Principal Experience Designer - Visual Design & Design Systems

Workiva Inc.•Remote - NY, NY

4d•$190,000 - $315,000

About The Position

Workiva is seeking a Principal Experience Designer to shape the visual direction of Unify, its enterprise design system. Unify powers components, patterns, templates, accessibility standards, and shared experiences across Workiva’s B2B platform. This dual-focus role devotes approximately 60–70% of the time to leading Unify’s visual design direction and approximately 30–40% to high-visibility visual work for conferences, marketing partnerships, and executive audiences. The position calls for exceptional visual craft, systems thinking, and a practical perspective on how design systems should evolve for AI-assisted design and prototyping. The designer will define Unify’s visual language and token architecture, build reference designs and usage guidance, and work with design, product management, and engineering teams to support consistent implementation. The role also leads visual design for selected high-stakes events and communications, and coaches designers and cross-functional partners through feedback, principles, and visual storytelling.

Requirements

At least 10 years of experience in product design, visual design, UX, or related fields, including significant work on platform or enterprise products.
Bachelor’s degree in Design, HCI, or a related field, or 8 years of experience and a Master’s degree, or a PhD with 6 years of experience.

Nice To Haves

A portfolio demonstrating exceptional visual craft and the ability to translate a visual point of view into scalable product systems.
Hands-on experience with AI-assisted design or prototyping workflows and a clear perspective on their opportunities and limitations.
Experience defining or evolving a design system’s visual language, including tokens, components, patterns, and documentation.
Ability to create compelling product narratives for senior leaders and high-visibility audiences.
Experience partnering closely with engineers and working through tradeoffs between design intent, system health, and implementation.
A track record of influencing and coaching teams without relying on formal authority.
Experience building reference sites, design-system documentation, or machine-readable design guidance.
Experience with semantic or multi-tier token systems, motion design, presentation design, or event experiences.
Background in front-end development, developer tools, cross-platform systems, or highly regulated industries.

Responsibilities

Define and evolve Unify’s visual language across typography, color, spacing, iconography, motion, and brand expression.
Partner with the components sub-team and patterns and templates sub-team to apply visual design consistently across assets.
Partner with product design, product management, and engineering teams so product experience decisions translate faithfully from the design system to production.
Maintain a scalable, semantic token architecture that supports consistent experiences across products and over time.
Create and maintain a library of full-screen reference designs demonstrating how Unify should be applied in real product experiences.
Own visual usage guidance and documentation covering intended use, constraints, and quality standards for designers, engineers, and AI-assisted workflows.
Establish ongoing evaluation of AI-generated designs and prototypes, using findings to improve tokens, examples, and guidance before inconsistencies reach product teams.
Lead visual design for selected high-stakes moments, including major conferences, executive presentations, product vision work, and marketing partnerships.
Coach designers and influence cross-functional partners through high-quality feedback, clear principles, and strong visual storytelling.