Design system designer

Job description

ABOUT PENNYLANE OUR VISION We aim to become the most beloved financial Operating System of French SMEs and Accounting Firms (and soon, European ones). We help entrepreneurs rid themselves of time-consuming tasks related to accounting and finance while providing them with access to key financial information to assist in making the best decisions for their business. About Us Pennylane is one of the fastest growing Fintechs in France (and soon to be in Europe!) In 6 years of existence, we've managed to: - 💻 Make ourselves known as a groundbreaking accounting and financial software for small businesses and their accountants - 💰 Raise a total of €225 millions, including from Sequoia, the famous fund from the Silicon Valley who invested early in companies like Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe, Paypal and much more... - 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Grow from 7 cofounders to 650+ happy Pennylaners: we're now recognized as one of the greatest places to work in France (and also remotely), with a 4.6/5 rating on Glassdoor. - 🌍 Build an international environment with more than 25 nationalities, with a strong remote-friendly culture, where 30% of the employees are already working from all parts of Europe - 🤝 Earn the trust of thousands of customers and accounting firms and obtain outstanding ratings - 🚀 Already more than 400,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and over 4,500 accounting firms use Pennylane in France! DESIGN AT PENNYLANE Design sits at the centre of this mission and its purpose is to deliver a seamless, accessible and enjoyable experience for our users. Our team of 40+ product designers work across different tracks that are divided into cross-functional squads each consisting of Engineering, Product and Design. Autonomy, trust and transparency are the key values upon which our culture is built, this is directly reflected in how our designers operate on a day-to-day basis. At Pennylane, designers are expected to actively contribute all the way from defining the problem space, to research and testing. We are seeking a Design System Designer to grow and maintain Purse, our design system, alongside our Design System Manager. You will own the craft of the system at the component level: building tokens, components, and patterns that 40+ designers and engineers rely on every day across web, mobile, and tablet, in multiple languages. You'll partner closely with engineering on design–code parity, with product designers as their support for system usage, and with our Design System Manager on the long-term direction of Purse. If you love the craft of system design, defining APIs, modeling tokens, writing documentation that's beautifully clear for both humans and AI, and care about how a great system shapes a great product, you'll thrive at Pennylane. WHAT YOU'LL BRING DESIGN SYSTEM EXPERTISE - Hands-on experience contributing to a design system at scale: designing components, defining variants and APIs, modeling tokens, and maintaining Figma libraries used by 40+ designers - Strong understanding of design token systems, semantic naming, and theming / multi-brand patterns - Skilled at running design system audits, spotting inconsistencies in product surfaces, and bringing them back into the system - Experience writing component documentation that is clear for designers, engineers, and product managers - Expertise in what makes a design system interpretable and usable by AI: structured content, machine-readable patterns, AI-ready documentation conventions, and how an LLM or codegen agent consumes a design system - Solid grounding in accessibility (WCAG) and inclusive design practices MINDSET - You want to push the design system toward an ambitious vision, but you know how to slice the path into small intermediate milestones that deliver value at every step, rather than waiting for the perfect end state - You are pragmatic: you don't overthink, you don't always work by the book, and you know when a "good enough" solution beats a perfect one - You are curious about how design systems are evolving in 2026 (AI, codegen, token automation, MCP) - You enjoy switching between deep craft work and pragmatic system-level decisions TECHNICAL PARTNERSHIP - Strong technical acumen with a clear understanding of how design systems are implemented in code - Comfortable working in a production-first environment where code is the source of truth, and Figma reflects what ships - Experience partnering with engineering teams to ensure design–code parity and smooth implementation of new components ENABLEMENT & COMMUNICATION - Experience supporting product designers through office hours, a support model, or peer review - Demonstrated ability to evangelize a design system, present design rationale, and translate component-level decisions for non-design stakeholders - Ability to handle complex support requests and turn recurring questions into permanent improvements (docs, lint rules, worked examples) NICE TO HAVE - Experience with B2B SaaS products or fintech environments - Familiarity with multi-language / internationalization design challenges - Experience contributing to or maintaining a tokens pipeline (Style Dictionary, Tokens Studio, MCP-based pipelines) - Background in accessibility standards and inclusive design practices - Experience working in fast-growing scale-ups YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Build and maintain components, patterns, and tokens in Purse, partnering closely with engineering to ensure design–code parity across web, mobile, and tablet - Write and maintain component documentation that serves designers, engineers, and AI tools — including usage rules, anatomy, variants, accessibility, and worked examples - Run audits, support product designers, and turn recurring needs into systemic improvements, working alongside the Design System Manager to evolve Purse toward our long-term vision through incremental, high-value milestones Language requirement: You are able to communicate well in both English and French. WHAT DO WE DO TO MAKE YOUR WORK LIFE EASIER - 🏢 You'll be able to work remotely from your country of residence, as long as it is in Europe and within a maximum time difference of two hours from the CET time zone - 🌴 Wherever you are based, you will get 25 vacations days paid by Pennylane - 💵 You'll have a competitive compensation package - 📈 You'll get company shares to enjoy a piece of the success story you're building with us - 🏡 You'll have a budget to turn your home into a more comfortable workspace, as well as a monthly allowance to work from a coworking space whenever you feel like it - ⛹️ Through our partner Gymlib, you'll have access to 8000 fitness spaces in Europe and more than 300 activities related to wellness - 🇬🇧 You'll have access to Busuu to perfect your English or your French - 💻 You'll get the latest Apple equipment - 🎉 We are committed to regularly coming together for company events such as Tech Days (which bring remote Pennylaners together every 3 months) or our annual company seminar, fostering significant moments of cohesion for everyone. - If you are based in France, you will have a French contract following French regulation on top of the additional perks: 6 to 12 RTT, 5 weeks PTOs, lunch credits (Swile), Alan Blue healthcare cover and regular events in cities where Pennylaners are mostly presents (Lyon, Bordeaux, Nantes…) We're working on providing those last advantages to our people based outside of France as well, but it can be quite more complex depending on different countries. WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR? To thrive at Pennylane, you need: - To speak English (level is assessed and appreciated according to the department you're applying to) - To be energized by an ever-shifting work environment - To be highly collaborative (within your team or other stakeholders) - Sufficiently experienced to prioritize business-led actions on your day to day activity We know that some people are less likely to apply than others, if they don't feel like they meet the full list of criteria. If you're hesitating, we encourage you to apply: who knows, it might be the start of a meaningful and long-lasting collaboration. We also want to emphasize that we fully embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and that we're doing our best to create a safe and inclusive environment. We are committed to providing an equal employment opportunity regardless of gender, sexual orientation, origin, disabilities, or any other traits that make you who you are. If anything, diversity makes us a more fun place to work at. 🇫🇷 Données personnelles Pennylane traite vos données pour gérer votre candidature et évaluer votre adéquation au poste. Si votre candidature n’aboutit pas, vos données peuvent être conservées 2 ans à compter de notre dernier échange ou de la clôture du recrutement afin de constituer & gérer un vivier de candidats. Vous pouvez vous opposer à tout moment et demander la suppression de vos données en écrivant à : dpo@pennylane.com. dpo@pennylane.com Notre data policy https://www.pennylane.com/fr/vos-donnees-personnelles-recrutement 🇬🇧 Personal Data Pennylane processes your data to manage your application and assess your suitability for the position. If your application is unsuccessful, your data may be retained for 2 years from our last exchange or the closing of the recruitment process, in order to build and manage a candidate pool. You may object at any time and request the deletion of your data by writing to dpo@pennylane.com. Learn more https://www.pennylane.com/fr/vos-donnees-personnelles-recrutement 🇩🇪 Personenbezogene Daten Pennylane verarbeitet Ihre Daten, um Ihre Bewerbung zu bearbeiten und Ihre Eignung für die Stelle zu beurteilen. Sollte Ihre Bewerbung nicht erfolgreich sein, können Ihre Daten bis zu 2 Jahre ab unserem letzten Austausch oder dem Abschluss des Rekrutierungsverfahrens gespeichert werden, um einen Kandidatenpool aufzubauen und zu verwalten. Sie können jederzeit Widerspruch einlegen und die Löschung Ihrer Daten beantragen, indem Sie an dpo@pennylane.com schreiben. Mehr erfahren https://www.pennylane.com/fr/vos-donnees-personnelles-recrutement 🇪🇸 Datos personales Pennylane trata sus datos para gestionar su candidatura y evaluar su idoneidad para el puesto. En caso de que su candidatura no sea seleccionada, sus datos podrán conservarse hasta 2 años a partir de nuestro último contacto o de la finalización del proceso de selección, con el fin de constituir y gestionar una reserva de candidatos. Puede oponerse en cualquier momento y solicitar la eliminación de sus datos escribiendo a dpo@pennylane.com. Más información https://www.pennylane.com/fr/vos-donnees-personnelles-recrutement