Senior UX Designer, Design System Accessibility

SAS•Cary, NC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Digital Experience organization in R&D is looking for a Senior UX Designer to lead accessibility excellence for designers across SAS's design system, Filament. You'll apply your deep accessibility and design systems expertise to establish designer-focused standards, create accessible design patterns, and empower the design community with the guidance and resources they need to create inclusive experiences. You'll partner with the SAS Accessibility team, Product, and Design leadership to translate technical accessibility requirements into actionable design guidance for the foundational component libraries that power all SAS digital experiences. You'll have the opportunity to make a significant impact by mentoring designers and championing accessible design as an integrated part of every designer's workflow at global scale. As a Senior UX Designer, you will: Establish designer-focused accessibility standards and best practices for Filament, translating WCAG requirements into clear design principles, patterns, and decision-making frameworks. Design reusable accessibility patterns, annotated component specifications, and guidelines for the Filament component offerings and UI patterns. Develop, contribute to, and maintain Figma libraries, plugins, templates, and design resources that make it easy for designers to create accessible experiences by default. Create documentation, design guidelines, and training materials specifically for designers. Conduct workshops, design critiques, and office hours to build accessibility expertise and provide coaching across the organization. Define and implement accessibility checkpoints in the design process, create review checklists, and provide designers with self-service evaluation tools. Partner with the SAS Accessibility team to translate technical accessibility requirements into practical design guidance, bridging the gap between compliance and design execution. Advocate for inclusive design thinking across the organization, helping designers understand diverse user needs and consider accessibility from the earliest stages. Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.

Requirements

8 years of user experience design and analysis or related experience required.
Bachelor’s degree in UX, Interactive Media/Design, Information Architecture, Human Computer Interaction, or in a related design field such as Computer Science, Visual Communications, or related field
Deep expertise in WCAG accessibility standards with a proven ability to translate compliance requirements into practical, designer-friendly guidance and scalable design systems
Expert knowledge of designing for assistive technologies with a strong understanding of how design decisions impact accessibility
Demonstrated experience building accessibility into design systems, including pattern libraries, component specifications, and designer-focused documentation that scales across large organizations
Mastery of Figma with experience creating accessible component libraries, annotation systems, and design resources that embed accessibility into designer workflows
Excellent communication, teaching, and mentorship skills with a proven track record of educating and empowering design teams to build accessibility expertise and confidence
Available online portfolio demonstrating accessibility-focused design systems work, designer-facing resources, and measurable impact on organizational design practice
Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.

Nice To Haves

Decision Making - Identifying and understanding problems and opportunities by gathering, analyzing, and interpreting quantitative and qualitative information; choosing the best course of action by establishing clear decision criteria, generating and evaluating alternatives, and making timely decisions; taking action that is consistent with available facts and constraints and optimizes probable consequences.
Quality Orientation - Accomplishing tasks by considering all areas involved, no matter how detailed; showing concern for all aspects of the job; accurately checking processes and tasks; being watchful over a period of time.
Innovation - Creating novel solutions with measurable value for existing and potential customers (internal or external); experimenting with new ways to solve work problems and seize opportunities that result in unique and differentiated solutions.
Experience facilitating design workshops, training sessions, design critiques with an accessibility focus, accessibility auditing and gap analysis for existing design systems
Understanding of inclusive design research methods and designing with (not just for) disabled users
Understanding of front-end technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and familiarity with modern frameworks (React, Angular, Vue, etc.) and Web Components to effectively collaborate with developers
An understanding of the current AI landscape and a familiarity with AI-assisted design tools

Responsibilities

Establish designer-focused accessibility standards and best practices for Filament, translating WCAG requirements into clear design principles, patterns, and decision-making frameworks.
Design reusable accessibility patterns, annotated component specifications, and guidelines for the Filament component offerings and UI patterns.
Develop, contribute to, and maintain Figma libraries, plugins, templates, and design resources that make it easy for designers to create accessible experiences by default.
Create documentation, design guidelines, and training materials specifically for designers. Conduct workshops, design critiques, and office hours to build accessibility expertise and provide coaching across the organization.
Define and implement accessibility checkpoints in the design process, create review checklists, and provide designers with self-service evaluation tools.
Partner with the SAS Accessibility team to translate technical accessibility requirements into practical design guidance, bridging the gap between compliance and design execution.
Advocate for inclusive design thinking across the organization, helping designers understand diverse user needs and consider accessibility from the earliest stages.

Benefits

Comprehensive medical, prescription, dental and vision plans.
Medical plan options include:
PPO with low annual deductible and copays.
HDHP combined with a health savings account with a contribution from SAS (no access to on-site health care center).
Onsite Health Care Center (HQ) that’s free to employees and family members enrolled in the PPO plan. There's a pharmacy too! Not local to HQ? The pharmacy will ship prescriptions for no additional charge!
An industry-leading 401k plan.
Tuition Assistance Program and programs and resources to support your development
Generous time away including vacation time, a variety of paid holidays, and our much-loved U.S. Winter Wellness Break between December 25 and January 1.
Volunteer Time Off, parental leave and unlimited paid sick days.
Generous childcare benefits for all full-time employees.