About the Role

This is the first role of its kind at DuckDuckGo.
Required to attend meetings on camera via video conferencing.
Expected to travel at least two times a year: once for an all-hands meetup and again for a team retreat (each around 4-5 days).
Flexible work arrangement with no core hours, with an average full-time commitment of 40 hours per week.
A successful candidate must pass a background check as a condition of joining the team.

What You'll Be Doing

Take ownership of the design system at a pivotal moment.
Define both a role and a roadmap from the ground up, helping to build the process rather than just stepping into one.
Audit the existing design system.
Lead projects that move the design system forward across platforms and products like Duck.ai and Search.
Shape how the design system is managed and scaled as the company grows.

What You'll Bring

7+ years of experience in product or design systems roles, including 2+ years in senior-level design positions at significant global consumer brands.

Demonstrable track record of building and scaling complex and established systems.

Ability to lead the future of the design system, from audit, recommending solutions, and planning their rollout via quick wins or large-scale projects.

Ability to communicate recommendations and prioritization with clear documentation, success metrics, resources, and rationale which stakeholders, designers, and engineers can confidently act on.

A knack for balancing structure with scale by creating frameworks (tokens, libraries) that hold up across platforms and teams without sacrificing craft.

Deep knowledge of design tools, such as Figma, that are key to evolving and maintaining the design system.

Experience bridging design and engineering practices, including creating shared nomenclature and workflows that map across tools and platforms.

Accustomed to applying agentic and AI-driven solutions into design system management and maintenance workflows, to both accelerate and elevate how the system scales.

Enjoy pushing creative limits while solving challenging design problems and delivering on delight, craft and exceptional quality.

Ability to communicate visual and interaction recommendations with high-quality mockups, prototypes, and rationale.

Skills to manage ambiguity and wrangle vague problems, propose innovative solutions, and execute them with a focus on metrics.

Ability to take initiative in generating ideas and carrying them forward with urgency and discretion, while working openly and collaboratively.

Compensation & Benefits

$178,500 USD annually and stock options.
Compensation is transparent across the organization; all team members within the same professional level and global region receive the same compensation.
Eligibility for company-sponsored health benefits is limited to team members based in the United States. This program does not extend to team members located in other countries, such as Canada or the UK.
Includes paid parental leave, office setup, and co-working allowances.

Interview Process

The hiring process is a two-way street designed to help you get to know DuckDuckGo, envision your future role, and find out more about how they hire.

About DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is an online protection company and remote-first team of 300+.
Founded in 2008 and profitable since 2014, with annual revenue exceeding $100m USD.
Offers a browser for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, a search engine, and the DuckDuckGo subscription.
Offers private, useful, and optional AI, including Duck.ai, which lets users chat privately with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AIs.
Culture of trust, inclusivity, and empowered project management where each team member takes full ownership of their projects, from scoping and execution to postmortem.