What a design systems job actually asks of you — what you would be doing, and what you need to know before applying — read out of the postings themselves and sliced by discipline, role, workplace and seniority. Counted fresh every time you load the page.
Counted from 138 open jobs, of which 127 carry a description. 62 of those say what you would be doing and 70 say what you need to know, under headings of their own choosing. Every figure is counted against the postings that have the section, never against the whole board; a group of fewer than 8 says so rather than implying a trend; and a term a posting names is a term it names, which is not the same as one it needs.
How the board divides up
Plain counts, needing no reading of anybody's prose: every job carries these. A field is counted only where a posting states it, so each list says its own total.
Discipline
Design outnumbers engineering nearly three to one, so most of these systems are being staffed from the design side first.
- Design
- 71% , 93 of 131 jobs that state it
- Engineering
- 25% , 33 of 131 jobs that state it
- Product
- 4% , 5 of 131 jobs that state it
Of 131 jobs that state it.
Role
Product Designer covers 65 of the 153 postings; design systems work is largely being bought under a generalist title.
- Product Designer
-
44% - Design Systems Manager
-
17% - Design Engineer
-
10% - Frontend Engineer
-
7% - Software Engineer
-
7% - UX Designer
-
5% - Product Manager
-
4% - UI Designer
-
2% - Visual Designer
-
2% - Mobile Engineer
-
2%
Of 131 jobs that state it.
1 more with fewer jobs each, not shown.
Workplace
Hybrid takes more of the board than fully remote and fully onsite combined. Applying from anywhere is the minority case.
- Hybrid
- 49% , 54 of 111 jobs that state it
- Remote
- 31% , 34 of 111 jobs that state it
- Onsite
- 21% , 23 of 111 jobs that state it
Of 111 jobs that state it.
Seniority
The ladder starts at senior. Junior and mid together account for three postings, so there is no entry rung here.
- Senior
-
37% - Staff
-
19% - Manager
-
15% - Lead
-
15% - Principal
-
9% - Head/Director
-
3% - Mid
-
1%
Of 99 jobs that state it.
Type
Contract, part-time, internship and freelance together make ten postings. This is not freelance work.
- Full time
- 94% , 130 of 138 jobs that state it
- Contract
- 4% , 5 of 138 jobs that state it
- Freelance
- 1% , 2 of 138 jobs that state it
- Part-time
- 1% , 1 of 138 jobs that state it
Of 138 jobs that state it.
Country
Nearly half the board is American, and the remainder spreads across 31 other countries, mostly a posting or two each.
A job posted in three countries counts in all three, so these add up to more than the board.
- United States
-
48% - France
-
8% - United Kingdom
-
7% - Spain
-
6% - Sweden
-
4% - Germany
-
4% - India
-
4% - Canada
-
3% - Australia
-
2% - Denmark
-
1%
Of 135 jobs that state it.
22 more with fewer jobs each, not shown.
Postings a month
By the date each board gave its posting, which is when it was published rather than when this site first saw it. The bar compares each month against the busiest.
- June 2024
-
1 - July 2024
-
2 - September 2024
-
1 - October 2024
-
1 - December 2024
-
1 - May 2025
-
1 - June 2025
-
1 - November 2025
-
2 - December 2025
-
1 - January 2026
-
5 - February 2026
-
6 - March 2026
-
2 - April 2026
-
5 - May 2026
-
5 - June 2026
-
10 - July 2026
-
41 - August 2026
-
52 - September 2026
-
1
What the postings ask of you
What you would be doing
Documentation, tokens and accessibility are the job. Figma and component libraries are the smaller part of it.
- Documentation
-
79% - Design tokens
-
63% - Accessibility
-
61% - Adoption
-
52% - Governance
-
47% - Roadmap and strategy
-
45% - Figma
-
42% - Mentoring
-
32%
Of 62 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Figma tops the asks, but React, HTML and CSS, and JavaScript all appear often enough that pure design tooling is not sufficient.
- Figma
-
63% - Accessibility
-
60% - Design tokens
-
53% - Documentation
-
40% - Component libraries
-
31% - HTML and CSS
-
30% - React
-
29% - Roadmap and strategy
-
26%
Of 70 postings that say what you need.
By discipline
Design
85 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Designers spend more time writing documentation than working in Figma. The tool is the smaller half of the job.
- Documentation
-
93% - Design tokens
-
70% - Governance
-
55% - Roadmap and strategy
-
55% - Accessibility
-
53% - Adoption
-
53%
Of 40 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Figma gets you read, but tokens and accessibility are asked for by more than half — and a third want HTML and CSS.
- Figma
-
73% - Design tokens
-
60% - Accessibility
-
56% - Documentation
-
44% - Roadmap and strategy
-
31% - HTML and CSS
-
31%
Of 48 postings that say what you need.
Engineering
31 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Accessibility is the engineering job here, ahead of tokens and components both.
- Accessibility
-
83% - Documentation
-
56% - Design tokens
-
50% - Component libraries
-
44% - Adoption
-
44% - Mentoring
-
44%
Of 18 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Accessibility is asked for more often than React or JavaScript. It is the entry requirement, not the specialism.
- Accessibility
-
81% - JavaScript
-
75% - Component libraries
-
69% - React
-
63% - Figma
-
50% - Design tokens
-
44%
Of 16 postings that say what you need.
Not shown, for want of enough postings to read anything into: Product.
By role
Product Designer
55 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Documentation shows up in all but one posting, and twice as often as Figma. The title says designer; the work is writing and adoption.
- Documentation
-
97% - Design tokens
-
72% - Adoption
-
62% - Accessibility
-
52% - Governance
-
52% - Roadmap and strategy
-
52%
Of 29 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Figma opens the door, but half these postings also want accessibility, and a fifth want HTML and CSS.
- Figma
-
71% - Design tokens
-
58% - Accessibility
-
52% - Documentation
-
45% - Adoption
-
29% - Roadmap and strategy
-
29%
Of 31 postings that say what you need.
Design Systems Manager
19 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Only 4 postings answer this — too few to read.
- Accessibility
-
100% - Roadmap and strategy
-
100% - Design tokens
-
75% - Documentation
-
75% - Governance
-
75% - Adoption
-
50%
Of 4 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Managers still need hands: HTML and CSS is asked as often as roadmap and strategy.
- Figma
-
88% - Accessibility
-
75% - Roadmap and strategy
-
63% - HTML and CSS
-
63% - Design tokens
-
50% - Documentation
-
38%
Of 8 postings that say what you need.
Not shown, for want of enough postings to read anything into: Design Engineer, Frontend Engineer, Software Engineer, UX Designer, Product Manager, Visual Designer, UI Designer, Mobile Engineer, Brand Designer.
By seniority
Senior
37 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Documentation and tokens dominate senior work, with mentoring in under a third — the people part comes later.
- Documentation
-
81% - Design tokens
-
62% - Accessibility
-
62% - Governance
-
48% - Figma
-
48% - Adoption
-
43%
Of 21 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Accessibility beats Figma at senior level, and a third want React. The hybrid ask starts here.
- Accessibility
-
77% - Figma
-
68% - Design tokens
-
50% - Component libraries
-
41% - React
-
36% - Documentation
-
32%
Of 22 postings that say what you need.
Staff
19 live jobs with a description.
What you would be doing
Mentoring jumps to match tokens at staff level, alongside the same documentation load.
- Documentation
-
86% - Design tokens
-
64% - Mentoring
-
64% - Accessibility
-
57% - Adoption
-
57% - Figma
-
50%
Of 14 postings that say what you would do.
What you need to know
Mentoring is now a stated requirement rather than a duty, and React sits level with Figma.
- Design tokens
-
60% - Accessibility
-
50% - Mentoring
-
50% - Figma
-
50% - React
-
50% - Documentation
-
40%
Of 10 postings that say what you need.
Not shown, for want of enough postings to read anything into: Lead, Manager, Principal, Head/Director, Mid.
Pay
50 of 138 jobs state a range, and 34 of those are in $. Only those are counted below: converting would invent a number and mixing would average dollars with euros. Across all of them the median range runs $170,000 to $220,000, which is the least useful number on this page — the question is what a level or a discipline earns, so that is what follows.
By seniority
The staff floor sits above the senior ceiling: getting to staff pays more than topping out as a senior. Only five staff ranges though, so treat the width with care.
- Principal
-
$220,000–$292,000 - Staff
-
$205,760–$285,900 - Senior
-
$165,000–$185,000
Each bar is the top of that range, against the highest here.
Fewer than 5 stated ranges, so no median: Manager (4), Lead (3), Head/Director (1).
By discipline
Engineering pays a little more at both ends, but the gap is smaller than the difference between senior and staff.
- Engineering
-
$180,000–$245,000 - Design
-
$174,000–$230,000
Each bar is the top of that range, against the highest here.
Fewer than 5 stated ranges, so no median: Product (2).
By country
This one the board cannot answer. Almost every posting that states pay is American — 31 of 34 — so there is nothing to compare a country against. Where pay is published is a fact about disclosure law, not about what the work is worth.