Are you passionate about building scalable design foundations that empower teams to create consistent, high-quality digital experiences? Do you enjoy solving complex challenges through systems thinking and leading cross-functional collaboration to drive impactful results? Excellent.

We are now looking for a skilled and experienced Design System Lead to take ownership of the design of the Elisa Design System.

About the job

In this role, you'll be responsible for the strategic development and daily evolution of the design of the system, ensuring it meets the needs of designers, developers, and product teams across Elisa. You’ll work closely with design, engineering, and business stakeholders to define priorities, drive development, and ensure adoption—acting as the system’s design authority. This role combines deep design expertise with strong stakeholder management skills to move the design system forward across the organization.

You’ll be joining a professional, enthusiastic, and collaborative design community of around 40 designers, working on a wide range of digital services used by Elisa’s millions of customers. 

The position is located in our head office in Pasila, Helsinki and we have a hybrid work model in place, where the expectation is that Elisians will work on average three days a week at the office. 

Main responsibilities

• Own the design of the Elisa Design System
• Define the long-term vision and roadmap, and manage backlog, updates and improvements of the design work related to the Elisa Design System
• Ensure the system meets practical needs of different stakeholders across Elisa
• Collect feedback, identify gaps, and evolve the system
• Work hands-on in Figma to design, build, and refine components, patterns, and libraries
• Make decisions on visual and interaction standards to maintain consistency and quality across teams
• Act as a design expert, balancing craft with strong stakeholder management

Who are we looking for? 

As Design System Lead you will bring deep understanding of design systems and their role in scaling design across an organization as well as strong visual and interaction design skills. You bring ability to balance consistency and flexibility across diverse product teams and are able to advocate for design system best practices and build consensus. You also have a user-centric mindset and curiosity about how systems shape user experience—and how to anticipate evolving team needs. 

You have    

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in digital product design, with a focus on design systems and component libraries
• Experience leading system initiatives or design system teams
• A systems-thinking mindset and a proven ability to translate design principles into practical, reusable solutions
• Hands-on expertise with Figma (components, variables, tokens, libraries, etc.)
• Familiarity with versioning and documentation tools
• Experience working with engineering teams and an understanding of how design translates into front-end code 
• Strong stakeholder and program management skills—you know how to align teams, set priorities, and keep work moving forward
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) 
• An eye for detail and consistency, and the ability to balance visual quality with real-world constraints
• Excellent communication skills in English, both written and verbal

What do we offer?

You have an opportunity to be part of building Elisa's top-class digital services that millions of our customers use! We at Elisa highly appreciate our flexible working conditions, the endless learning opportunities and the friendly and laid-back culture, among other awesome things.  We are proven to be one of the best and most equal workplaces in Europe.

Here are some compelling reasons to join Elisa as a Design System Lead:

• Opportunity to develop your skills 
• Friendly, humble, and experienced colleagues
• Leaders who support your growth and development
• Flexible work atmosphere that promotes work-life balance
• Join our culture of fostering continuous learning and innovation 
• Impactful work - contribute to digital services used by millions of customers

Elisa employs over 6,000 professionals in 20 countries in a variety of positions, such as application developers, salespersons, designers, analysts, network infrastructure designers and builders, as well as business and customer service experts. Learn more about Elisa as an employer from our career pages!

Sounds interesting?   

Send us an application with a link to a portfolio as soon as possible. We’ll fill the position as soon as we find the right candidate. For more information about the role, please don't hesitate to contact the Head of Design, Jussi Mantere, at jussi.mantere [at] elisa.fi. We can't wait to hear from you!

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