Product Designer, Design System

Product Designers on the Design System team are strategic partners who lead platform-wide patterns while enabling product team velocity. They operate with the Design System specialty designation.

Product Designers on the Design System team are strategic partners who lead platform-wide patterns while enabling product team velocity.

The Design System sets the foundation everyone builds on. You deliver platform-wide patterns and production code that creates consistency, carries brand through product, and enables teams to ship quality experiences faster. Your work is strategic - defining how GitLab looks, feels, and works at the platform level - while being service-oriented in execution.

Base Requirements for All Roles

Ability to use GitLab
Several years professional experience in design systems, component libraries, or platform-level product design
Good knowledge of HTML/CSS and JavaScript sufficient to author, review, and modify design system components. Able to implement designs in code at a component library level and collaborate effectively with engineers.
Proficiency in Figma for component and UI kit authoring, including components, variables/tokens, and documentation.
Good familiarity with accessibility best practices and WCAG guidelines, understood as a design practice not a checklist.
Platform thinking by understanding how individual components create cohesive, consistent experiences at scale
Strategic mindset about consistency, brand expression, and foundational patterns, informed by research, evidence and feedback.
Understanding of AI capabilities and constraints sufficient to evaluate when AI is appropriate in design system components, developer tooling, or design workflows.
Familiarity with brand expression in product — understanding how typography, color, spacing, and visual language translate from brand guidelines into component design. Able to apply brand consistently across both Figma and code.
A focus on unblocking others and enabling their success. Communicate clearly with product teams about component decisions, timelines, and trade-offs. Provide guidance that helps teams move forward confidently.
Experience with design tokens, theming systems, and design-to-development workflows
Comfort working in highly agile, iterative development process
Understanding of component API design and developer experience
You share our values, and work in accordance with those values
Strong bias for action and ability to develop daily priorities to achieve goals (manager of one)
Proficiency in the English language, both written and verbal, sufficient for success in a remote and largely asynchronous work environment
General knowledge of Git workflows, including branching, pull requests, code review practices

Levels

Product Designer, Design System

Job Grade

The Product Designer, Design System is outlined in the Job Levels resource.

Responsibilities

Service delivery: Respond to requests from product designers and engineers quickly, triage incoming needs, help teams move forward by providing solutions or guidance, and communicate transparently about timelines.
Component development: Contribute to design system components in both design and code, work with product teams to understand use cases, ship useful components that solve real problems, and apply brand consistently.
Collaboration: Share ownership with product teams on implementation, partner with engineers and designers, respond to feedback and iterate based on real usage, and help teams contribute back to the system.
Quality standards: Ensure components meet accessibility standards (WCAG AA minimum) in Figma and code, maintain quality and performance standards, review component implementations for consistency.
Learning and growth: Develop understanding of how components are used across the product, learn to anticipate common needs based on patterns observed, build knowledge of Pajamas components and architecture.

Requirements

A Product Designer, Design System is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities with commitment to unblocking others and building service skills.

Senior Product Designer, Design System

Senior Job Grade

The Senior Product Designer, Design System is outlined in the Job Levels resource.

Senior Responsibilities

Leadership: Lead initiatives that create consistency across GitLab, carry brand into product through systematic application, and define foundational patterns that shape how users experience GitLab.
Service excellence: Own request triage and response for the team, make decisions quickly on what to build, unblock product teams by providing solutions efficiently, and build trust through consistent responsive partnership.
Component leadership: Lead component development in both Figma and code from concept through production, define component APIs with good developer experience, ship components iteratively, and scope work for delivery.
Pattern identification: Proactively gather patterns from across product teams, recognize opportunities for new shared components based on repeated requests, understand when something should graduate to shared pattern, and prioritize system work based on impact.
Technical execution: Build complex yet accessible components with excellent developer experience, make pragmatic technical decisions balancing quality with speed, handle edge cases thoughtfully, and set quality standards through code shipped.
Design craft: Set the quality bar for how design system components look and feel. Provide feedback that elevates the visual and interaction craft of the team’s shipped work.
Collaboration: Partner with product teams on implementation with clear shared responsibilities, work with multiple teams simultaneously, help teams contribute back through guidance, and build relationships across design and engineering.
Adoption and enablement: Drive adoption of design system components through responsive service, create documentation that enables self-service, provide guidance helping teams use the system effectively, and help product teams understand when to use system patterns.
Mentoring: Guide other design system team members, share knowledge about service delivery and systems thinking, and model responsive enabling behavior.
Recruiting: Evaluate design portfolios and interview product design candidates, helping identify top design system talent.

Senior Requirements

A Senior Product Designer, Design System is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while demonstrating service excellence and systems thinking.

Staff Product Designer, Design System

Staff Job Grade

The Staff Product Designer, Design System is outlined in the Job Levels resource.

Staff Responsibilities

Platform strategy: Drive platform-wide initiatives spanning multiple product areas, lead cross-cutting experiences no single product team owns, define how brand expresses in product through systematic design at scale, shape platform architecture enabling consistency and velocity, and quantify platform impact.
Design system strategy: Define what belongs in design system vs. product-level code, establish criteria for when components graduate to shared patterns, make strategic decisions about platform direction and technical foundation, and prioritize system work based on impact.
Pattern curation: Connect patterns across product teams to identify strategic opportunities, synthesize common needs into reusable solutions, decide what becomes universal pattern vs. documented local approach, and shape platform capabilities based on actual usage patterns.
Technical leadership: Define component architecture in both Figma and code that scales with product complexity, make decisions about design tokens and technical foundation, establish quality standards for code and documentation, and reduce technical complexity through thoughtful abstraction.
Design craft: Define and uphold the quality bar for how design system components look and feel. Proactively provide and lead feedback that elevates the visual and interaction craft of the team’s shipped work.
Team effectiveness: Optimize how the team operates to maximize responsiveness and quality, remove blockers to team productivity, establish sustainable practices balancing speed with quality, and coach team members on service delivery and systems thinking.
Cross-functional collaboration: Lead platform-wide initiatives requiring collaboration across multiple product teams, build strong relationships with product design and engineering leaders, understand product team needs across organization, and drive adoption by making the system valuable and easy to use.
Service operations: Own service delivery model for design system team, establish processes ensuring consistent responsive support, track and improve responsiveness and resolution effectiveness, and make team effective at unblocking product teams quickly.
Adoption and impact: Drive adoption through enabling service and valuable components. Measure impact through product team velocity improvement, component adoption rate, accessibility compliance of shipped components, and product team satisfaction and communicate ROI to leadership.
Recruiting: Evaluate design portfolios and interview candidates, help identify top design system talent.

Staff Requirements

A Staff Product Designer, Design System is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while driving service excellence and platform effectiveness.

Principal Product Designer, Design System

Principal Job Grade

The Principal Product Designer, Design System is outlined in the Job Levels resource.

Principal Responsibilities

Platform vision and strategy: Define platform strategy for how GitLab looks, feels, and works consistently, lead complex platform-wide initiatives, shape how brand expresses throughout product at strategic level, drive platform innovation through experimentation, influence product architecture decisions to enable consistency, and connect platform work to business outcomes.
Design system strategy: Shape design system strategy at company level, define design system architecture for years ahead, anticipate future needs based on product evolution and industry trends, make strategic investment decisions about platform capabilities, and balance short-term needs with long-term platform health.
Design craft: Define, uphold and constantly elevate the quality bar for how design system components look and feel. Lead and develop feedback processes that elevate the visual and interaction craft of the team’s shipped work and GitLab as a whole.
Service excellence: Evolve service model to meet changing organizational needs, establish design system culture across company, build trust at leadership level through consistent delivery, and represent design system in strategic conversations about product architecture.
Organizational enablement: Build design system capability across design and engineering teams, create frameworks and practices others can adopt, mentor Staff and Senior team members on service delivery and systems thinking, and influence how product teams work to leverage platform capabilities.
Industry leadership: Represent GitLab in the design systems community, share learnings through talks and articles, stay current on industry practices and bring relevant innovations to GitLab, and build GitLab’s reputation for design system excellence.
Cross-organizational influence: Partner with design and engineering leadership on platform strategy, drive alignment across teams on design system adoption, navigate organizational dynamics to enable design system success, translate design system impact to business value for executives and represent design system in strategic conversations about product architecture.
Impact measurement: Quantify design system value through velocity, consistency, and quality metrics, demonstrate ROI to leadership, connect platform work to business outcomes, and continuously improve measurement approach.
Recruiting: Help identify top design system talent, coach others on finding and interviewing candidates, help attract and retain a world-class design system team.

Principal Requirements

A Principal Product Designer, Design System is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while establishing design system excellence and organizational capability.

Distinguished Product Designer, Design System

A Distinguished Product Designer, Design System operates at the highest level of individual contribution, serving as a strategic platform leader who shapes how GitLab expresses itself as a product and represents design system excellence both internally and externally.

Distinguished Job Grade

The Distinguished Product Designer, Design System is outlined in the Job Levels resource.

Distinguished Responsibilities

Company-level platform leadership: Define GitLab’s platform strategy at highest level shaping how entire product expresses consistency, brand, and quality, partner with executives ensuring platform thinking is foundational to company direction, shape how GitLab approaches platform and brand across all product surfaces, lead most complex company-defining platform initiatives, and influence investment priorities through platform perspective.
Design system vision and innovation: Set vision for design systems at GitLab for years ahead, anticipate industry evolution and position GitLab ahead of trends, drive innovation in design systems practice introducing approaches that elevate the entire industry, create compelling platform visions connecting brand and product experience, and balance near-term needs with long-term innovation investments.
Design craft: Define, uphold and constantly elevate the quality bar for how design system components look and feel. Lead and develop feedback processes that elevate the visual and interaction craft of the team’s shipped work and GitLab as a whole.
Brand and experience integration: Define how GitLab’s brand expresses throughout product at strategic level, partner with Brand leadership ensuring brand and product work as one unified experience, establish principles for how brand evolves in product contexts, and set quality bar for how GitLab feels as product across all touchpoints.
Platform architecture and standards: Establish frameworks, principles, and criteria guiding platform decisions company-wide, set and evolve quality bar for consistency and experience excellence, define what constitutes platform-level work vs. product-level work at organizational level, and create platform patterns that become industry benchmarks.
Industry leadership and influence: Represent GitLab as a recognized voice in the design systems community through keynotes and publications, shape industry conversations about design systems and platform thinking, build GitLab’s reputation as a leader in design systems excellence, and contribute to open source and industry standards advancing the field.
Cross-executive collaboration: Build strong partnerships with VPs and C-level executives across Product, Engineering, Brand, and Marketing, navigate complex organizational dynamics to drive alignment on platform-critical initiatives, represent design systems perspective in company-level strategic decisions, and bridge platform strategy with business strategy at highest levels.
Organizational transformation: Transform how GitLab thinks about platform, consistency, and quality across design, engineering, and product, partner with design and engineering leadership on organizational capability development, mentor Principal and Staff designers accelerating their growth, and cultivate platform thinking culture that attracts and retains exceptional talent.
Strategic goal setting: Partner with executives to define platform-level goals that drive company results, ensure platform initiatives are measurable and connected to business outcomes, and quantify design systems impact at highest level.
Recruiting and talent attraction: Partner with leadership on defining what exceptional design system talent looks like, build GitLab’s reputation to attract world-class candidates, mentor Principal and Staff on identifying and developing talent.

Distinguished Requirements

A Distinguished Product Designer, Design System is expected to meet the base requirements and execute their responsibilities while driving platform excellence across the organization and establishing GitLab as an industry leader in design systems.

Performance indicators

Adoption metrics: % of product using Pajamas vs. custom implementations
Service effectiveness: product designer and engineer design system satisfaction scores
Component quality: accessibility compliance, test coverage, documentation completeness
Pajamas operating principles
Pajamas service commitments

Relevant links

Hiring Process

Candidates for this position can expect the hiring process to follow the order below, although it can change depending on calendar availability. Please keep in mind that candidates can be declined from the position at any stage of the process. To learn more about someone who is conducting your interview, you can find their job title on our team page.

Screening Call

Selected candidates will be invited to schedule a 30-minute screening call with a member of our hiring team. In this call, we will discuss your experience, understand what you are looking for in a product design role, talk about your work and approach to product design, discuss your compensation expectations and reasons why you want to join GitLab, and answer any questions you have.

Interview Process

The interviews may vary based on the role level and reporting structure but is most commonly as follows:

Interview with a Design System Product Designer (1 hour): This interview focuses on your design experience, process, and approach. You’ll be asked situational questions about how you’ve handled specific scenarios in your work. You should be prepared to discuss your design and research process, how you collaborate with others, and how you approach your role. You’ll also walk through a case study from your portfolio for approximately 30 minutes. We’ll want to understand your process, the size and structure of your team, the project goals, your low and high-fidelity design work, how you approached and synthesized research, what design standards you worked within, and how you collaborated. Choose a project that demonstrates how you solved a problem, ideally in a Design System context. Be prepared to discuss your project throughout the walkthrough. You’ll have time at the end to ask questions.

Interview with a Design System Engineer (1 hour): This interview focuses on your coding experience, process, and approach. You’ll be asked situational questions about how you’ve handled specific coding scenarios in your work. You should be prepared to discuss your approach to creating reusable components and accessibility.

Interview with the Hiring Product Design Manager (1 hour): This interview contains situational questions and a discussion of your design process, technical skills, collaboration style, and approach to your work. You’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions about the role and team.

Interview with a Director of Product Design or Senior Director of Product Design (50 minutes): This interview assesses your research, strategy, and design skills. The interviewer will want to understand how you’ve incorporated research into your work and your grasp of UX research fundamentals and methodology. Be prepared to discuss the soft skills product designers need and how you apply them in practice.

Offer

Successful candidates will subsequently be made an offer through a video call or phone call.

Preparing for your interviews

Case studies

Here are some helpful tips for when you are sharing a case study:

A formal presentation is not required but it is helpful to bring your materials together. We recommend not sharing entire design files as it can be difficult for an interviewer to follow along.
Clearly outlined user and business problems that you were solving and how you learned about them.
What your role was (for example, who did you work with and what was your responsibility).
The details of the design process (polished visuals are fine but you may want to include the sketches, wireframes, prototypes, or the ideas that didn’t make it).
The result of your work (learnings, successfully achieved goals, impact on key metrics).

Internal candidates

The hiring process for internal candidates may be slightly adjusted from the above, but in general the goal is still to evaluate the best fit for the role. Interview questions may be adapted to gauge interest and skills in specific areas the team would like to grow, or about specific team responsibilities. A case study review is not necessary; instead, consider current or previous work assignments and experience in light of the position.

Additional details about our process can be found on our hiring page.

About GitLab

GitLab is an open core software company that develops the most comprehensive AI-powered DevSecOps Platform, used by more than 100,000 organizations. Our mission is to enable everyone to contribute to and co-create the software that powers our world. When everyone can contribute, consumers become contributors, significantly accelerating the rate of human progress. This mission is integral to our culture, influencing how we hire, build products, and lead our industry. We make this possible at GitLab by running our operations on our product and staying aligned with our values. Learn more about Life at GitLab. Thanks to products like Duo Enterprise, and Duo Workflow, customers get the benefit of AI at every stage of the SDLC. The same principles built into our products are reflected in how our team works: we embrace AI as a core productivity multiplier. All team members are encouraged and expected to incorporate AI into their daily workflows to drive efficiency, innovation, and impact across our global organisation.

See our culture page for more!

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Last modified April 10, 2026: Add Design System role responsibilities (5844760d)

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