Most Wanted Skills in Design Systems
What you need to learn this year
👋 Get weekly insights, tools, and templates to help you build and scale design systems. More: The Design System Guide / Podcast / My Linkedin
Hello
🔥🔥🔥 I’m launching a Design tokens course soon! 🔥🔥🔥
Expect practical, bite-sized lessons to guide you from creating a design token structure to building a multi-brand design system. We’ll use Tokens Studio, Figma (and Figma Variables), GitHub, Gitlab, Airtable, Coda. Learn more on my website →
Design System Skills
There is a growing need for people in design systems, and that’s why I analyzed what skills companies search for. Showing the results below.
⭐️ Common Patterns:
87% explicitly mention design tokens
Most require 5+ years of experience
Frontend development knowledge is increasingly required
Growing emphasis on accessibility and inclusive design
Accessibility is a key requirement in 75%
✅ Mentioned skills
UI Design, UX Design, Systems Thinking (dddoooh 😅)
Design Tokens – Keep tokens organized and scalable across platforms.
Pattern Recognition – Spot common elements, cut redundancy, and align everything smoothly.
Scalability – Build stuff that works across different use cases without breaking.
Front-End Code Fluency – Know enough HTML, CSS, and React to work well with devs.
Visual Design – Get typography, color, layout, and hierarchy right. Make it look great.
Problem Solving – Prioritize fast. Fix things smart. Work alone or with a team.
Flexibility – Handle (remote) teams, different cultures, and shifting priorities.
Communication – Explain design decisions clearly to anyone.
Accessibility – Make sure everyone can use your designs regardless of ability.
Documentation – Write clear, valuable guides so others can follow along.
Collaboration – Work with product, engineering, and stakeholders like a pro.
Leadership – Guide teams, mentor people and drive the vision.
Strategic Thinking – Align design system goals with business goals.
Research – Use data and research to improve designs.
Figma Expertise – Master components, libraries, and efficient workflows.
Growth Mindset – Keep learning. Stay sharp. Adapt.
💰 Compensation ranges
$80K-$294K base salary with additional equity/benefits (varies by location and level)
💎 Experience
Senior/Staff roles: 5-8+ years product design experience
Lead/Principal roles: 8-12+ years with proven design systems experience
Management roles: Additional people leadership experience
⚙️ Most mentioned tools
Development: Git, Lit, GitHub, React/TypeScript, Angular
Design: Figma
Collaboration Tools: Jira, Confluence, Miro
Documentation: Storybook, Supernova, zeroheight
The design systems field continues to mature and grow. These roles blend creative and technical skills with strategic thinking to deliver cohesive user experiences at scale.
What other skills or trends have you noticed in design systems jobs? Share your thoughts below! 👇
Until next week, enjoy. 🥳
💎 Community Gems
Design Systems for Complex Products: Lessons Learned
By focusing on these lessons, you can create a design system that simplifies even the most complex products while enhancing collaboration and scalability.
🔗 Link
Design Systems resources on fountn
by Ozan Oztaskiran
🔗 Link
Supa 4.0 (Figma plugin)
New: Build a complete Tailwind-based color system in seconds!
💡 Instantly generate 22 palettes with 242 color variables and integrate them seamlessly into your Figma project.
🔗 Link
❤️ People to follow
This week, I would like to introduce you to Taylor Cashdan. Taylor is a North Carolina-based multidisciplinary creative and community builder that’s passionate about people, design, and all the intersections in between. He has a burning desire to collaborate with others to create exceptional work for people who give a shit.
We recorded a podcast together (dropping next week), and let me tell you—he's a powerhouse of insights per minute. You're going to want to tune in for this one! He is currently leading design systems at Mayo Clinic.
You can enjoy some his talks:
🔗 Establishing early evangelists: from sentiment gathering to strategic roadmapping - Taylor Cashdan
🔗 Portfolio: https://taylorcashdan.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylorcashdan/