Design system + Employer Center

Overview

Glassdoor at 32M+ monthly active users runs two products inside one brand: the consumer side where job seekers research salaries, reviews, and listings, and Employer Center, the B2B surface where companies manage their employer brand and respond to that signal. I came in as Lead Product Designer covering both halves of the system. Across multiple years I directed the design system, led major iOS and product features still shipping today, and owned end-to-end research, IA, and usability for Employer Center.

Problem

Two surfaces, one brand, no shared spine. The consumer web app, mobile web, iOS, and Employer Center each looked like a different product because each had been shipped by a different team with no central pattern library to anchor them. Teams shipped fast, the product moved, and coherence drifted. Responsive design was treated as a phase-two concern, not a default. Accessibility was uneven across surfaces. The cumulative effect was a product that worked, but felt like four different apps depending on where you entered.

The deeper problem was procedural. Without a system, every new project negotiated typography, color, spacing, components, and responsive behavior from scratch. Designers spent time re-deciding solved problems. Engineers built one-off components that looked similar but couldn't be shared. Product managers reviewed visual decisions instead of product decisions.

Approach

Three concurrent threads. First, build the design system itself: typography scale, color tokens, spacing, components, responsive grid, and the patterns to compose them across web, mobile web, and iOS. Second, govern it. A pattern library that doesn't get adopted is a folder of files. Adoption meant training, documentation, regular crit, and standing time with engineering to close the loop between intent and implementation. Third, demonstrate it through Employer Center.

Employer Center was the right pilot because it was the highest-stakes B2B surface — companies pay to be there — and because it touched almost every component in the system. If the system held under Employer Center's complexity, it would hold for the consumer side. I led research, IA, and usability work end-to-end on that surface, with the design system as both the constraint and the vocabulary.

Result

Design system in active use across Glassdoor product surfaces — multiple years after handoff, the patterns are still the spine of the product. iOS features I led still shipping in the current Glassdoor app. Employer Center remains a flagship B2B surface for employer engagement, and the design-system foundation built underneath it scaled to features I never touched. The shift from 'design and engineering re-deciding the basics on every project' to 'design system as default' compounded across teams long after the rollout itself.