Staff Designer, Design Systems Lead

About Faire

Faire is an online wholesale marketplace built on the belief that the future is local — independent retailers around the globe are doing more revenue than Walmart and Amazon combined, but individually, they are small compared to these massive entities. At Faire, we're using the power of tech, data, and machine learning to connect this thriving community of entrepreneurs across the globe. Picture your favorite boutique in town — we help them discover the best products from around the world to sell in their stores. With the right tools and insights, we believe that we can level the playing field so that small businesses everywhere can compete with these big box and e-commerce giants.

By supporting the growth of independent businesses, Faire is driving positive economic impact in local communities, globally. We’re looking for smart, resourceful and passionate people to join us as we power the shop local movement. If you believe in community, come join ours.

About this role

Faire is seeking a Staff Designer (Design Systems Lead) to drive the evolution of Slate, our design system, at a pivotal moment in its growth. Reporting to the Head of Product Design, you’ll define the vision for Slate, align stakeholders across design and engineering, and ensure its adoption as a core enabler of product development. This role blends strategic leadership with hands-on execution—you’ll craft components, patterns, and tools that empower our designers and engineers to build cohesive, high-quality experiences efficiently. You’ll be part of a small, dedicated team of designers and engineers, working collaboratively to make Slate an indispensable asset for Faire’s product development. With strong leadership support and a renewed investment in our system, this is a rare opportunity to shape a system that directly impacts the speed, consistency, and quality of Faire’s marketplace. If you thrive at the intersection of design, systems thinking, and cross-functional collaboration, we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll do 

• Define a clear and inspiring vision for Slate (Faire’s Design System) that aligns with Faire’s product development goals and sets the foundation for long-term success.
• Establish and lead the team’s rituals and practices, creating an effective team operating system in collaboration with current members.
• Refine and execute a prioritized roadmap, focusing on high-impact updates to components, patterns, and tooling that meet immediate designer and developer needs.
• Drive adoption of and contributions to Slate across product design and engineering teams to ensure widespread usage and engagement.
• Build cross-functional alignment, partnering with engineering, design, and leadership to ensure Slate supports Faire’s business goals and provides visibility into its plans.
• Increase product development velocity by streamlining workflows through Slate, delivering measurable improvements in speed and experience consistency.
• Deliver hands-on contributions to Slate, executing high-priority objectives
• Measure and improve user satisfaction with Slate, achieving a significant increase in satisfaction scores among designers and developers within the first year.

Qualifications

• Proven expertise in design systems leadership: Demonstrated experience leading the definition, execution, and adoption of design systems at scale, including executing strategy and implementation of high-quality solutions tailored to business needs.
• Hands-on execution and craft excellence: Demonstrates exceptional ability to directly contribute to the design system by refining components, patterns, and tooling with meticulous attention to detail, usability, and accessibility. Brings deep expertise in Figma, leveraging it as a core tool for building and maintaining robust, scalable design libraries.
• Strategic thinker with a product mindset: Approaches the design system as a product, balancing user needs, business goals, and technical constraints to deliver practical, high-impact, and ever improving solutions.
• Seamless integration into product design and development workflows: Extensive experience partnering with designers and developers to understand their needs, integrate the design system seamlessly into their workflows, and empower them to deliver at high velocity and consistency.
• Data-driven decision-making: Skilled at using metrics, user feedback, and other data to guide priorities, measure Slate’s value, and make compelling cases to stakeholders for inves