# Ben Lister > Design Systems @ Netflix Location: Oakland, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/benlister I'm a product designer who specializes in design systems. Over the past two decades, I've built systems from scratch and scaled them at startups and enterprise companies—both as an IC and as a team lead. I've shaped system strategy and worked hands-on across the full lifecycle: research, planning, component design, auditing, operationalizing adoption, and building tooling. I have a hybrid skill set that spans design and code. I work in Figma, but I'm also comfortable in React, TypeScript, and CSS. This lets me build prototypes, create design tooling, and collaborate directly with engineers to keep design and code aligned. I've led migrations, built component libraries, and created custom tools and automations to improve workflow and adoption. I prioritize accessibility, scalability, and collaboration in everything I build. I integrate AI throughout my workflow to prototype, analyze, and create tools that optimize my work and support teams. ## Work Experience ### Senior Product Designer, Design Systems @ Netflix Jan 2026 – Present | Los Gatos, California, United States ### Product Designer (Contract) @ Netflix Jan 2025 – Jan 2026 Supporting the Hawkins design system team. ### Staff Product Designer, Design Systems @ Okta Jan 2023 – Jan 2025 | San Francisco, California, United States My work involved leading numerous initiatives for Okta’s Odyssey Design System, focusing on component design, strategic planning, and cross-functional enablement. Throughout my time at Okta, Odyssey's adoption grew from 0-80+ teams across the company's core platform. Project highlights: • Built a Figma plugin that automated the migration of 500+ legacy components and styles to Odyssey, resulting in adoption by five internal teams within three months. • Helped define and scale intake, contribution, and governance frameworks that aligned Odyssey with platform teams and enabled them to ship consistent, system-compliant designs faster. • Designed and developed four new components end to end in 2024 • Launched a quarterly design system newsletter reaching 1,000+ employees and executives, increasing system visibility and accelerating adoption. • Developed AI-powered automations for system intake and documentation updates, reducing manual touch points by approximately 50%. ### Product Designer @ Gem Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 | San Francisco, California, United States At Gem, I partnered with cross-functional engineering and product partners on the company’s Analytics products. ### Staff Product Designer, Design Systems @ Gusto Jan 2020 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area Led the revitalization of Gusto's design system, rebranding it as Workbench and driving strategy for both the public documentation website and Figma library. • Rebuilt the product design Figma kit, achieving 100% adoption across design in 4 months. • Introduced new components and comprehensive documentation for 50 components, including usage guidelines and accessibility standards. • Established governance models, contribution frameworks, and design spec docs • Documented Gusto's design language and token system, creating supporting Figma plugins and templates for implementation. • Developed intake processes and automations for system requests and updates. • Created a real-time dashboard to track adoption metrics and report system health to EPD leadership. • Implemented cross-functional working groups and team rituals to boost collaboration and system adoption. ### Senior Lead, Design Operations @ Sprout Social, Inc. Jan 2020 – Jan 2020 | Chicago, IL In this role, my objective is to establish Sprout's Design Operations practice. My current focus is on mapping our design organizations processes, keeping design projects unblocked and working with partners to develop and strengthen cross-functional collaboration rituals. ### Lead, Design Systems / Staff Product Designer @ Sprout Social, Inc. Jan 2018 – Jan 2020 | Greater Chicago Area I founded Sprout's design system team and co-created Seeds Design System. In this player-coach role, I worked as design lead and was responsible for leading a team of 2-3 designers and led work on, roadmap, documentation, contribution model development, enablement, and cross-functional partnerships ### Senior Design Developer @ Sprout Social, Inc. Jan 2010 – Jan 2018 Joining as one of Sprout's first 10 employees, I worked in a variety of roles as a designer and developer hybrid. From building Sprout's marketing sites to the first iterations of the company's core product UI, I collaborated cross-functionally with leadership, design, and engineering as the company grew from a small start-up to market leader. In 2015, I moved to a fully product-focused role where I designed and prototyped new features and collaborated on defining Sprout's design language and design system. ### HTML/CSS Web Designer @ Emmis Interactive Jan 2008 – Jan 2010 ### Analyst / Developer @ Caxy (www.caxy.com) Jan 2006 – Jan 2008 ## Education ### BBA in E-Business Design (CIS) in Business Western Michigan University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/benclister - Portfolio: https://benlister.net --- Source: https://flows.cv/benlister JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/benlister/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13