Staff / Principal Product Designer, Design Systems

Rho•New York, NY

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Rho is looking for a Staff or Principal Product Designer to own their design system, which serves as the foundation for all shipped products. This role involves defining the frontend layer of a financial operating system, including its architecture, tokens, primitives, motion language, governance, and contribution model. The designer will partner with frontend guilds, engineers, and the design team to set the craft standard for the entire organization and build a system that facilitates high-quality, consistent product delivery. The ideal candidate will have at least 7 years of product design experience with significant ownership of design systems at scale. They should be comfortable designing in code or eager to learn, possess strong aesthetic taste across branding, typography, motion, and microinteractions, and excel at building systems rather than just screens. The role requires a "ships, then sharpens" mentality, low ego, high standards, and an interest in financial workflows. This is not a role for junior designers, those whose portfolios lack UI craft, or those who view design systems as merely a style guide without governance. The company emphasizes a collaborative, in-person work environment in New York, focusing on meticulous detail and intentional motion to create a calm, reliable, and dynamic user experience for financial operations.

Requirements

At least 7 years of product design experience.
Real design systems ownership at scale (built, governed, and maintained).
Experience designing in code or a strong desire to do so.
Genuine taste and a high standard for branding, typography, motion, and microinteractions.
Ability to point to a visual language and state "I built that."
System-building mindset (primitives, states, edge cases).
Ability to move fast and work out loud, sharing the development process.
Low ego and high standards; ability to defend decisions with reasoning.
Interest in or experience with financial workflows.
Portfolio showcasing actual UI craft at the pixel level.
Experience with a governed design system, not just a style guide.
Understanding of motion and microinteractions as integral parts of craft.
Comfort with ambiguity and a proactive approach to defining vision.
Ability to balance high quality with high pace.
Experience with AI tools in design is a plus.

Nice To Haves

Designs in code.
Has genuine taste and a serious bar for it across branding, typography, motion, microinteractions.
Builds systems, not screens.
Ships, then sharpens mentality.
Gets the financial domain, or is dying to.

Responsibilities

Own the design system as the governed frontend layer of the product.
Define the architecture, tokens, primitives, motion language, governance, and contribution model of the design system.
Partner with frontend guilds, engineers, and the design team as an equal.
Determine component definitions, behavior, motion, and limitations.
Set the craft bar for the entire organization and build the system to support it.
Ensure components are in code, with rules enforced through lint and CI.
Develop documentation that can be queried by an AI agent.
Ship features rapidly while maintaining a high quality bar through the design system.
Collaborate on research, QA, and shipping product features.
Utilize AI tools in the design and development process.