Product Manager - Content Creation, Design System (Associate Director)
Job Description
You will be responsible for managing and evolving the omnichannel design system that underpins how customer-facing content is created, assembled, and delivered across all brands and geographies. This role owns the design system as a product, covering its component library, design tokens, usage standards, documentation, and governance model, so that every brand and market works from one consistent, accessible, and modular foundation. The role sits within the content supply chain space and spans the design and content tooling landscape, including Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and emerging AI capabilities.
This leader partners across product, brand, creative, agency, technology, and market teams to define the standards and rules that govern content development at scale, and to drive adoption of the design system across the organization. The role requires strong cross-functional leadership in a matrixed environment, with accountability for the design system roadmap, component and token architecture, contribution and governance processes, release and versioning discipline, and measurement of reuse, consistency, and adoption across brands and markets.
This role will report to the Director, Content Creation & Storage. It will supervise and coordinate the work of others in a matrixed environment, without formal direct reports.
Key Accountabilities
Design System Strategy and Roadmap
- Own the omnichannel design system as a product, defining its vision, roadmap, and release plan so that it serves all brands and geographies with one consistent set of components, patterns, and tokens
- Translate brand identity, accessibility requirements, and channel needs into design standards, rules, and reusable components that teams can apply without reinterpreting them
- Govern the integration between Figma, Supernova, and downstream developer environments, ensuring design tokens serve as a reliable source of truth for both human engineers and AI code-generation workflows
- Establish versioning, deprecation, and contribution processes that allow the system to evolve continuously without breaking existing brand and market assets
Design System Delivery and Governance
- Manage the component library and token architecture in Figma, ensuring libraries are well structured, documented, and ready for design-to-development handoff
- Run the governance model for the system, including intake of contribution requests, design review, quality control, and approval of new or changed components
- Maintain alignment between design assets and downstream production so that components flow reliably into campaign and content creation across the Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and AI-enabled solutions
Adoption, Enablement, and Content Standards
- Drive adoption of the design system across brands, markets, and agency partners through clear documentation, onboarding, training, and hands-on design support
- Define and publish the standards and rules for content development, including modular content structures, naming, metadata, and usage guidance that make assets reusable across channels
- Partner with agencies and internal creative teams so that new work is built from the system rather than alongside it, and capture feedback that improves the system over time
AI-Enabled Content and Innovation
- Define how AI-generated content is created, reviewed, and governed within the design system, including templates, prompts, and guardrails that protect brand and compliance integrity
- Evaluate emerging design and content technologies and recommend where they can improve the speed, quality, and consistency of content production
- Pilot new approaches with selected brands or markets, measure the outcome, and scale what works into the standard system
Measurement and Cross-Functional Partnership
- Define and monitor KPIs for the design system, including component reuse, adoption by brand and market, consistency, accessibility conformance, and impact on content cycle time
- Act as a strategic partner across product, brand, creative, technology, and market teams to align design priorities with the wider content supply chain roadmap
- Create transparency through reporting and leadership updates that communicate progress, risks, and the decisions needed to keep the system healthy
Requirements
- Minimum 6+ years of experience in product management, design systems, or digital and brand experience delivery for enterprise-scale organizations, agencies, or technology companies operating in a complex, matrixed environment
- Direct experience owning and developing a design system end to end in another enterprise, agency, or in-house brand team, including component libraries, design tokens, pattern documentation, versioning, and contribution models
- Deep hands-on knowledge of Figma, including component architecture, variables and tokens, shared libraries, and design-to-development handoff, together with strong working knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite
- Proven experience utilizing Supernova (or similar design system tooling) alongside engineering environments (such as Storybook and GitHub) to manage design tokens, automate live documentation, and bridge the gap between design files and production code
- Strong experience partnering with brand, creative, agency, engineering, and market stakeholders to align design standards with brand identity, campaign needs, and channel requirements
- Practical experience applying AI-generated content in a design or content production context, including template and prompt design, quality control, and the guardrails required for regulated use
- Proven ability to leverage standards and rules for content development, including modular content models, reusable asset structures, metadata, naming conventions, and accessibility requirements
- Strong understanding of working in regulated or compliance-sensitive environments, with the ability to embed appropriate governance, consistency, and quality into design and content standards
- In sum, the ideal candidate has with experience delivering design systems across multiple brands and geographies within an omnichannel content supply chain, including integration with Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and AI-enabled solutions
- Ability to travel up to 20%, based on business need
- Bachelor's degree in design, human-computer interaction, marketing, communications, technology, or a related field required. Advanced degree preferred
Necessary Competencies
- Strong product mindset, with the ability to treat the design system as a living product with a vision, roadmap, release cadence, and measurable adoption
- Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to influence brand, creative, agency, and market teams across leadership levels in a matrixed environment
- Strong design craft and systems thinking, with an eye for consistency, accessibility, and modularity across channels, brands, and touchpoints
- Analytical and outcome-oriented approach, with the ability to define KPIs for reuse, consistency, and adoption, and to act on what the data shows
- Strong collaboration and leadership presence, with the ability to work through ambiguity, balance competing brand and market priorities, and deliver results through others
Success Criteria for the role
- One omnichannel design system is in place and actively used across brands and geographies, with clear ownership and a predictable release cadence
- Components, tokens, and content standards are well documented, accessible, and adopted by internal teams and agency partners
- Content production is faster and more consistent, with measurable growth in component reuse and a reduction in rework and off-system assets
- AI-generated content is produced within defined standards and guardrails, with brand quality and compliance maintained
- Stakeholders view the design system team as a trusted partner that brings structure, craft, and momentum to omnichannel content creation
Our Offer
The primary location is Prague, benefits in other countries may differ.
- Exciting work in a great team, global projects, international environment
- Opportunity to learn and grow professionally within the company globally
- Pension and health (Canadian Medical) contributions
- Internal reward system plus referral program
- 5 weeks annual leave, 5 sick days, 15 days of certified sick leave paid above statutory requirements annually, 40 paid hours annually for volunteering activities, 12 weeks of parental contribution
- Cafeteria for tax free benefits according to your choice (meal vouchers, sport, culture, health, travel, etc.), Multisport card, Vodafone, Raiffeisen Bank and Foodora discount programs
- Up-to-date laptop and iPhone, parking in the garage, showers, refreshments
- Competitive salary, incentive pay, and many more
Ready to take up the challenge? Apply now! Know anybody who might be interested? Refer this job!
The date shown below is the earliest possible closing date for this posting. However, we sometimes extend the job posting period as needed, so please feel free to apply anytime you see the "Apply" button available. You may also reach out to the recruiter directly via https://www.linkedin.com/in/badumtss/
Required Skills:
Adobe Creative Cloud, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Content Development, Design Systems, Figma, Product Management, Prompt Design, Regulated Industries
Preferred Skills:
GitHub
Current Employees apply HERE
Current Contingent Workers apply HERE
Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company. No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.
Employee Status:
Regular
Relocation:
No relocation
VISA Sponsorship:
Yes
Travel Requirements:
25%
Flexible Work Arrangements:
Hybrid
Shift:
Not Indicated
Valid Driving License:
No
Hazardous Material(s):
N/A
Job Posting End Date:
09/22/2026
*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.
Seen 1 hour ago · Merck postings close after a median of 21 days.
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