Sr. Dir, Design Infrastructure

GitHub, Inc.

7h•Remote

About The Position

GitHub is looking for a Senior Design Director, Design Systems to lead the evolution of our design system into an AI-compatible, agent-ready platform. This leader will be responsible for transforming Primer from a traditional component library into a system that enables both humans and AI agents to generate high-quality, accessible, and cohesive user experiences. You will lead a multidisciplinary team of designers and engineers, with the opportunity to grow the team through open headcount, and drive alignment across design, product, and engineering. This role requires a leader who can operate with clarity, cut through complexity, and deliver systems that scale across one of the most widely used developer platforms in the world.

Requirements

12+ years experience in product, platform, or systems development
OR Bachelor's Degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or related field AND 10+ years experience
OR Master's Degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years experience
OR Doctorate in related field AND 6+ years experience
OR equivalent experience
6+ years experience leading multidisciplinary teams across design and engineering, including managing managers
Proven experience building or leading design-to-code systems or platforms that bridge design and engineering

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated ability to simplify complex systems, reduce surface area, and make systems more opinionated and scalable
Strong track record of driving cross-functional alignment across design, engineering, and product
Experience building systems that support AI-assisted or generative UI workflows
Experience working on developer tools or technical platforms
Experience scaling system adoption across large organizations
Experience driving accessibility and inclusive design at scale

Responsibilities

Defines and leads the evolution of Primer into an agent-native design system. A platform of primitives, patterns, and guardrails that enables both humans and AI agents to generate high-quality, accessible, and cohesive experiences.
Drives efforts to eliminate redundancy and reduce accumulated complexity, developing an opinionated system that is easier to use, generate from, and maintain.
Partners with Engineering to ensure the system integrates into developer workflows and that design intent translates cleanly into code.
Advances the quality bar across GitHub experiences by building systems and guardrails in partnership with Design, Engineering, Product, and Marketing
Establishes and enforces standards for consistency, accessibility, and usability across both human- and AI-generated interfaces.
Drives alignment and delivery across Design, Engineering, and Product to ensure the system meets real product needs and accelerates development.
Defines and tracks success through adoption, efficiency, and quality metrics, ensuring measurable business impact.
Leads and scales a multidisciplinary team of designers, accessibility experts and engineers, leveraging open headcount to build a high-performing organization.
Develops leaders and fosters a culture of craft, clarity, and execution.
Proven ability to manage managers and build a strong leadership layer that drives team performance, growth, and accountability