Senior Product Designer, Design Systems

Description

Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.

The Design Systems team is a cross-functional team that ensures design quality across all facets of UI, content, and graphics. Mana, our design system, is well loved and widely used by the product designers, engineers, and creatives who design and build Discord every day. This role is about stewardship: keeping Mana healthy, accurate, and useful as the product grows. You'll own the day-to-day work of fixing bugs, shipping updates, and evolving existing components, and you'll help decide what the system needs next.

You're a pattern and tooling expert who lives and breathes component building. Figma component building is second nature to you, you understand code well enough to design components that match how they're built, and you've used AI in a systems context, so you have a clear view of how skills and agents will shape the future of design systems. You're a diplomatic, empathetic partner to product teams. You root every decision in reasoning and can tell the difference between feedback on the system and feedback on personal taste. Mana is co-owned by design and engineering, ownership is fluid, and the lines between roles are intentionally blurry, so you bring zero ego and enjoy working that way.

This person will report to the Director of Product Design, Design Foundations.

What You'll Be Doing

Maintaining and evolving Mana's foundational tokens, components, and patterns: triaging and fixing bugs, shipping updates, keeping Figma and code in sync, and migrating and deprecating legacy elements

Building and refining components in Figma with deep care for structure, variants, properties, and variables, designed to match how they're implemented in code

Owning the prioritization of Mana's maintenance and evolution work, and helping shape how contributions and governance work as the product grows

Exploring how AI, including skills and agents, can make Mana easier to use, maintain, and scale

Supporting product teams with empathy and clear reasoning: providing excellent support in help channels, working closely with product designers on contributions, and clearly explaining the difference between what goes against the system and personal preference

Extending Mana's visual language to new components and surfaces, bringing fresh ideas that evolve the system thoughtfully, in close collaboration with engineering in a co-owned system where ownership shifts based on what the work needs

Educating and evangelizing the system through simple-to-grasp documentation and tutorials, high-quality mocks and interactive prototypes, and design rationale presented cross-functionally and informed by user research and data

What you should have

5+ years of experience in UX or product design, including 2+ years working on design systems (maintenance, documentation, and support)

Mastery of Figma component building, including variants, component properties, auto layout, variables, and library management

Working knowledge of front-end code and how components are built in code, plus experience with GitHub and Markdown

Hands-on experience using AI in a design systems context, such as building or using skills, agents, or AI-assisted workflows

Strong visual judgment and craft within an established style, including motion, across multiple platforms (Web, Desktop, iOS, Android)

Experience with inclusive design and accessibility standards (WCAG)

Diplomatic, empathetic, low-ego communication: you ground feedback in reasoning rather than taste, write clear technical documentation, and thrive on a cross-functional team where ownership is shared and roles overlap

Bonus Points

Experience planning and leading migrations or deprecations of legacy components across a large product

Experience working in a design system that's co-owned by design and engineering

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $188,000 to $211,500 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.

Why Discord?

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away!

Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know.