accessibility program for Canada, ensuring inclusive digital experiences across all channels. You will work closely with designers, engineers, brand, compliance, and product teams to build shared standards and components that scale across our organization.

• Define the vision, roadmap, and governance model for the design system and accessibility program for Canada.
• Establish frameworks and standards that help teams design and build accessible, consistent, and human‑centered experiences.
• Manage community feedback and contribution requests to understand needs and integrate them into the system.
• Partner with Experience Design, Engineering, Brand, Compliance and Product teams to drive alignment, adoption and best practices.
• Lead the design and evolution of the Sun Life Canada design system, including design tokens, components, and usage guidelines.
• Partner with Experience Designers and Engineers to ensure the system is scalable, inclusive and efficient to use.
• Define governance processes for how the system is maintained, evolved, and communicated.
• Build and ope rationalise Sun Life’s digital accessibility program working in partnership with the Accessibility Lead to set policies, standards and best practices.
• Develop and analyse critical metrics that measure effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and business impact.
• Train, onboard and enable teams to fully harness the system, ensuring broad and sustained adoption.
• Lead a small, specialised team focused on accessibility and design system foundations.
• Provide clarity, direction, and coaching to ensure the team delivers high‑impact, practical outcomes.
• Publish release notes, newsletters, adoption/usage/accessibility guides to the community.

• 7+ years in digital product, UX, or front‑end design leadership, with demonstrated experience building and scaling design systems and accessibility programmes.
• Strong understanding of accessibility standards and inclusive design principles (AODA, WCAG 2.2 AA).
• Hands‑on experience with enterprise design tools and frameworks (Figma, Storybook, React, Angular, JIRA, Confluence, etc.).

• Strong experience in stakeholder management, influence and communication skills – able to drive alignment across a diverse set of teams.
• Ability to translate strategic vision into actionable frameworks and roadmaps.
• Collaborative mindset with a focus on enablement and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to stay current with emerging design trends, technologies, and AI‑driven design tools, and experience applying these innovations to enhance user experiences.

• Recognised as a 2024 Best Workplace in Ontario by Great Place to Work® Canada.
• Certified by Excellence Canada with the Canada Order of Excellence for Mental Health at Work® for prioritising employee wellbeing.
• Wellness programmes supporting mental, physical, and financial health.
• Opportunity to pursue a variety of career paths with networking potential.
• Hybrid work model – choose to work from home or at the office as per business needs.

Successful candidates must obtain a Government of Canada Reliability Status security clearance through Sun Life prior to the start date.

Salary Range: CAD 90,000 – 140,000 per year.

Job Category:
Client / User Experience Design.

Posting End Date: 28/12/2025.

Location:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

We welcome applications from qualified individuals from all backgrounds. Persons with disabilities who require accommodation in the application process, or those needing job postings in an alternative format, may e‑mail a request to

We may use artificial intelligence to support candidate sourcing, screening, and interview scheduling.

Referral applicants have a 2x higher chance of being interviewed.