Staff Design Systems Designer

Patreon is a media and community platform where creators give their biggest fans access to exclusive work and experiences. Over 300k creators are cultivating fandoms and building their businesses each month. Creators can offer free memberships to fans looking to explore more of their work, paid memberships to give access to exclusive media and community, or sell directly to fans with Shops.

Ultimately our goal is simple: fund the creative class. And we're leaders in that space, with:

• 8B+ earned since Patreon's inception

• 30M free new memberships in the first year of launching that option, and

• 10M fans paying each month for exclusive access to creators' work and community.

We're continuing to invest heavily in building the best creator products with the best team in the creator economy and are looking for a Staff Design Systems Designer to support our mission.

This role is based in New York or San Francisco and open to those who are able to be in-office 2 days per week on a hybrid work model.

About the Role

Patreon is seeking a Staff Design Systems Designer to lead the evolution of our design system, shaping how our product brings our brand to life while enabling scalable, consistent, and accessible design solutions. You will own and expand our design library, champion accessibility, and set the craft bar for visual design for our platform.

This role is highly collaborative and hands-on. You’ll partner with product designers, engineers, and branding teams to create a design system that empowers the organization to deliver modern, functional, and cohesive experiences. We’re looking for someone who has built or significantly evolved design systems in medium-sized organizations, operationalizing them for broader teams.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the development, maintenance, and documentation of Patreon’s design system, including Figma libraries, tokens, components, patterns, and motion guidelines.

• Establish scalable, reusable frameworks and patterns that support diverse use cases across web and mobile platforms.

• Push the craft of visual/UI design, setting a high standard for aesthetics, usability, and consistency. Work with the brand design team to bring the Patreon brand to life through the product.

• Partner with and guide designers to create functional, repeatable components that enhance efficiency and create consistency.

• Work closely with engineers to build and maintain a scalable, accessible library of components and patterns.

• Establish best practices for how the system is implemented and maintained across teams.

• Build for inclusivity and accessibility, advocating for accessible design in collaboration with cross-functional teams.

• Own and continually improve documentation to guide the use and extension of the design system.

• Communicate updates and rationale for design system changes to stakeholders across the company.

• Partner with product, brand, and engineering teams to align design system efforts with company goals.

• Mentor designers and engineers to foster system adoption and elevate the overall quality of the product.

What We’re Looking For

• 7+ years of experience in product design, with at least 4 years specializing in design systems at a consumer-centric company.

• A proven track record of building or evolving design systems in medium-sized organizations.

• Exceptional Figma skills, including mastery of libraries and tokens.

• Strong systems thinking and an ability to create frameworks that scale across diverse use cases.

• Deep understanding of modern UI design principles, motion/animation, and accessibility.

• Strong communication skills to articulate decisions, guide stakeholders, and advocate for design systems.

• Experience working closely with engineers to ensure seamless implementation and consistency.

• Ability to mentor and elevate the skills of designers, helping them create system-compliant designs.

• A desire to build, evolve, and own a design system that serves as the backbone for all product experiences.

• Passion for modernizing design and bringing brand and product together in innovative ways.

About Patreon

Patreon powers creators to do what they love and get paid by the people who love what they do. Our team is passionate about making this mission and our core values come to life every day in our work. Through this work, our Patronauts:

• Put Creators First | They’re the reason we’re here. When creators win, we win. 

• Build with Craft | We sign our name to every deliverable, just like the creators we serve.

• Make it Happen | We don’t quit. We learn and deliver. 

• Win Together | We grow as individuals. We win as a team.

We hire talented and passionate people from different backgrounds across the organization. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience doesn’t match with every bullet point outlined above, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway. If you’re a creator at heart, are energized by our mission, and share our company values, we’d love to hear from you.

Patreon is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected class.

Patreon offers a competitive benefits package including and not limited to salary, equity plans, healthcare, unlimited paid time off, company holidays and recharge days, commuter benefits, lifestyle stipends, learning and development stipends, patronage, parental leave, and 401k plan with matching.

Compensation Range: $204K - $276K