Lead Developer, Design System

About Citco

Citco is a global leader in fund services, corporate governance and related asset services with staff across 80 offices worldwide. With more than $1 trillion in assets under administration, we deliver end-to-end solutions and exceptional service to meet our clients' needs. For more information about Citco, please visit

About the Team and Business Line: 

World-class software solutions and innovation are at the core of what differentiates Citco in the alternative investment and financial services spaces. Through our network of global development centers, Citco invests heavily in technology innovation to ensure our clients continue to receive award-winning products. 

We are seeking a talented Full Stack Lead Developer, Design System to evolve our company-wide design system. This individual will ensure a cohesive, scalable, and accessible experience across Citco's digital products and they will collaborate closely with design and development teams to define, build, and maintain reusable smart and simple UI components, design tokens, and system documentation that reinforce our brand and design language. This individual will also contribute to back-end development for enterprise services that power smart UI components. The position is based in Toronto and may require some international travel to other Citco locations. The Lead Developer, Design Systems will report to the Design Director and join an engineering team that contributes to Citco's Client Portal by partnering with existing engineers and working close with business and designers.

Your Role:

• Build, maintain, and document a library of reusable UI components using React (TypeScript) utilizing MUI as the foundation for atomic components.
• Build back-end services to power smart components for the enterprise.
• Establish, manage, and evolve design tokens, theming structures, and other system foundations that ensure brand consistency across multiple products.
• Develop clear, comprehensive documentation, including usage guidelines, component specifications, accessibility notes, and example implementations to support consistent adoption across teams.
• Maintain cross-browser and cross-device compatibility within the component library to ensure high-quality, consistent user experiences.
• Design and develop RESTful APIs using Node/Java
• Perform code reviews and ensure the team upholds a high-quality bar
• Participate in Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and design reviews, providing design system expertise.
• Contribute to the Client Portal development if time allows

About You:

• 5 + years of experience as a Design System engineer, full-stack engineer, or a similar role with substantial involvement in component library or design system development.
• Strong expertise in React (TypeScript) and UI frameworks (Material UI or similar)
• Hands on experience with Figma with ability to interpret design specifications and translate them into maintainable, scalable components.
• Strong understanding of accessibility (WCAG compliance) and responsive design
• Experience creating and maintaining design systems, including establishing sand evolving design tokens, component standards, and documentation practices
• Familiarity with state management basics to support UI component needs
• Knowledge of cross-browser/device testing and performance optimization for smooth user experiences
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills with the ability to work closely with designers, developers, and product managers in agile teams.
• Enthusiasm for design system best practices, frontend performance optimization, accessible design and emerging UI technologies.
• Experience with AWS services such as S3, EC2, Lambda, API Gateway, SQS is an asset
• Experience with NodeJS frameworks, Spring/SpringBoot using Java/Kotlin
• Experience with Relational Databases, Postgres preferred
• Experience with source code management tools (GIT), CICD (Jenkins) are nice-to-have
• Experience using monorepo architecture with Turborepo would be an asset

Salary Range: CD $120,000 - CAD $160,000

• This position is not for an existing vacancy; we are building a candidate pool for future opportunities. 

Our Benefits:

Your well-being is of paramount importance to us, and central to our success. We provide a range of benefits, training and education support, and flexible working arrangements to help you achieve success in your career while balancing personal needs. Ask us about specific benefits in your location. 

We embrace diversity, prioritizing the hiring of people from diverse backgrounds. Our inclusive culture is a source of pride and strength, fostering innovation and mutual respect.

Citco welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodation is available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection.