Job Description

About the Role
Instructional Designer - Experience Systems Specialist
Location:
New York, New York
Remote Work
Yes
Job Description:
Location: 100% Remote (Must reside in and work Eastern Standard Time hours)
Duration: 06 Months (Possible Extension/Conversion)
Due to client requirements this role is only open to USC OR GC candidates*
About This Role
The Experience Systems Specialist protects the integrity of the Client's website experience system by ensuring reusable templates, structured content, accessibility standards, and implementation quality remain aligned as the platform scales.
This is not a generalist design role. It requires deep expertise in applying experience system standards to live .com templates and experiences, validating that accessibility requirements are correctly implemented in production, and serving as the connective tissue between experience design, front-end engineering, content, and the enterprise design system team. The right person thinks in systems, sweats the details that others miss, and understands that template integrity is only as good as its implementation.
This role is the .com team's primary liaison to the enterprise design system and front-end engineering - applying established standards at the experience level, not setting them. It is pulled in when new .com capabilities need validation, when templates feel inconsistent, or when design intent isn't landing correctly in production.
What You'll Do
Apply and validate accessibility standards across .com experiences
Partner with the enterprise design system team to apply established WCAG 2.2 AA standards to .com-specific templates, components, and launch experiences
Conduct pre-launch accessibility reviews on .com experiences to confirm experience system standards are correctly implemented in production
Conduct accessibility annotations across templates, components, and interaction states - documenting how standards should be applied to reusable page models, not defining the standards themselves
Identify and surface accessibility gaps to the design system team early in the design process - before they become build problems in the template
Flag accessibility questions or ambiguities to the design system team; this role applies standards to the experience system, it does not set them
Bridge template intent and technical output
Ensure template and interaction intent translates accurately to front-end implementation - closing the gap between what was designed and what shipped
Partner with front-end engineering to communicate template requirements, interaction states, and edge cases
Validate templates and implemented experiences against established experience system standards before launch
Translate template and interaction requirements into system-ready specs that engineering can act on without ambiguity
Protect and strengthen the .com experience system
Contribute to template architecture and component specifications within the Client's website experience system - ensuring reusable page models are built for scale
Stress-test templates against dynamic and edge-case content to ensure structure, accessibility, and consistency hold across the experience ecosystem
Validate structured content against template requirements - ensuring authoring flexibility doesn't compromise template integrity
Identify recurring inconsistencies in template application and surface them to the .com Experience
Design Lead for system-level resolution
Ensure templates, components, and tokens are consistently applied across the experience ecosystem
Support content model and AI readiness
Partner with design and content teams to validate that structured content types are compatible with defined template patterns and reusable page models
Contribute to authoring validation - ensuring that what authors can do in the CMS matches what the experience system is designed to support
Help evaluate templates and content structures for AI-readiness, including generative content surfaces and GEO (generative engine optimization) considerations
Flag where template flexibility could create structural inconsistency under AI-assisted publishing conditions
Connect the experience system to design system and engineering
Serve as the .com team's primary liaison to the enterprise design system and front-end engineering - translating .com template and experience requirements into the language the design system team can act on
Ensure design system updates are correctly interpreted and applied across .com templates and reusable page models
Translate template and experience requirements into design system contribution requests or new component specifications when .com needs are not yet covered
Maintain awareness of design system updates and communicate implications for .com templates and patterns
Escalate cross-system conflicts to the .com Experience Design Lead for resolution
What You Bring
Experience & expertise
4-6 years of experience in UX, product design, or design systems - with a strong focus on template systems, design QA, design-to-development handoff, or experience-level accessibility validation
Working knowledge of WCAG 2.2 AA standards and practical experience applying and reviewing accessibility in production template environments
Strong understanding of experience system architecture, reusable page models, component libraries, and token-based design - and how to apply them correctly at the experience level
Familiarity with structured content models and CMS-driven design - understanding how authoring constraints shape what templates can do
Experience working in cross-functional teams with engineering, product, and content partners
Skills & mindset
Systems thinker - you see the pattern behind the problem, not just the problem itself
Template-integrity minded - you understand that every one-off exception is a cost to the system, and you protect reusability without being rigid
Clear communicator - you can translate technical requirements into design language, and template intent into engineering specs
Comfortable operating in ambiguity - you know when to make a call and when to escalate
Collaborative but opinionated - you bring a point of view and know how to advocate for quality without being precious about it
Tools
Proficiency in Figma, including component libraries, auto-layout, and annotation workflows
Familiarity with front-end HTML/CSS is a strong plus - you don't need to code, but you need to understand what you're handing off to
Experience with accessibility testing tools (axe, Colour Contrast Analyser, screen reader testing) preferred
About Matlen Silver
Experience Matters. Let your experience be driven by our experience. For more than 40 years, Matlen Silver has delivered solutions for complex talent and technology needs to Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders. Led by hard work, honesty, and a trusted team of experts, we can say that Matlen Silver technology has created a solutions experience and legacy of success that is the difference in the way the world works.
Matlen Silver is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, the presence of a non-job-related medical condition or disability, or any other legally protected status.
At The Matlen Silver Group, Inc., W2 employees are eligible for the following benefits:
Health, vision, and dental insurance (single and family coverage)
401(k) plan (employee contributions only)