Senior Design Operations Manager

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Arab Emirates (UAE).

📋 Description

• Evaluate and improve enterprise design systems by identifying gaps, potential enhancements, and opportunities for consolidation.

• Take ownership of the design-system roadmap, including versioning, contribution processes, and managed adoption.

• Oversee design tokens, libraries, components, and their interaction with digital banking platforms such as Backbase.

• Maintain registers for custom components and associated governance documentation.

• Establish and govern WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards along with acceptance criteria.

• Perform accessibility reviews and monitor findings until resolution.

• Set documentation standards for user journeys, components, design decisions, and developer handovers.

• Own standards for design handovers that encompass responsive behavior, accessibility, Arabic RTL, content, motion, and usability requirements.

• Conduct design QA to ensure that implemented journeys align with approved designs and specifications.

• Define quality gates, prioritize issues, and guarantee that high-severity findings are addressed and retested.

• Manage design tools, workspace structure, permissions, libraries, naming conventions, and licenses.

• Support bilingual design structures that accommodate both Arabic RTL and English LTR.

• Monitor design operations metrics including reuse, rework, throughput, and cycle time.

• Assist with onboarding, team workflow, capacity planning, and knowledge transfer.

• Ensure that design assets and repositories comply with client security standards.

• Facilitate the transition of design systems, tools, and knowledge to client teams.

⛳️ Requirements

• 6–10 years of relevant experience, including over 3 years in design operations or design systems roles.

• Demonstrated experience managing design systems and standards across large design teams.

• Advanced skills in Figma administration, encompassing workspace, libraries, permissions, branching, and plugins.

• Strong understanding of design tokens and component-library management.

• Experience in design-system governance, versioning, and controlled releases.

• Comprehensive knowledge of WCAG 2.2 AA and accessibility auditing practices.

• Background in conducting design QA against build specifications and managing issue resolution.

• Excellent documentation, knowledge management, and process management skills.

• Outstanding communication and facilitation abilities in English.

• Experience with Backbase or other digital banking platforms is a plus.

• Proficiency in Arabic/RTL and bilingual design is advantageous.

• Experience in banking, fintech, or other regulated industries is preferred.

• Familiarity with design automation, Figma plugins, research operations, or accessibility certifications is a plus.

• A degree or diploma in Design, Information Management, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

🏝️ Benefits

• Remote position.

• Full-time employment.