Staff Design Program Manager, Design Systems
Apply on EtsyEtsy is hiring a Staff Design Program Manager to run the operations behind its UX Foundations team, combining hands-on program and project management with strategic operational work so the team can plan, build, review and drive adoption of the design system and content strategy across product teams. The role mainly supports the Design Systems and Content Design teams, with room for org-wide initiatives, and reports to the Director of Design Program Management. Candidates must be based in the United States; those within commutable distance of the Brooklyn office hub may be considered first and are expected in office once or twice a week.
What you'll do
- Design and maintain the operational infrastructure that lets the UX Foundations team work with deep focus, streamlining intake and keeping the roadmap realistic and protected
- Drive the end-to-end lifecycle of the Design System and Content Design backlogs, keeping work granular, actionable and aligned with quarterly goals
- Establish and socialize clear principles for prioritization, balancing urgent bug fixes against long-term foundational builds
- Create low-friction team cadences (standups, retros, crits) that improve flow, decision quality and craft standards
- Facilitate how product teams interact with UX Foundations, balancing core standards against local team needs so designers stay consistent without bottlenecks
- Act as the primary link to the broader Product Design organization and keep system updates synchronized with product release cycles
- Build audience-appropriate reporting (dashboards, newsletters, executive summaries) that makes the team's impact observable to collaborators and leadership
- Build the operational framework for Content Design and partner with Engineering Ops and Brand Design on technical viability, brand alignment and the design-to-code pipeline
What they're looking for
- 8+ years in program management, project management or design operations within product development
- Direct experience with design systems and component libraries
- Experience working with content designers
- Ability to context switch between tactical execution and strategic planning, delivering at a high bar on both
- Clear, succinct communication that adapts depth and detail to the audience
- Focus on improving team flow, decision quality and craft standards, not just velocity
- Strength in planning and negotiation with leaders, plus trust built through ownership and follow-through with ICs
- Familiarity with Jira, Figma, Notion and Google
Learn the skills this role asks for
Into Design Systems is the conference on Claude Code and Figma MCP and design system automation, taught by the teams who run them in production.
Am I a fit for this role?
Let your own agent answer that. Connect this board once with the command below and the agent reads this posting in full instead of guessing from the title.
claude mcp add --transport http ids-jobs https://jobs.intodesignsystems.com/mcpThen paste this and add your background
Use the ids-jobs MCP server and read the job "etsy-staff-design-program-manager-design-systems-zc712o". Tell me which requirements I already meet and which ones I am missing. My background: Summary written by Into Design Systems from the public job posting, without guarantee of accuracy or completeness. Always verify the details and apply on the company's official page.
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